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I'd never been to one until a couple years ago, when my girlfriend swore by it and took me there. I've been hooked since. It feels like stepping into a time mac

by _bxg1 8y ago

I'd never been to one until a couple years ago, when my girlfriend swore by it and took me there. I've been hooked since. It feels like stepping into a time machine, to when "fast food" wasn't a chemical amalgamation that a soulless corporation was trying to pass off as food. Waffle House has cheap but honest food, and is staffed by people who don't appear to be miserable and don't have to hide in the back with the microwaves. It lacks the cynicism of its peers.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Yes! I took my three boys there each time we travelled South. They are all grown but still won't miss Waffle House when they see one. They think it a perfect visit when they get to kid a middle-aged waitress who won't take any of their guff.
Simulacra 8y ago
I love waffle house because I can tip 100%.
- mezzafour 8y ago
  You put your finger on it. You can tip 100% and someone else with limited mulah can't. That's what makes it special and impossible to find such WHs in SF, LA, NYC areas.
  - Simulacra 8y ago
    My cheese eggs with raisin toast, bacon, and grits, hold the apple butter, is only about seven dollars. I don’t make a lot of money, so it makes me very happy that I can leave a seven dollar tip and pay about the same as I would have if I had gone to another place.
Mediterraneo10 8y ago
> when "fast food" wasn't a chemical amalgamation that a soulless corporation was trying to pass off as food. Waffle House has cheap but honest food I always assumed that Waffle House’s food is Sysco-sourced. If so, how is it not a chemical amalgamation from a soulless corporation? The last time I visited a Waffle House, and I ordered fried eggs, I was curious what kind of oil the eggs were fried in (sunflower, rapeseed, whatever). The waitress then showed me some horrible aerosol can that looked totally synthetic and didn’t name any particular source for the oil. Nowadays, when I travel the American South, I prefer to go to eateries for the local Mexicans and other Central American immigrants (they are there if you look for them); there most of the ingredients seem fresher, less processed.
- _bxg1 8y ago
  At least the eggs were real
- krisrm 8y ago
  I'd assume it's just aereosolized vegetable oil... it is a bit of a weird question so maybe the waitress didn't understand? I haven't actually been to one before... sounds like it'd be fun to try once, but not somewhere I'd go regularly or seek out.
perl4ever 8y ago
I always thought of their waffles as "a tasty chemical amalgamation that a soulless corporation was trying to pass off as food". I'd think it's a pretty rare waffle that doesn't have chemical leavening. I think they could improve their cooking in some respects by using microwaves more. I really hate bacon that isn't crispy, and surprisingly enough, a microwave will do that quickly when used properly. I've only ever seen one restaurant do that openly. It's a mystery to me why all of the awful fast food chain breakfast sandwiches don't take advantage of the technique.
zb 8y ago
It's interesting to me how views are so polarised. I once asked a professional cook where the best restaurant in town was and she said she mostly just ate at WaHo. I had seen the Bourdain clip. So when I finally went there the first time I was predisposed to like it. And it was just disappointing. The syrup, for example, is basically high-fructose corn syrup with added flavouring. So is the ketchup. I didn't sample the entire menu but the overwhelming impression was of it being composed of the cheapest edible food-like substances known to science. It didn't feel to me like a time machine back to an era of cheap-and-cheerful diners that served real honest food, but rather depressingly contemporary. And yet there must be something there. Something that prompts folks like you to genuinely see it as not just a chemical amalgamation, even though by any objective standard it really is. Something that I missed. (The place was deserted at the time when I went, so maybe that was it.) Something that makes me still wonder if I should go back and search for it, even though I don't know what I'm looking for.
- scruple 8y ago
  My brother was (retired in his early 40s) a chef and worked closely with a small cohort of serial restaurateurs. He and his friends swore by Hardees. To this day I don't get it. My father and I still crack jokes at their expense, whenever we see a Hardees, "Where the chef's eat!" If only we'd been in the south and not the Midwest, WaHo may have won the title for him and his friends. I probably wouldn't tease him about that one, either!
  - tracker1 8y ago
    I have a friend who works with guys that work in a high end restaurant kitchen... they eat convenience store hot dogs and nachos after work. Like a lot of people. I happen to like Carl's Jr. (Hardees other name)... although I don't like everything they make, and some locations are better than others.
- js2 8y ago
  Roger Ebert once wrote this about how he reviewed movies: “I've always tried to adopt a generic approach to the movies, judging each film in terms of its type and the expectations we have for it.” This idea is what Bourdain was invoking when he called Waffle House better than French Laundry, since it’s otherwise patently absurd to compare the two. Maybe this is what you missed.

by _bxg1 8y ago

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

Yes! I took my three boys there each time we travelled South. They are all grown but still won't miss Waffle House when they see one. They think it a perfect visit when they get to kid a middle-aged waitress who won't take any of their guff.

