It’s breakfast. It’s lunch. It’s … brunch.
It’s protein. It’s carbohydrates. And then you can choose to put syrup, ranch or wing sauce (but probably not all three) on it.
Above all else, it’s comfort food.
We’re talking about the nouveau riche dish of chicken and waffles.
And on Sunday the dish gets its own day — Aug. 8 is National Fried Chicken and Waffle Day — even though fried chicken (July 6) and waffles (an international day on March 25) have their own separate days.
“Chicken ‘n waffles” has been a part of Americana for a long, long time, first appearing in the United States' colonial period in the 1600s. Its first appearances in the South came after the migration of Southern African-Americans to the North during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era.
The Pennsylvania Dutch version of a plain waffle with pulled, stewed chicken on top, covered in white chicken gravy.
Fast forward today and “chicken ‘n waffles” turns up as a popular comfort food on local cuisine diner menus, mostly as breaded or friend chicken tenders on a freshly-made waffle with a choice of sauce.
In the past three years of Chicken and Waffle Day — officially established Aug. 8 by the Florida Legislature — diners across the country have celebrated this staple on their menus. Metro Diner on Osceola Parkway will offer specials on the dish Saturday and Sunday.
So enjoy this anytime dish this weekend. Ranch or syrup?
