My local White Castle sits just steps away from the Myrtle-Wyckoff subway station in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The windows were covered in red draping, and the front door was closed, a sign directing guests to the side door.
I entered through the side door, where I was greeted by a hostess at the podium.
But before I was taken to my table, White Castle had set up a date for me with the general manager of this location, Tanisha Dawkins.
Dawkins said that reservations for her White Castle's event this year doubled since last year, from 25 to 59.
Manager Maria Vasquez, who has worked at White Castle since 2000, said that the same people come back every year along with new faces. She knows many of the couples by name.
I was led to my seat by employee Elysia "Elly" Vega, a high school senior. It was her first time working at White Castle on Valentine's Day.
I asked Elly to help me pick out some fan favorites from the menu. She recommended the chicken rings and loaded fries. I ordered as much as I thought I could eat.
I felt for Elly because we had something in common: it was my first White Castle Valentine's Day event, too.
But Amanda and Karl, the couple next to me, were no newbies. This was their fourth Valentine's Day at White Castle. Amanda had read about the event in the news and had loved "the absurdity of it,' she told me. "We wanted to do something that was silly and unusual."
For them, going to White Castle feels like a treat. "We don't come here any other day of the year, just Valentine's Day," Amanda told me.
Like Karl and Amanda, I don't usually eat at White Castle. So when Elly came out with a tray of sliders and sides, I was eager to dig in.
She brought out one of each kind of sauce and a dozen packs of honey mustard.
My Valentine's Day dinner: six-piece chicken rings ($2.79), 3-piece mozzarella sticks ($2.29), loaded fries ($3.29), a cheese slider ($1.00), an Impossible slider ($1.99), a chicken and waffles slider ($2.69), and a gooey butter cake ($1.19).
I started with the chicken rings, which Dawkins had told me were her favorite menu item.
Okay, whose idea was it to put chicken into a ring shape? Harold or Kumar?
Soft and savory, they were like flattened chicken nuggets. But I was surprised by how well they went with the sauce.
Next, I went for some mozz sticks, which Vasquez had named her favorite menu item.
I'd eaten a lot of mozz sticks in the last week. But here I was, dipping a fast-food cheese finger into a dip cup of marinara.
And I was loving it. The thick seasoned breading made for a crunchy bite.
And while the cheese inside wasn't the most elastic, it was perfectly satisfactory.
I felt bad for neglecting my quickly-cooling fries for so long. They were next.
The fries themselves were nothing to write home about. (Crinkle cut, really?) But the creamy, cheesy sauce made it easy to down forkful after forkful.
How often do I go to White Castle? About once a year. So I let myself go HAM.
Finally, it was time to turn my attention to the three sliders steaming in their containers.
I started with the classic, the OG, the timeless slider with cheese.
Eating one is like biting down into a buttery, beefy cloud. The softness is cut with pickle slices, ketchup, and diced onions.
They went down so easy I felt like I could easily demolish a bagful.
Next up was the Impossible Slider. White Castle was the first fast-food chain to release a plant-based burger nationwide.
The Impossible Slider is almost twice as thick and twice as dense as the original slider.
But even though I'm usually an Impossible lover, I was not impressed. The slider didn't taste anything close to the original. The patty just tasted kind of charred.
I had to try a breakfast food and a chicken sandwich while I was here, so I killed two genres with one menu item: the chicken and waffles slider.
For some reason, I hadn't expected the waffles to be the bun.
Although I was excited for this one, this proved to be a form over function kind of experience.
Both chicken and waffle were soft. Where's the crunch?
After sampling everything on my plates, I asked for my dessert. It was like a real restaurant! Kind of.
I found myself snacking on the chicken rings as I waited, even though I was trying to save room. I ended up mostly polishing them off.
All of the sauces were great. I think I've figured out White Castle: meaty or cheesy fried thing + sauce = profit.
I was stuffed by the time my gooey butter cake on a stick arrived. I was grateful that I'd eaten a salad for lunch.
The butter cake was not gooey, but Elly had told me that this was her favorite dessert. And Elly would never lead me astray. Would she?
She really wouldn't. This was unbelievably good: dense and sweet, it tasted like marshmallows and butter.
I'd told myself I'd only eat half, but I nibbled it down to the stick.
Finally, when I was ready, Elly came out with a check hand-scribbled on a slip of paper. I gave her my credit card. Like at a real restaurant!
I felt guilty for wasting so much food. But the person I'd have shared this meal with lives across the country. Seeing other couples dine together, I found myself missing him.
For now, I was thankful I got to spend Valentine's Day with Elly and the other staff at this White Castle. Full of sliders and longing, I was ready for a long walk home in the cold.
