Certain things are always better in pairs. Bonnie and Clyde. Fred and Ginger. Posh and Becks. For me and Tim, an entirely new pairing now tops our favorites list: Chicken 'n Waffles!
Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles, Long Beach. (06/05/2008)
Despite being Southern California residents for ages, we had never been to the local institution that is Roscoe's House of Chicken 'n Waffles. We realize that this blog post is not uncovering some little hidden gem nobody knows about yet. The place is dang popular. And now that we've tried it, we understand why.
We were invited to the one in the LBC by our good friend Amy who wanted to buy dinner for the guys who helped her move the previous weekend. And far be it from us to decline an invitation to Roscoe's Chicken 'n Waffles. Joining us for this long overdue excursion was Amy's sister Ashley and another friend Bill.
Scoe's #2 - 1/4 chicken in gravy with 2 waffles. (06/05/2008)
Ashley was already a fan of Roscoe's hizzy, so Bill and I followed her lead by ordering "Scoe's #2," which is 1/4 of a fried chicken, smothered with gravy, and paired with two fluffy waffles. Ash and I stuck to the breast/wing white meat, while Bill went for the leg/thigh dark meat. To counteract the fattier dark meat, Bill at least pretended to make a healthier choice by adding a side garden salad.
Let me just say I was enamored with the chicken on my first bite. The breast I had was extraordinarily plump and meaty. It was cooked to perfection too. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Even the gravy smothering it couldn't diminish that amazing crispy outside.
Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles menu. (06/05/2008)
Don't let me leave out the waffles. They were fluffy, hot and flavorful. My only complaint, if you can call it that, was they put too much butter on top. But it was nothing I couldn't remedy by scraping some off with a butter knife.
Tim and Amy got the Carol C. Special, which consists of 1 succulent breast (no gravy) and 1 delicious waffle. Let me tell you, after trying Tim's chicken, I didn't know which I liked better — with the gravy, or without. It was that good. Tim also tried the buckwheat waffle, which was also delicious, but just a little more dense.
1 Succulent Breast, 1 Delicious Waffle. (06/05/2008)
Interestingly, after a little web research, I learned that the combination of chicken and waffles is not a recent concept. Sure, Roscoe's opened his first restaurant in 1976, but it goes way further than that. In fact, some believe it goes back to Thomas Jefferson, who on a trip to France in the 1790s, brought back a waffle iron. Chicken with waffles was said to have began appearing in cookbooks shortly thereafter.
Frankly, I don't really care who gets the credit — Thomas Jefferson or Roscoe. All I know is that I loves chicken 'n waffles. We'll definitely go back.
