Upon recommendation from a friend, I had the great pleasure of eating at Off the Waffle at their branch in downtown Eugene. Let’s just say it was love at first bite when I dug into my Ol’ Banana Split waffle and was pleasantly surprised by the scoop of ice-cream that was hidden within the ample amount of whip cream that adorned the top of my Liège waffle. At that moment I knew I was hooked and had to know more about this new discovery of mine known as Off the Waffle.
Brothers Dave and Omer founded the small chain, originally working out of their house in a W. Jefferson neighborhood. The brothers Dave and Omer are originally from Israel and grew up traveling around the world spending lots of time in Boston and Belgium. They found Eugene on a road trip in search of a place to settle down and open their waffle house, a longtime family dream. Since then they opened at their first location in S. Eugene in January 2010 and expanded to their second location on Willamette St. downtown Eugene in November 2012. Adding to the family business these days are their father Shimon and sister Vered. Their downtown location is at 840 Willamette St. open Sun-Wed 7am-9pm and Thurs-Sat 7am-3am, and their South Eugene branch is located at 2540 Willamette St. open daily 7am-8pm.
Off the Waffle specializes on a variety of dishes centered on the Liège waffle. According to their website, these waffles are richer and sweeter than the average Belgian waffle, created by the chef of the prince-bishop of Liège, Belgium in the 18th century as an adaptation of brioche bread dough. Their menu options range from more desert style waffles to ones geared to be a full meal. With The OL’ Banana Split with ice crème, bananas, whipped cream, almonds and drizzled with dark chocolate sauces for $7.00 on one side of the menu. On the other side the CMB with organic fried chicken topped with melted Havarti, real maple syrup and fresh basil stuffed in a brioche-style waffle for $8.00 served with a simple side salad. The Happy Hour specials are both a good deal as well as fun and unique, with Mustache Monday’s where you get pints of bear or cider for $2 each for sporting a mustache, to Funky Friday’s where a customer gets a free mini with every beer if they wear, do or say something funky.

My CMB waffle from Off the Waffle

Last Friday night I had quite the exceptional time at the downtown location when I wandered in for and evening waffle. Thinking I was going to be enjoying a quiet waffle with a friend I was pleasantly surprised that the place was packed with live music playing in the corner. So I enjoyed the live amateur musicians, put on by a gentleman in a top hat named Scotty apparently every Friday night. As I munched on my mouth watering CMB waffle and sipped on my loose oolong tea under the light of red Mason jar light fixtures and strings of white Christmas lights. Most definitely a place I will be visiting again, but remember their warning advertised on their menu, “Consuming under cooked eggs may increase the chance of food borne illness, may also increase the chance of abduction by aliens.” So eat at your own risk if you don’t want to be meeting ET.