Battle of the Dishes: Chicken and Waffles
There’s always been a glamorous — if seemingly unlikely — connection between fried chicken and waffles. Some reports date the marriage of Southern fried bird and hot buttered waffles to the 18th century, when Thomas Jefferson brought a waffle iron back from Paris. It’s really a marriage made in cholesterol heaven, baby. The first “famous” vendor of the waffle-chicken platter was the legendary Wells Supper Club in Harlem (1938-1999), which began combining hot waffles and fried chicken as a dish for the early morning hours between dinner and breakfast.
The idea soon moved into the mainstream culture. In the 1945 movie Mildred Pierce, featuring Kansas City’s own teenage hellion-turned-movie icon Joan Crawford, the title character builds her restaurant fame and fortune on her fried chicken and crispy waffles!
Two new restaurants in Kansas City have revived the dish — excellent for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The new Niecie’s on Troost serves a hot, buttered waffle with three meaty, juicy and crispy chicken wings. It’s a sexy way to enjoy a variety of textures and flavors: hot, greasy, salty, sweet, crunchy. It’s not a fancy creation, but definitely satisfying.
A more upscale version is also served all day at the new Jack Gage American Tavern — reviewed in this week’s Pitch. Jack Gage’s features a couple of really good buttermilk-fried boneless breasts on a hot waffle, all drizzled with a house-made pecan Kentucky bourbon maple glaze.
Which is better? They’re both great. But because the Jack Gage version costs almost twice as much as Niecie’s, she gets the nod. You might as well get two waffles and six wings at Niecie’s and not have to eat again for a couple of days.
(Image via Flickr: skullymom13)
