A waitress shows off a waffle like it’s a baseball glove. In her other hand two coffee cups and cream and sugar are balanced on a tray. She is ready to serve you… and play catch. Her crisp paper hat and spotless apron speak of cleanliness. Her powdered peaches and cream complexion glows like the neon handwriting that gives the place an identity. The jet black ’53 Pontiac thinks the picture window is a big mirror. You look beautiful, darling! The muted color scheme of the blue-green-grey building, under planted pink planter and blond furniture compliment the curtains which match the waffle.

Where there is a waffle there is a waffle iron. Everyone knows you can’t have a waffle without an iron the same way you can’t have wrinkle free clothes without an iron… that is, unless you wear polyester and permanent press all the time! Speaking of waffles, you can waffle but you can’t pancake. From time to time, usually around breakfast time, I find myself waffling between waffles and pancakes. Do you ever waffle that way?

Waffles have been on the menu somewhere for more than seven centuries. We humans have been enjoying the molded-crispy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside taste treat sensation ever since. Especially when served drowning in melting creamery butter and maple syrup that actually dripped out of a maple tree in Vermont.

Dutch pilgrims introduced waffles, as the called them in the old country, to early Americans in the early 1600s. The word derives from wafer. In 1911 the fine folks at General Electric perfected waffle iron electrification. When frozen waffles debuted in supermarket freezers in 1953 they were called “Froffles,” short for frozen waffles, the same way Fritos is short for fried tortillas. But the clever name didn’t stick. In 1955 the toaster treats were renamed Eggos.

1955 was a banner year in the waffle world. That’s when the first Waffle House opened in suburban Atlanta. Over the years they have expanded to more than 1500 stores in the US (mostly in the south) and Canada serving 24/7/365. Yes, waffles are big business. To date they have served up nearly 500 billion waffles and almost one trillion cups of coffee. To celebrate their success, in 2008, the original Waffle House was restored “back to the way it was in 1955,” and became the Waffle House Museum serving up what else? Waffle House history. Sounds tasty to me! So the next time you’re in Atlanta don’t waffle over going to the Waffle House Museum, GO!

Here’s to the waitress, the waffles, the Waffle House and YOU!

Los Angeles, CA,
November 13, 2009