Simulacra 8y ago

I love waffle house because I can tip 100%.

mezzafour 8y ago
You put your finger on it. You can tip 100% and someone else with limited mulah can't. That's what makes it special and impossible to find such WHs in SF, LA, NYC areas.
- Simulacra 8y ago
  My cheese eggs with raisin toast, bacon, and grits, hold the apple butter, is only about seven dollars. I don’t make a lot of money, so it makes me very happy that I can leave a seven dollar tip and pay about the same as I would have if I had gone to another place.

Mediterraneo10 8y ago

> when "fast food" wasn't a chemical amalgamation that a soulless corporation was trying to pass off as food. Waffle House has cheap but honest food I always assumed that Waffle House’s food is Sysco-sourced. If so, how is it not a chemical amalgamation from a soulless corporation? The last time I visited a Waffle House, and I ordered fried eggs, I was curious what kind of oil the eggs were fried in (sunflower, rapeseed, whatever). The waitress then showed me some horrible aerosol can that looked totally synthetic and didn’t name any particular source for the oil. Nowadays, when I travel the American South, I prefer to go to eateries for the local Mexicans and other Central American immigrants (they are there if you look for them); there most of the ingredients seem fresher, less processed.

_bxg1 8y ago
At least the eggs were real
krisrm 8y ago
I'd assume it's just aereosolized vegetable oil... it is a bit of a weird question so maybe the waitress didn't understand? I haven't actually been to one before... sounds like it'd be fun to try once, but not somewhere I'd go regularly or seek out.

perl4ever 8y ago

I always thought of their waffles as "a tasty chemical amalgamation that a soulless corporation was trying to pass off as food". I'd think it's a pretty rare waffle that doesn't have chemical leavening. I think they could improve their cooking in some respects by using microwaves more. I really hate bacon that isn't crispy, and surprisingly enough, a microwave will do that quickly when used properly. I've only ever seen one restaurant do that openly. It's a mystery to me why all of the awful fast food chain breakfast sandwiches don't take advantage of the technique.

zb 8y ago

It's interesting to me how views are so polarised. I once asked a professional cook where the best restaurant in town was and she said she mostly just ate at WaHo. I had seen the Bourdain clip. So when I finally went there the first time I was predisposed to like it. And it was just disappointing. The syrup, for example, is basically high-fructose corn syrup with added flavouring. So is the ketchup. I didn't sample the entire menu but the overwhelming impression was of it being composed of the cheapest edible food-like substances known to science. It didn't feel to me like a time machine back to an era of cheap-and-cheerful diners that served real honest food, but rather depressingly contemporary. And yet there must be something there. Something that prompts folks like you to genuinely see it as not just a chemical amalgamation, even though by any objective standard it really is. Something that I missed. (The place was deserted at the time when I went, so maybe that was it.) Something that makes me still wonder if I should go back and search for it, even though I don't know what I'm looking for.

scruple 8y ago
My brother was (retired in his early 40s) a chef and worked closely with a small cohort of serial restaurateurs. He and his friends swore by Hardees. To this day I don't get it. My father and I still crack jokes at their expense, whenever we see a Hardees, "Where the chef's eat!" If only we'd been in the south and not the Midwest, WaHo may have won the title for him and his friends. I probably wouldn't tease him about that one, either!
- tracker1 8y ago
  I have a friend who works with guys that work in a high end restaurant kitchen... they eat convenience store hot dogs and nachos after work. Like a lot of people. I happen to like Carl's Jr. (Hardees other name)... although I don't like everything they make, and some locations are better than others.
js2 8y ago
Roger Ebert once wrote this about how he reviewed movies: “I've always tried to adopt a generic approach to the movies, judging each film in terms of its type and the expectations we have for it.” This idea is what Bourdain was invoking when he called Waffle House better than French Laundry, since it’s otherwise patently absurd to compare the two. Maybe this is what you missed.