ROSCOE'S CHICKEN N' WAFFLES

Another LA institution is Roscoe's Chicken N' Waffles. You've read about it in the news, on blogs, in movies...The funny thing is, if you actually talk to anyone who grew up in LA, you'll find out that most natives have never been to Roscoe's. At least that was true of my friends, and true of myself. So fulfilling Tom's request to visit was also my first time. I decided to take him to the one in Hollywood. We couldn't figure out if it was the original or not, but when we arrived, there was a small crowd waiting outdoors. I gave our name and we sat in the sunshine to wait for our table. As I looked at the people waiting, I realized that there are some tourists, but there are also a lot of regulars who visit this place. The wait was pretty quick and after about 15 minutes, we were seated at a booth inside, all aglow with this funky red/pink lighting.

I took a pic of the menu without the flash so that you could experience the lighting for yourself. The menu was more extensive than I expected. Not due to the variety of food, but due to the multitude of combinations you could order it in. You could also get breakfast. After looking at the waffles that were coming out, I concluded that I probably wouldn't like them. I prefer the Belgian style waffles that are more crispy on the outside. These looked a bit soggy. So I ordered some friend chicken with gravy and rice (I admit, it thought it was gravy and biscuits, but the biscuit came on the side with a large pat of melting butter). Tom and I also shared an order of mac and cheese. Here's a pic of my food: And the side of mac and cheese and my biscuit.
I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the rice, but everything else was great. The chicken was well fried (though my fried chicken is better, I guess it's easier when you're not cooking for hundreds of people a day) , the biscuit was delicious and the mac and cheese was truly tasty (thought the noodles were way over cooked).

Meanwhile, Tom ordered the typical fried chicken and waffles, with a side of gravy.

Tom also enjoyed his fried chicken and though he wasn't in love with the waffle, he did say it was a great vehicle for the gravy. Oh yeah, the gravy was also really tasty. Overall, we had a pretty enjoyable experience. The service was just ok, but they did have a lot of people to serve. We were so stuffed with greasy food after lunch that it was painful to move and we ate very little for dinner. But it was still a great once in the lifetime type thing to do. In the future, I'll fry my own chicken.