Patrick L.
Yelp
This past Saturday me and my buddy Joe made the pilgrimage from our small corner of southeastern PA, to the nearest Waffle House to honor a mutual hero of ours.
Friday June 8th 2018, Anthony Bourdain, despite breathing light into the lives of so many people, and being inspiration to folk like us, lost the battle against depression, and parted ways with this world.
Waffle House, is something i hadn't known existed until Anthony brought the name into my life, similar to his visit to Donkeys Place, his fans were able to see his first experience with the franchise in 2015 when he himself was brought to experience the brands warm embrace.
That episode was one of my favorites, if not my favorite episode of Places Unknown. It encapsulated everything good about him, an appreciation for all food, cultures, and people. No pretension, just respect and honest input and enjoyment of food from everywhere.
When he tried waffle-house, he had made some BOLD claims, but clearly enjoyed the experience.
I myself also found a great enjoyment in the simplicity of the waffle-house experience. Everything here is a back-to-the-basics reminder, that food doesn't need to be fancy to taste fantastic.
Pricing is a bit higher than id like, but the food is still worth every penny, and every ingredient that goes onto a plate at waffle house is designed to feed off of one another flavor.
Admittedly, i'm not a fan of the shredded hash browns normally, i was skeptical of them being served alongside a patty melt. I ordered mine smothered and covered- and between the absolute fresh potatoes, minimalist amounts of oil, and simple flavor profile it made for an almost religious experience.
The patty melt here was ever so lightly toasted, far buttery than i could have expected, the onion was also extremely fresh, and the odd almost sauce like cheese tried everything together.
Each part by itself would have been average, but some how the sandwich equaled more than the sum total of its parts, the weakest entry here were the burger pattys themselves which were fairly service grade, and could do for some better seasoning. That being said in honesty this patty melt managed to have more flavor then some of the better burgers (meat wise) ive had due how everything ties in together.
This extends to the home fries- going back and forth between the two as one would with a more traditional side like french fries, the texture and flavors of the potatoes, cheese, and onion fit so well together with the patty melt that i was taken a-back.
The same applies to biscuits and gravy here, the sausage gravy at waffle house is very peppery, so if your sensitive to some mild heat you may want to pass, but if that's your thing you'll fall in love. Admittedly the sausage gravy completely overshadowed any flavor from the biscuits but the textures melded wonderfully.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here, and i look forward to my inevitable return when i'll be eating breakfast instead of lunch / dinner and my buddy swaps to the dinner menu.
Spoiler Alert: Next time its Pecan Waffle and Alice's Iced Tea
Flavor & Presentation 4.33/5 | Speed & Service 4.33/5 | Pricing & Portions 3.5/5
Overall 4/5
