Restaurant Critic Cooks for 24 Hours Straight at Waffle House
It’s not every day you see a renowned four-star restaurant critic signing up to work … a 24-hour shift as a cook at a Waffle House.
Yet that’s precisely what happened when Andrew Knowlton, the Bon Appétit restaurant and drinks editor who spends a lot of time traversing the country in search of excellent eats and drinks, got behind the Waffle House waffle iron.
Knowlton (a friend of Yahoo Food) had been curious to see whether he could hack one 8-hour shift at a Waffle House in his home city of Atlanta, which he’d been supporting with his hard-earned cash since one tipsy visit at age 17. To his chagrin, mentioning it to his editor resulted in a full triple-shift assignment. (You can read the scattered, smothered, covered, nitty-gritty details here.)
How’d he do? Watch the video to find out. (Spoiler alert: Not only did Waffle House co-founder Tom Forkner swing by to judge Knowlton’s results, but he had to cook hash browns and waffles for his dad, his wife, and his two kids.) It’s a neat snapshot into the world of a 24-hour nationwide establishment that, we learn, actually inspired FEMA’s code of storm severity, which is called the Waffle House Index. And we’re happy to hear that employees take a Beyoncé dance break in order to stay awake.
Craving waffles now?
Sweet potato waffles with winter citrus
Which waffle is right for you?
How would you handle this assignment? Could you pull it off?
