We are celebrating National Burger Month by sampling some of the best burgers in New Jersey. Ed took a little trip down memory lane this time and we headed up to Wayne and the campus of William Paterson University. As a WPU student, Ed’s between-classes food staple had always been Brother Bruno’s pizza at the corner of Pompton Road and Hamburg Turnpike. Brother Bruno recently moved down the street to consolidate their pizza and bagel shops into one building so the iconic round building on the corner was available for a new college food classic to move in.
We think Momma’s Boy will fit right in with their great burgers and fries.
We visited Momma’s Boy with two members of the great NJ band, Wild Americans, who turned out to also be William Paterson alumni. We couldn’t have picked a better place to have burgers with the band!
Ed started us out with the double burger and added caramelized onions to it. As soon as the food hit the table we all agreed that the caramelized onions smelled, to anyone who did not get the onions, like we’d made a mistake. Despite having five burger patties and a cheesesteak on the table, the onion smell was what caught the most attention. They looked and smelled amazing on top of that burger. The patties were cooked perfectly and were thin enough to make a double burger easy enough to eat without having to unhinge your jaw. That’s not to say they weren’t small in any way, either. There was no doubt this was a big sandwich. Ed loved it.
Andrew, Wild Americans’ guitarist, got the bacon double cheeseburger. It was double everything! Double cheese, double patties and double bacon. Whoa! The bacon they use is nice and thick and fried up just until crispy and not to the point where it’s too crumbly. All the classic burgers come on toasted Martin’s Potato rolls, too.
I ordered a sandwich that blew my mind. It’s on the Specials menu and it’s called the Fatty Melt. They have a few Fat-Sandwich type items on the Specials menu but this is the winner right here. It’s a burger using grilled cheese sandwiches as buns. Like all the burgers here, it came with lettuce, tomato and a signature sauce but added bacon and pickles to this already glorious sandwich beast. The grilled cheeses gave the sandwich tons of cheese deliciousness without making the burger and toppings slide around. You know how cheese can sometimes get so melty that it reeks havoc on the other ingredients? Not when it’s served this way! The only thing I missed from this sandwich was the signature sauce. I’m not sure if the cheese overpowered it or it was missing but I didn’t taste anything saucy in there.
Mike, the Wild Americans’ drummer, was intrigued by the Momma’s Boy claim of “N.J.’s Best Cheesesteak” so he had to go for it. Upon tasting it he had to agree that it was one of the best he’s ever had. It’s a simple sandwich, with just shaved steak, cheese sauce and onions. The proportions of the toppings were perfect. Momma’s Boy has another winning sandwich here!
We also shared some chili fries and onion rings although the size of all our sandwiches kept anyone from finishing those sides. The fries are crinkle cut and served crispy but not well-done. The chili was a dry, Plainfield-style chili that you normally see on hot dogs throughout New Jersey. It could have been improved for fries by being a littler more saucy. The onion rings were perfection, though. Very crispy but lightly breaded outside, the onions were also perfectly cooked inside. If I hadn’t just eaten four slices of bread and a burger, I could have easily finished off all those rings.
Momma’s Boy is a great new addition to the William Paterson area food offerings and we’re looking forward to coming back before campus events to grab a quick and delicious meal. Go check them out yourself!
Here are all the pictures from our visit:
Momma’s Boy
140 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne
973-333-3335
Monday-Saturday: 11am – 10pm
Sunday: 11am – 9pm
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