Chicken and waffles, sliderized.

I have a confession to make. Until this past Mardi Gras, I’d never eaten chicken and waffles. Oh yeah, and, every now and then I get a jones for White Castle. And I used to work there. I guess that’s three confessions. It’s been at least a year since I paid a visit to my local White Castle, but when I saw a poster for the new chicken and waffle sandwich, I knew I’d be stopping by soon. Had I not eaten a rather large Sri Lankan lunch, I would have tried this exercise in comfort food excess immediately.  “Imported from Belgium,” the copy promised presumably referring to the waffles, not the chicken. Today I decided to try out the slider king’s entry into the comfort food mashup market.

It could have been stress-induced hunger talking, but I’ll go on record as saying that this is the rare case where the actual product looks more appetizing than the picture in the ad. Two sweet waffles cradled a fried chicken breast topped with creamy gravy and bacon crumbles. Smokey sweet and crunchy it was way better than White Castle’s last stab at American comfort food, a sloppy pulled pork sandwich. And it’s way better than any of the sandwiches—like the infamous triple fish with cheese—I invented when I used to work there. I am so very glad to have tried it. I am also glad that my local White Castle is just far enough away to discourage a 1 a.m. chicken and waffle run.