The Waffle

We went to The Waffle for dinner on Saturday, May 31 before going to the Swervedriver concert (see the Swervedriver review for more on that.)  The Waffle is located on the ground floor of the House of Blues building that’s at Sunset and Argyle in Hollywood.  It’s about two blocks from the Hollywood and Vine Red Line subway station and the restaurant is on the south side of the building.

We arrived there before 7 pm and they had plenty of tables available.  The inside of the restaurant is L-shaped with some small tables for couples and several semicircular booths.  There’s a low counter along the back wall facing a semi-open kitchen.  It looks like there’s also seating upstairs and outside.  The booths and seats are light brown, the color of perfectly cooked waffles.  The décor on the walls is sets of nine square panels with rounded corners all different shades of brown that look like the inside squares of waffles.

The hostess seated us at a booth and the end of the L-shape.  Our enthusiastic waiter, J., came quickly and described two very substantial specials, one a full breakfast and the other a double-wide waffle sandwich with bacon grilled into the waffles.  He described it as “a heart attack on a plate.”  Naturally, the restaurant specializes in waffles.  They have 10 different kinds of waffles alone.  The menu also includes other breakfast foods served all day like the waffles, sandwiches, burgers, salads, vegetarian entrees and sandwiches, steak, milkshakes, and desserts.

I started with a non-dairy strawberry milkshake.  When he brought it, J. said something like “presenting an amazing creation, a non-dairy shake.”  I would have to agree with him.  It was delicious, tasting just like the regular dairy version.  I drank most of it quickly because it had been so long since I last had a milkshake.  I had forgotten how they tasted.  J. was good about telling me exactly what foods had dairy.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t have a waffle because they had milk in the batter.  I chose the Un-BLT under the vegetarian section.  They make it with “fakin’ bacon” that is a soy-based bacon.  They served it fairly quickly.  The fakin’ bacon looked more like white and red deli meat than bacon and it wasn’t crispy but it still tasted a lot like real bacon.  The rest of the sandwich was good especially the slightly toasted sourdough bread.   On the oval-shaped plate with the sandwich was a large pile of thin onion rings.  With my sandwich I had a choice between these onion rings, waffle fries, and coleslaw.  The rings were crispy, slightly sweet, and thoroughly delicious.  Between these, the sandwich, and the shake I couldn’t finish everything and my wife had to help with the rings.

For their orders my wife and my sister-in-law split a sticky bun waffle and a bowl of chili mac.  The waffle was two thick squares of nine inner squares each.  It looked more Belgian than regular and was coated with syrup and sprinkled with nuts.  My wife enjoyed her portion but my sister-in-law said they made it better at a past time she went there, giving it more syrup coating and providing more syrup on the side.  They especially enjoyed the chili mac that came in a small but deep bowl.  It consisted of chili mixed with large shell pasta and topped with melted cheese.  The chili looked like it had small chunks of meat and some chopped green pepper.  My wife believes the chili would taste good even without the pasta and it’s available on the menu that way.

After all that good food we were too full for dessert.  The restaurant had gotten more crowded while we were there.  Who knew that a restaurant could be based on a single breakfast food?