Is Waffle House Good?
This morning, one of our fantastic producers, Jake, put up some pictures from his trip to Waffle House today. Man, what a great time he must have had in that fantastic establishment.
Unfortunately, these pictures set off an argument within the Barstool family as to the goodness, or lack thereof, of Waffle House.
So now I had to interject my thoughts, which can best be summarized thusly: Waffle House is good. However, it is good in a way that can only be understood by those who grew up with it and understand its aura.
If I walked into one of Cons's New Jersey diners and they served the exact same food as Waffle House, I would not be thoroughly impressed — and I'm sure I wouldn't be overly impressed with their food, either. But the entire appeal of Waffle House is seeing that neon yellow sign at 11:15 p.m., calling out like a beacon, yearning for you to come have some waffles and hash browns in the most uncomfortable seating of any chain restaurant and potentially see a fight between an employee and patron.
With all that said, however, I will absolutely put a Waffle House breakfast up against any diner in New Jersey or wherever the hell else anybody wants to claim. There is absolutely nothing better than two well-done waffles — emblazoned with the WaHo logo, making them special waffles — a few strips of potentially expired bacon and some hash browns. And to add to the Waffle House experience, everything on the menu is made with an indifference that makes it that much more special when your order is correct.
The late Anthony Bourdain described Waffle House best when he called it, "An irony-free zone where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts." That is what the Waffle House means to me.
Waffle House is good.