After a rough weekend, I needed something sweet. My sugar fix came in the form of Wafels & Dinges, the Belgian waffle truck that parks itself on Broadway and 113th on Mondays.
I was lucky -- usually the line for waffles is much longer.
It’s kind of absurd that I hadn’t ever been to Wafels & Dinges, considering they’re on my way to class once a week and filmed a Throwdown with Bobby Flay at the Columbia Journalism school last fall. Sadly, I wasn’t able to go then, (darn you class!) though Keith went and ended up on TV! The show aired this January, and even B. Flay couldn’t match the yummyness of the W&D crew.
I got the Liège waffle with spekuloos spread and vanilla ice cream. The Liège is a denser and sweeter than the regular Brussels waffle, with little chunks of pearl sugar that caramelize on the outside of the waffle as it heats up. Spekuloos are cookies common in Belgium and France, and the spread has the same consistency of Nutella, looks like creamy peanut butter and tastes like graham cracker. Apparently the spread is common in Belgium, but is hard to track down — it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page!
It was so big and filling I couldn't finish!
It’s probably good that there’s little information out there on Spekuloos, because I’m sure if I found it in my possession I’d eat it all in one setting. It reminded me of the blonde spread at Le Pain Quotidien, though I think that’s more like a nut butter. (I’m not sure though so if I’m wrong, please correct me!)
The Spekuloos and vanilla ice cream combo was pure heaven. Apparently the Belgians eat vanilla ice cream swirled with Spekuloos spread on their waffles, which is a good excuse for me to head over there and taste-test …
Looks delicious! 😀
Waffles are perfect for snow days :]