I love
Belgian Waffles. I ate waffles in Belgium. See me up there? I'm HAPPY. Sometimes late at night, or even in the middle of my day I will stop whatever I'm doing and look for cheap tickets to Brussels just to get a waffle, well, if I flew all the way there I'm sure I'd have more than one. Lyle and I went to Brussels for a long weekend a couple of years ago and after we returned I spent weeks searching for the perfect Belgian Waffle recipe or even restaurant in my area to get one of these tasty treats. I was very
unsuccessful. I was also very sad.
So you can imagine my delight last November when just one block away from my house appeared a new take away restaurant called "
de Belgu". What could it be except my beloved Belgian waffles?
We took
the dogs out one weekend day and walked up to
Melrose Ave to get some cash, and lo, shimmering in the distance,
de Belgu were open! Having just had breakfast I could stomach getting a waffle so soon, but they were standing outside offering free samples and we each took one. Lyle deemed it yummy and I called it a little cold (it was on a plate outside so what could you expect). We announced we'd be back.
Fast forward to a week later and we decide to go get our big treat only to get there and discover they are CLOSED. We thought there had to be some mistake, they just opened! But as days turned into weeks that rolled into months, they remained tightly shut. That's that we decided. Poor planning. Not enough people love waffles like we do. And I cursed their darkened store front every time I drove by, about 4 times a day.
Then two weeks ago we got this in the mail:
HUH? It didn't make sense. "You wanna' walk up and see?" asked Lyle.
No, I've been burned before and I'm not making a special trip up there just to find them still closed.
Our niece is much wiser, "I'll call the number and see if they answer." She called the number on the postcard and got some woman who claimed it was her cell phone and didn't know anything about waffles.
Then we decided that they must have had these postcards printed up in China when they first opened and it took them four months to deliver and then their promotion company didn't check to see if they were still around and they just mailed them out without even checking on the phone number.
After a twenty minute discussion we agreed to go after dinner. I can't tell you how excited I was to find this:
Okay, so Lyle's not very excited to have his picture taken. But they were open! Oh no, what if I could get Belgian Waffles whenever I wanted? How fat would I be in a week? In two months?
Except they aren't exactly the waffles I was seeking. These are Japanese Belgium-style waffles in butter, green tea, coconut, cranberry, blueberry or cocoa. They are not large. You can buy them by the dozen. They are also sitting in the shop ready for you like doughnuts and not made to order (unless they were out of your selection).
I learned that the reason they were closed for 4 months was because they didn't have the right permits from the city for their occupancy and hadn't got all their Health Department paperwork processed in time.
Lyle and I each had one butter flavored waffle, then we got a half dozen and took them home. They were better re-heated in the toaster.
But they just weren't MY Belgian Waffles. Don't get me wrong, we ate them all. Two at a time. Standing in the kitchen like little pigs. But we haven't raced back to get more yet. Perhaps its because I only think of them when we finish dinner and they are closed by then. But I guess I could go anytime during the day. And yet...
I guess the problem is my expectations. Those waffles didn't make either one of us look nearly as happy as Lyle is in this waffle picture from Belgium.
Perhaps it was the lack of whipped cream?
