Wafels & Dinges

While finishing off the remnants of our meal at Bobby Flay’s restaurant, Bar Americain, the thought of dessert entered our minds because we didn’t want such a flavorful experience to end. Sitting at the table, waiting for the waiter to take away our licked clean dishes, I had been trying to think of this vending truck that drives around the city serving Belgian waffles to its customers. I had seen it featured on the FoodNetwork TV show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay (ironic). The discouraging thing was it was almost impossible to find, due to the fact that we had no idea what the truck was called and it has a set schedule of where it’s going to be located at certain times of the day. We decided that we had eaten enough fatty, cheesy, deliciousness to make ourselves feel guilty for the rest of the day, so we decided to pay our bill and walk off those calories in the city.

We step foot outside and wouldn’t you know. There it is, in all it’s glory, the Wafels & Dinges truck. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The odds that this truck would be parked outside of Bobby Flay’s restaurant, waiting for us to come outside and experience the Throwdown winning “wafels” baffled me. It clearly was fate.

I’d like to say that we walked up cool, calm, and collective, but the excitement took over and we ran up to the truck, like little children do up to the ice cream man, to completely ignore the guilt we had felt just moments ago, to indulge in this wafel bliss.

We stood in line, actually, not even in line, we were so indecisive because of the uniqueness of these wafel combinations, that we had to give ourselves some time to read over the menu a few times.

There menu included mini-wafelini’s (a wafel shish kabob with bananas and strawberries), wafel’s with ice cream on top, even wafel’s with pulled pork on top! You can even pimp your own wafel by ordering a WMD (Wafel of Massive Deliciousness) and pile on any dinges you’d like.

You might be asking yourself, “what are dinges?” Well, dinges is “Belgian for toppings or ‘whatchammacallits’.” The dinges included strawberries, bananas, belgian chocolate fudge, whipped cream, nutella, dulche de leche, walnuts, REAL maple syrup, butter, and the most magical dinges of them all….spekuloos spread.

This was the secret ingredient that took down the mighty Bobby Flay in the Throwdown Challenge. I had to have it.

The aroma coming from the wafel iron instantly made more room in my stomach for this masterpiece.

The wafel that I ordered was a Belgian wafel with spekuloos spread and whipped cream on top. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Holding it in my hand, I didn’t know how to go about eating it. There had to have been forks lying around somewhere, but my patience was wearing thin. I didn’t care how I looked eating it in front of hundreds of New Yorkers so I literally shoveled it in.

It...was...amazing. I shed a tear while eating the wafel. It absolutely lived up to my expectations of this creation. I now knew first hand why this particular wafel trumped Bobby Flay’s waffle. Just look at this presentation, how could it not win?

The first thing that I could taste was the infamous spekuloos spread. And again, you’re probably wondering what spekuloos spread is. It is a graham cracker tasting/Belgian cookie paste, with the consistency of peanut butter. The heat from the fresh wafel thawed out spekuloos into this melted goo. The whipped cream on top was an important dinges because it held everything together and prevented a complete spekuloos mess from happening. But a wafel bib might still be necessary. Yes, they do have them.

But don’t let that take away from the awesomeness of the wafel itself. The batter of the wafel was perfect. It alone had flavor that allowed me to understand why so many people just order it plain. It was warm and chewy just like a wafel should be.

Wafels and Dinges also has coffee and hot Belgian cocoa, so it really makes for a perfect after meal dessert. If you’re eating lunch or dinner at a surround restaurant, avoid having dessert so you can experience heaven in a yellow truck. It is a must find if you’re in the city.

Wafels and Dinges absolutely deserves 4 out of 4 Belly Bustin’s

If you’re in the city and wondering where the Wafels and Dinges truck is, you can locate the truck by visiting this link

http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/location.html

Pizzeria Marzano: The Closest Pizza To Italy

I took a trip to Italy a couple years ago and was amazed to find that their idea of pizza was unlike anything we know in New York or in Chicago. Italians idea of pizza is a personalized meal with huge tastes, fresh ingredients, and wood fired ovens.

"PIZZERIA MARZANO" in Torrington CT is a place where you get pizza closest to that of our Italian counterparts. The pizza place, located right across from Target on East Main Street, can not easily be spotted from the road but the sounds of the Italian music playing from the speakers outside will indicate your arrival. Strewn across the entrance way are white Christmas lights like something out of Little Italy in New York and a a quaint little patio.

I am always amazed by the places that are located so close to you (25-30 minutes from Waterbury) that you never heard of. Upon walking in, rightfully so, this is your first image:

The atmosphere already hinted at the notion that these guys knew what they were doing...marble and wood accent almost every piece of the restaurant and the owners took great pride in making sure that it was a place people would actually want to sit down and eat in. The whole place feels comfortable and sweet smell of pizza invades your every breath.

However, I still wasn't sure that this place would be everything I heard it would but as I began to watch them make the pizza, my expectations rose. Pizzeria Marzano only has one size...that's right...no small, medium, or large...just one personal sized pizza (all reasonably around 10 bucks). I ordered the Margherita and the Clams and Prosciutto. First off, the dough is unbelievable. It tastes like freshly baked bread.

As you can see, the pizza comes out of the oven piping hot (only taking about 3-4 minutes to cook). What makes this pizza absolutely fantastic is...IT ACTUALLY HAS GOOD SAUCE. So many times you will get a pizza and it seems like you're only eating cheese and dough. Not here...Pizzeria Marzano only uses SAN MARZANO tomatoes D.O.P. For those of you not familiar with San Marzano, they are a particular and more expensive tomato from the region of San Marzano Italy. You can find them in your local grocery store (Napoli has some great ones) but make sure it says D.O.P. on the can because that means it came directly from San Marzano (not like some per-pa-traitin tomatoes out there).


Above is the clam and prosciutto pizza. First of all...holy crap. Just unbelievably made. Starting from the bottom up, the dough is strong enough to hold in all the juice and butter from the clam and cheese. They throw some extra clams in the shell and ship it out. Prosciutto is a tough business because it is expensive and anyone who knows anything can tell when it's cheap. The prosciutto was fantastic...salty and tender, this is how it's supposed to be done.

Look, I know we've done some pizzerias in the past (BAR) and they were all very good, but this place in Torrington IS A MUST STOP if you want to get a taste of Italy. Everything about this little gem is well done--to the atmosphere, the food, and the idea that you're tasting pizza you can't get everyday.


4 out of 4 Belly Bustins