The highway west from New Orleans is the famous I-10. On it, you travel for miles and miles on a raised roadway above the swamps of southwest Louisiana. It's a feat of civil engineering, and I'm always impressed when traversing it. The other great part was listening to local radio as we drove. We found a zydeco station and got to enjoy some great tunes, as well as the Creole accent of the DJ. Too cool.
So, onward to Waffle House. I have been in love with Waffle House since I was a teenager in Texas. The other homeless punk kids and I had a friend that worked in one, and on the nights that we didn't have places to stay and it was rainy or too cold to sleep in the tunnels, we would head over and drink coffee all night. Waffle House also had the cheap all you can eat menu, so whenever we could scrape together $5 each, we'd head over and gorge ourselves for hours. They did eventually discontinue the cheap all you eat menu, but my love for the food and for the atmosphere there stayed just as strong.
For those unfamiliar, WH is basically a chain of Southern diners, good and greasy, with a feeling like you just stepped back into the 50s. Also, they all have jukeboxes, which are stocked with oldies, especially ones with something to do with food. There are also like five songs which are actually about Waffle House. They have even released compilations of Waffle House jukebox music.
Anyway, it was a sunny morning as we pulled into the WH parking lot, where Manny was waiting for us, leaning up against his car, all smiles. We piled out, said our hellos, and made a couple of introductions as we smoked our butts before going into the restaurant. The six of us took up a line of counter seats and perused the menu. I already knew what part of my order would be. My favorite item on the WH menu would have to be hash browns. They have a lot of variables involved, so every order can be different.
The Waffle House Menu
http://www.wafflehouse.com/images/alacarte90611.pdf
As you can see, the choices for hash browns are:
Scattered - On the grill
Smothered - Sauteed Onions
Covered - Melted Cheese
Chunked - Grilled Hickory Smoked Ham
Diced - Grilled Tomatoes
Peppered - Spicy Jalepeno Peppers
Capped - Grilled Button Mushrooms
Topped - Bert’s Chili
Country - Sausage Gravy
I went with Scattered, Smothered, Covered, Chunked, Peppered, and Capped. My favorite part of it is actually the ordering, since I feel like a part of the kitchen staff when calling it out to the waitress. To compliment my side dish, I also ordered a Texas Cheesesteak - Shredded "steak" on Texas Toast with grilled onions and double cheese.
The grill masters of Waffle House almost never disappoint, and they sure didn't this time. We had our food in just a few minutes, and it was just the right grease to crunch ratio. Oh, and I didn't use the mayonnaise packet in the picture. I'm still not entirely sure why they even include it.
We spent the meal being social with each other. It amazes me sometimes how even five guys that spend nearly every waking moment together can still come up with fresh conversation when even just one more person is added to the mix. All in all, tons of fun. Also, I think the funny looks we got from most of the other patrons helped us to be a little more hyper.
As much as we would have loved to stay to eat and chill all day, we had a show to get to that was still very far away, so we settled our bills and headed back out to the vehicles. We chilled for a few more minutes there, listening to a band Manny suggested to us, then we headed to a specialty store just a couple of minutes away for one more treat with him before we got back on the road.
Manny knows that we are huge fans of trying local cuisine when we pass through places, so he had to bring us to a shop that sells Cracklin's and Boudin. What are those, you ask? Well, allow me to explain.
Both items are pork products. Cracklin's are basically pork rinds, except they include with some of the fat and meat included instead of just the skin. They are prepared the same way as pork rinds are. Since they are a snack that will keep at room temperature for months, they are very popular in the South. We got a couple of bags of them fresh out of the grease. The taste is very much like that of pork rinds, just a little bit fuller, almost wrapping around the tongue. And their name is absolutely accurate - they are CRISPY! They crackle. This is what one looks like. You can see the difference in color between skin and no skin. (The skin is the lighter part.)
So, onto the Boudin. Boudin is a type of pork sausage, but instead of just being meat, it is mixed with spiced rice before going into the casing. According to Wikipedia:
Boudin blanc: A white sausage made of pork without the blood. Pork liver and heart meat are typically included. In Cajun versions, the sausage is made from a pork rice dressing, (much like dirty rice; such brands consist of Foreman's Boudin, Richard's Cajun Kitchen, and Nu Nu's) which is stuffed into pork casings. Rice is always used in Cajun cuisine, whereas theFrench/Belgian version typically uses milk, and is therefore generally more delicate than the Cajun variety. In French/Belgiancuisine, the sausage is sauteed or grilled. The Louisiana version is normally simmered or braised, although coating with oil and slow grilling for tailgating is becoming a popular option in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
We got some of the regular version of this and some of the spicy version, and we owe a big thanks to Manny, because he wouldn't let us pay for any of it! Real hospitality is not a lost art! As to the eating: I dug right into a piece of the Boudin, even though I was mostly full of Waffle House goodness. As per usual, I opted for the spicy to start with. The first thing I noticed on biting into the Boudin was how the rice made the texture differ from other types of sausage. It was less dense and easier to eat by itself. Unfortunately, my phone chose to die just about then, so I didn't get a picture of the Boudin, but it just looks like a long link of Kielbasa except more brown than red.
We munched on the two Louisiana snacks for the rest of our drive that day, as we passed through the last bit of southwestern Louisiana and then into the great state of Texas. Here is the state that I have the most history with besides my home state of Massachusetts. Tell ya what - since I have such a history with the place, I'll break it into another post. So, that's it for this one.
Keep on eating!
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Keep on eating!
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Chestnut Growler plays drums for The Swaggerin' Growlers, a punk/folk band based in Boston, MA. He tours full time. This blog is about the food experienced on the road: the good, the bad, and homemade and the gas station sammiches. You can find the band here:
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