Thursday, September 06, 2007
Chicken and waffles? Yes!
Larry Bly
Larry Bly has plenty on his plate these days. He's got two TV shows on Cox Cable Roanoke. Click ahead for details and showtimes.
Recent columns
For those of us who are old enough to remember dumb lyrics such as "chicken in the bread pan kickin' out dough," it's not much of a stretch to imagine a pairing of two unlikely food items like chicken and waffles.
In fact, it's very Southern. Here we have an abundance of unlikely food couplings, especially for breakfast. My Aunt Toots would save last night's chicken gravy, thin it down a little the next morning, and serve it on top of pancakes. Yum! Now that's eating. And yesterday's leftover mashed potatoes were mixed with an egg or two and chopped onions to become tomorrow's potato cakes. To this day, I purposely make too many mashed potatoes so I can enjoy potato cakes the next day.
So when Thelma's Chicken 'N Waffles recently opened out on Orange Avenue, some friends wanted to know what in the world the two had to do with each other. Well, if you have to ask ...
I can tell you this: Based on the number of chicken cutlet sandwiches that the Waffle House fixes in the mornings these days, I'd say that chicken has caught on big time for breakfast.
At Thelma's, there really is an entree called "chicken 'n waffles, served with ..." and then you can choose a fried chicken breast, leg and thigh, chicken tenders or chicken wingettes. And yes, they're delicious together; and you can order them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'm not a big breakfast eater, but I love the occasional breakfast for dinner, so this place is a dream come true.
The waffles come out piping hot and perfectly browned. The chicken is unbelievable. In fact, if it's Southern cooking you're looking for, head on down to Thelma's.
My group tried most of the listed "sides" and not one was disappointing. The mac and cheese was cheesier and more buttery than you can make at home, the cole slaw simple perfection, the cabbage had a smoky flavor like my granddad used to accomplish. Oh, there's plenty we didn't get to: corn pudding, onion rings, pinto beans, and green beans, to name a few. And you get plenty of everything for a reasonable price. My chicken was tender, yet slightly dry like I prefer it. I don't want a bunch of chicken juice running all down on me.
The ice tea was weak, but the entree flavors were bold and delicious.
Thelma herself is out front, but we can only imagine that Thelma's mother is working in the kitchen. A catfish entree was less than $9 and it was tender, thick and browned perfectly on top. It did not look like it had ever been frozen, but I honestly couldn't tell.
I had the waffle and chicken with lots of sides. And another dining partner tried the fried chicken livers in onions and gravy. They were deep fried perfectly and though concerned about them being done; she was quite satisfied: crunchy on the outside, tender and only slightly pink on the inside. Now that's chicken liver.
Other entrees available for lunch or dinner include salmon croquettes, whiting fillets, and ribs St. Louis style. The ribs are falling off the bone tender and flavored just right.
Thelma's menu reads like a book; it goes on for seven pages and includes platters (sausage gravy and corn beef hash, country ham with eggs, chop steak, etc.) sandwiches (egg, BLT, hot smoke, country ham), omelets of all sorts and flapjack pancakes to boot.
Thelma's has wings, from 6 pieces on up to 36 pieces of them, fried, barbecued or in Thelma's "special sauce." Just choose your favorite.
There are six listed salads (who's eating salads when you can have chicken and waffles?), subs and clubs galore. Sandwiches include hot dogs, hot smokes, chuck wagon, hamburger, fried or grilled chicken, boneless pork chops, a chicken cordon bleu sandwich and a whiting or catfish sandwich.
We tried very hard to make it to dessert, which could have been a nice bread pudding with a sauce, but as usual, we overdid the entrees and sides. You'll find an assortment of pies (announced daily), cakes, cobblers, and who knows what else!
The food at Thelma's was worth the wait (as promised), but the wait was very long. For those who say that "no one reads the papers anymore," I only wish you had been at my table for nearly an hour. According to our wait-person, "since the article in The Roanoke Times came out, we've been overwhelmed and understaffed." And they truly were.
Unfortunately, many who couldn't spend an hour waiting for lunch got up and left. It was sad, but even worse, they kept seating people when a simple "Sorry, we have a 45-minute wait for lunch" would have eliminated many of the problems and more than a few unhappy customers. Putting more people into a dining room that's already not getting food doesn't accomplish a thing.
The kitchen needs to get organized better and start getting the food out faster. The veggies and chicken are certainly pre-prepped, as they should be, so they need to cut down on time for the rest of the prep.
Having said all of that, the food was so good that I'll come back again anyway. At least for one more try. Maybe this time I'll start with the cobbler.
THELMA'S CHICKEN-N-WAFFLES
526 Orange Ave.
Roanoke, VA 24012
540-343-8888
