Monday, July 21, 2008

All hail the Waffle House

In the classic film Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock ate all his meals for a month at McDonalds. If the clerk asked him to Super Size his meal, he was required to indulge in that prodigious orgy of grease and disgust. His health, to put the case mildly, took a turn for the worse. That flick was a mockumentary of the prominent fast food culture in the U.S. and an important one that I've liked to show my students.

I've been in Phoenix three days, and I've done five trips to the Waffle House already. I'm not trying to prove a point, but rather I just think the place kicks ass. The grilled chicken sandwiches are fabulous -- the best I've ever had. The waffles are of course brilliant, and the grilled bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches are nice for the occasional artery clogging delight. The hash browns come with cheese, onions and lots of other choices. In Waffle House parlance this is called "scattered, smothered and covered." They also have chunked, which doesn't sound too good, and I'm not sure what that adds. The coffee, fair warning, is and always has been, the weak link. I'm not a fan of chain restaurants in general, but the Waffle House actually does have good food and it lives up to its motto of "good food, fast and cheap" -- all while being open twenty four hours a day.

Waffle House was a staple of my college days. The main problem is that the House is rather regional -- mostly southern. New Jersey, sadly, is IHOP country. Note the true Mason/Dixon line above. One time I drove four hours or so from Columbia, S.C. to Atlanta, GA on a college trip and amused myself by counting Waffle Houses. Memory said the number was pegged at 45. If I had checked into the regional Waffle House availability, the relocation debate I had would have gone easier. All hail the Waffle House. ***

Randy Steele has a blog called Everybody's Got a Cousin on Saipan. I spent two weeks in Les Penas, Philippines, a section of Manila, and bumped into three Saipan folks. I saw Dennis, the erstwhile drummer from the Big Beats in the local mall, Sam, the one time owner of Sam's, now Wild Bill's, in the Manila Domestic Airport, as well as Richard Waldo, current NMC professor and former PSS chief bean counter.

13 comments:

bigsoxfan said...

Scattered and Smothered. Never tried the chunked as best I can remember, but I'm sure that includes some sort of meat product with loads of attached fat. I'm drooling... Could I have some butter on my bacon wrapped sausage please?

Marianas Pride said...

Indulge Jeff. You deserve it!

I spoke to Pete Leau and he said you were a great teacher and very dedicated. It is sad to see PSS lose another fine teacher.

Hope all is well with you and your family. Life is an adventure, and you are certainly embracing it!

It must be nice to have 24 hour power that you can afford. What is it like? Please share with us. Last night was a typical night of a three hour power outage. Dais and I of course took turns fanning our kids. I am still reluctant to buy a back-up generator. Actually, I just can't afford one.

Let me know if you know of any hospitals selling kidneys. I need to pay my next CUC bill...

KAP said...

That survey finding higher percentages of overweight people in the South was just a coincidence, I'm sure.

I'm jealous. Breakfast cholesterol bombs are my weakness. The prices go up every time I splurge and go out and everyone's discovered portion control. Saipan-size me, please.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

...and the good news is: right beside that Waffle House is a Sam's Club and an Outlet Mall and just up the road is the new Stadium and loads of other stuff. You should take up golf with over 240 golf courses and adding more all the time. Lots of growth and a booming economy is what you are moving into, Jeff. Have fun.

PS: Try the grits at Waffle House....they are good.

Anonymous said...

I prefer Cracker Barrel to WH or IHOP but us far off islanders will have to settle for Wild bill's and Jollibee.

Jeff said...

Wild Bill's has the best cheap breakfast I've experienced in all my vast travels in Asia.

SteeleOnSaipan said...

Thanks for the mention and sorry to hear that you had left. I didn't hear about any going away function, you slip out in the middle of the night?

Best of luck. RS

elle said...

IHOP's! I am SO jealous! I wish we had one here! Congrats on the big move, Jeff! Give Cynthia my regards when you see her. It's gonna be strange not seeing her walk by my classroom every morning!

Jeff said...

Will tell her. Keep up the good work at SVES and best to your dad, who I always thought a supernice guy. I'm a fan of your whole family truth be told.

Randy, the end did come suddenly. I hope to visit Saipan when school gets out next year.

Harry Blalock said...

I used to absolutely love Waffle House too Jeff, and always made a habit of stopping by them on our travels. Even though I miss Waffle House, I'm sure that my heart and overall health has improved greatly as a result. I'll probably live another 20 years now, which honestly I'm not sure is a good thing!

Hope things are going well for you there, it sounds like it is.

Melissa said...

Oh, Jeff, you are making August 28th seem SO very very far away... I cannot WAIT to hang out at the Waffle House counter with my dad, having MY personal fav- scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, and DICED! (The chunked is ham, and the diced is tomato- if my memory serves me correctly.)

Jeff said...

yup, you're right on chunked. I verified at breakfast there this morning.

Anonymous said...

IHOP is coming to Guam & i'm thrilled!