Location: 15 Avenue B
Cuisine: Belgian Waffles
Best Dish: Speculoos spread is our new favorite treat. We could honestly put that on everything. However, the star of the evening was the Southern Belle. It was decadent and surprisingly filling.
Overall: A cozy fun eatery with unlimited options and variations. A nice place for adventurous eaters who love to mix and match flavors. Good for a casual date or a full on pig out session with a few of your favorite people.
Nearly ten years ago a bright yellow truck selling Wafels emerged onto the NYC street food scene. These weren’t your typical syrup and butter waffles, these delightful confections were topped with imaginative things like fresh fruits and cookies. From the humble truck Wafels and Dinges has grown to include a small fleet of trucks, several carts, three kiosks and a flagship cafe. Having seen these carts in various locations throughout the city, we were curious about this fun yellow truck boasting “wafels” and “dinges”, we finally satisfied out curiosity with a visit to the lower east side (LES) cafe.
The space is bright and cheerful with a warm welcoming atmosphere. The staff greets every customer with a warm smile and actually get excited when you haven’t been there before. They truly enjoy explaining the concept and offering suggestions. One question we simply had to ask was about Dinges. As in, what the heck are they and why wold we want them. As it turns out, “dinges” are simply things or accompaniments to the wafels. Anything served at wafels and dinges that aren’t a wafel is a dinge. Some unique dinges that you may use to customize your experience include: peanut butter, cream cheese, and Nutella.
Our first glance at the menu had us floored, we hadn’t expected so many different variations and possibilities. We were especially surprised by the assortment of savory wafels. Before visiting Wafels and Dinges, our only experience with savory wafels was the brunch favorite, chicken, and wafels. Needless to say, we were anxious to sample something new and ordered the “Southern Belle”. The Southern Belle is a crispy wafel overflowing with sausage gravy and cheese,served with a light green salad. The gravy was thick and full of sumptuous bits of sausage.
For our second wafel, we went with the “House Hashbrown Wafel”. This wafel is made of hearty potato and topped with liege syrup. Liege is a tart slightly sweet syrup made from a fruit reduction. The syrup was thick and tasty with a mild date flavor. For this wafel, we took advantage of one of our favorite things and topped it with copious amounts of bacon. Bacon makes everything better and though it will always be an easy favorite the combination of flavors is what made this dish special. The warm crispy waffel was a good vehicle for the sweet tangy syrup and salty bacon, butt he sour cream it was truly made it magical. That small hint of creaminess brought all the flavors together perfectly.
After having such a great time with the savory options we tried an assortment of mini sweets. The sweet options are plentiful and the toppings range from strawberries and bananas to the unique but incredibly addictive speculoos spread. Speculoos is a traditional Belgian cookie that tastes like gingerbread only lighter and buttery. The genius behind Wafels and Dinges turned that delicious cookie into an amazing spread that even beat the great Bobby Flay! To sample it for yourself order “De Throwdown” an amazing wafel topped with speculoos spread, whipped cream and cookie crumbles.
If you love apple pie, give “De Apple of My Pie” a chance. This tasty wafel is covered with dulce de leche, chunky apple jam and whipped cream.
For a serious dose of sweetness give in to temptation and have “De Smores Wafel”. This wafel is topped with marshmallows, Belgian chocolate and instead of graham crackers that insanely good speculoos spread. This is the stuff your sweet dreams are made of.
Though the Wafel and Dinges cafe is a new venture they offer a customer service experience that rivals most five star restaurants. The staff is warm and attentive without hovering and most importantly they are friendly. They really take pride in their work and have a great time doing it. Check out WafelsandDinges.com for a complete list of locations and a quirky history lesson of following their truck on social media via facebook and twitter for more info.
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[…] so many different variations and possibilities,” John Simon wrote on his lifestyle blog, XOJohn, especially surprised by the savory choices of dinges. In particular, John and his dining […]
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