Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Other Day, I Had A Hankering For Chicken And Waffles


There are a number of reasons for this. 

1.] It was a warm day and I wanted to be in the water. 

2.] Which reminded me that one of the best meals I ever ate was at a Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in Long Beach, California after a morning in the cold Pacific.  As I didn't know what time it was [I was only there for four days and kept to East Coast time], it was the perfect place to eat.

3.] At breakfast time, someone on the Roxbury green had waffles on the griddle. [Okay, it was me.] 

4.]  Around noon, someone was cooking chicken. 

5.]  There was a new version of "Mildred Pierce" advertised on some cable channel, and I remember when I read the wonderfully dark Cain novel that Mildred's first restaurant was a chicken and waffle house.  By the way, I'm convinced that James M. Cain, who also wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, really didn't like people very much.

6.] There's a chicken and waffle house six miles north of my favorite East Coast surf beach, too.

7.]  Chicken and waffles are about to become the new fish tacos.  That is, what was once a form of secret surfer [and blues musician] food, is about to go mainstream.

How do I know this?  Just read this story:

Harlem chef Carl Redding plans protest of IHOP over soul food dish chicken and waffles