Loves Me Some Chicken and Waffles

Featured Blogger Ruthie Johnson: http://greatfoodhouston.blogspot.com

Without a doubt, chicken-and-waffles is one of the best inventions to come out of the 1800’s, right alongside the light bulb, the telephone, and industrialization. Seriously. More recently, this historically soulful concoction has found a little cubbyhole in my heart that I never knew existed. And while I generally don’t love mixing savory with sweet, I’ve developed a shameful lust for C-n-W that demands to be fed.

To that end, I’ve been making my way around town in hopes of locating the very best iteration. Fried Chicken? Awesome. Waffles? Awesome. Fried chicken and waffles together? Triple awesome.

It may sound obvious, but chicken-and-waffles is essentially two dishes cooked separately, then smashed together. What I’ve learned is that most restaurants place *great* emphasis on one half, while completely disregarding the other. For shame! Research below.

The Breakfast Klub
This place is firstly famous for its Wings and Waffles dish, and indeed the chefs here crank out batch after batch after batch, breakfast and lunch, Monday through Saturday. In terms of experience, no one beats these guys. As expected, the chicken here is 100% incredible, but they have *got* to do something about their chewy, reheated, Eggo-like waffles which do this dish a severe injustice.


Max’s Wine Dive
The Sunday brunch menu is where you’ll find Max’s Wing Cakes, an enormous plate of beautifully seasoned fried chicken waaaangs served over pancakes. Not surprisingly, the chicken here is great -- golden, spicy, and without grease oozing out everywhere. But the pancakes are just average. Also? They’re not waffles. And honestly? It seems semi-wrong to eat soul food in a wine bar. Just sayin’.


Dry Creek
Dry Creek’s brunch menu features crispy wings over Grandma’s Waffle. This was, by far, the best waffle of the lot -- airy, thick, and golden -- but the fried chicken was an overly-breaded salty pool of grease. Yikes! If we could only get the waffle peeps here to meet the chicken peeps at The Breakfast Klub, we’d be in Wings ‘n Waffle heaven. Only I don’t think that’s happening this century. Poochie.


Lola
This new Heights diner serves chicken-and-waffles all day. I went in with low expectations (Lola is new, after all), and was pleasantly surprised by the gold-medal goodness. The fruit-laden waffle is nicely crisp and the chicken is expertly breaded, then fried without a mess of excess grease. While the waffle, itself, is a bit chewy, this dish is great. Theo didn’t like his, but I truly enjoyed mine.



Sparkle’s
Sparkle’s hamburger joint has exactly the ambiance you seek for chicken-and-waffles. It’s a run-down shack on a run-down corner south of downtown. Perhaps my expectations were a little too high when I laid eyes on the place because I was severely disappointed with the food. The chicken was *beyond* salty and the waffle, tough. They are not afraid of the butter (as noted in the picture below), but even that godly substance couldn’t jack the love.


Despite their ups-and-downs, I’ve enjoyed most iterations of the dish, at least to some extent. However, I definitely haven’t found the golden standard. Any suggestions?

http://greatfoodhouston.blogspot.com/2009/10/loves-me-some-chicken-and-waffles.html

I'm Never Full

That’s my moniker. I’ve been known to eat fried chicken at five restaurants and then go to a churrascaria for an AYCE-red-meat-on-a-stick dinner on the same day. I have plenty of witnesses if you don’t believe me.

My perfect date would start by having apps at one restaurant, entrees at another, and dessert/coffee at a third. To some, this kind of night might sound excruciating, but not to me. I have several reasons why: to prolong the dining experience - I love dining out and the initial excitement of walking into a restaurant is a kind of foreplay; to eat in different settings - every dining room has a different personality, vibe, and mood; and to eat with the right person can be an intimate, bonding experience leading into great conversation. If I don’t enjoy eating with someone, the relationship is doomed to fail before it ever really gets started.

Fact: I’m either a really cheap date or a really expensive one.

My food philosophy is the best meals in a city are found in the priciest/upscale digs and cheapest/modest hole-in-the-walls. High-end restos are usually sourcing local, artisanal, and seasonal ingredients from the best suppliers available and the tiny mom-and-pop’s are often hand-picking their groceries from the neighborhood Fiesta grocery or farmers market. I find the people behind these stoves are the most passionate. On one end, you find the classically-trained or professionally schooled chefs; and on the other, you find moms or pops fulfilling a lifelong dream of cooking the food they grew up eating and owning their own business. Mid-range restaurants – especially the highly detestable chains – use processed food from big food distribution companies, seem to be more concerned with volume and the bottom line than the art of cooking or the product itself, and are always the least interesting to visit and write about.

No worries. I’ll save the chi chi restaurant reviews for my blog or for write-ups I’m actually getting paid for. Here on Free Press Cuizine, I intend to share all my underground, off-the-beaten path discoveries and keep you clued into exciting foodie news and events. I’ve been promised that I can “blow off steam” and be brutally honest here. I can even cuss if I really want to for a glimpse into the really Jenny Wang. Let’s just see what happens.

I look forward to beginning this dialogue. Feel free to email me at imneverfull@gmail.com if you have questions, suggestions, restaurant news, or food-related events you’d like to share. And if you think I suck and want to diss my writing or my palate, send me hate mail! i’m a stress-eater!

In the meantime, between posts, follow me on Twitter and keep up with what I’m eating in real time. It’s fun. I promise.

Peas out…

-- Jenny Wang of imneverfull.com

Cuizine Houston is now at Free Press Houston

Cuizine Houston, a former print magazine and CuizineHouston.com have now merged with the Free Press Houston. Here you will find restaurant news, reviews, and the latest specials offered by your local favorite places to eat and drink. The next time you're trying to figure out where to grab a bite, check the Cuizine:Food/Drinks page at FreePressHouston.com for some ideas. If you would like to post your own review, good or bad, email us at Andrea@FreePressHouston.com-- it might be printed in an upcoming issue of the Free Press. Binge on!