Winner: Hen Loving Waffle
Restaurant: Gary Rack’s Fat Rooster, Delray Beach, FL
Sandwich Creator: Matthew Danaher
Inspiration: “We just cooked and came up with what we love.”
Key Ingredients: Sweet potato waffle, sorghum, peanut and benne seed slaw, Southern-style chicken thighs and whiskey watermelon
Price: $16
Food Cost: $3.86
What the Judges Said: Maybe it’s because we’re northerners, but we never quite got the point of chicken and waffle entrees. But the idea of actually using the waffle to make a chicken sandwich not only makes sense, it’s brilliant. That’s particularly so here because the waffles are made with sweet potato, which adds a nice touch of sweetness to balance the spice of the fried chicken. Danaher goes the extra mile here by using free range, hormone-free organic chicken. All of this alone would make for a kick-ass sandwich, but the addition of a fantastic slaw and whiskey watermelon (pickled watermelon, macerated in charred jalapeno-infused whiskey) takes it over the top.
Honorable Mentions:
• Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich: Plan Check Kitchen & Bar, L.A.
• Spicy Chicken Sandwich: The Greenhouse Tavern, Cleveland
• Jalapeno-Laced Chicken Sausage Sandwich: EVOO, Cambridge, MA
• Greek Chicken Chapati: Tower Inn Café, Ypsilanti, MI
• Deep South, Ruckus Pizza Pasta & Spirits, Cary, NC
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