Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe

Recently, Sunday mornings have become one of the most relaxing times of my week. I sleep in as much as I can. After waking up, I putz around the web and the house, not trying to accomplish anything except not trying to accomplish anything. Then, once my stomach is fully awake, I begin to ponder what I want for breakfast. Sunday is a day that some restaurants in town take off, but there are many that open for breakfast and/or brunch. I'm usually a huge proponent for at least 3 meals a day, but starting with a rich meal around 11am or noon makes it difficult to justify two more meals before the day is over. So when it comes to Sunday brunch, I'm looking to go all out. And this past weekend, that is exactly what I got at Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe in Chapel Hill.

You have two options for going to Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe: get there early or wait. This restaurant is on the main street of Chapel Hill, Franklin Street, right across from UNC campus, so it is very popular, especially amongst the church-going crowd. The restaurant is very deep but not very wide. In the front are some bar seats that are first come-first serve and great if you're dining alone or if you are lucky enough to find a couple open seats. The remainder of the restaurant are smaller booths either next to the open kitchen or clustered in the back half of the building. There are some Old English decoration features in the back, but this eatery is a Southern diner through and through. We were extremely fortunate to arrive during a lull time and were seated in 5 minutes, just before a line 20-30 people deep formed.


Firstly, we had an omelet (I think it was called the Big Bird). Three eggs wrapped around sliced turkey, bacon and tomato, covered in cheese sauce. On the side were cheese-covered hash browns and a biscuit. The omelet tasted great. The cheese sauce seemed a little much at first, but it really brought the omelet together, especially since it had no cheese on the inside. The biscuit was good, though nothing special considering this is the South. Hash browns were classic and perfect: crunchy outside with tender inside.


The other meal we had was a pancake combo with scrambled eggs and bacon. But the most interesting feature is this: the pancakes were filled with M&M's! The candies melt into the pancake, giving it the taste of a chocolate chip pancake, but the candy coating gives it an indescribable quality that makes you want to order another stack of these rich beauties. The menu also claims they can use Reese's Pieces in the pancakes as well, so we might be going back to Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe soon to do a side-by-side comparison of these candy-filled griddle cakes.