Wafels & Dinges, Nuchas Food Trucks Launching Kiosks in Herald Square

October 9, 2013

Alan Neuhauser, DNAinfo

The Wafels & Dinges food truck is expanding into a new booth in Herald Square in the coming weeks, joining a another nearby kiosk for the popular empanada truck Nuchas.

Wafels & Dinges' move comes amid its introduction Wednesday of pulled-pork and chicken-and-waffle sandwiches to the menu of its oft-sighted yellow Belgian waffle truck.

The booth will stand just two blocks north of a new Nuchas kiosk that is also set to open next month.

"The Belgian Ministry of Culinary Affairs has given Wafels & Dinges Café permission to serve BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders and Chicken & Gravy Wafel Sliders at the café, a clear deviation of Belgian tradition, but deliciousness nevertheless," founder Thomas DeGeest said in a statement. 

Both sliders are available at the Wafels & Dinges Cafe in the East Village, and they'll also be served at the new kiosk in Herald Square when it opens next month. The chicken-and-gravy sandwich will be also be available from the vendor's trucks.

“After so many requests from customers and more than six years of stubbornly refusing and resisting, I’m proud to say we have our very own, original take on chicken ‘n waffles,” DeGeest added. "Since fried chicken and waffles would not pass the stringent culinary requirements of the Belgian Ministry, the wafel-team went back to the homeland for inspiration and created Chicken & Gravy Wafel Sliders based on the traditional vol-au-ventrecipe from Belgium."

The vol-au-vent recipe calls for chicken and mushroom gravy to be placed inside a puff pastry. The pastry is then sandwiched between a pair of hearty herb waffles.

The pulled-pork sliders, by comparison, stem straight from Americana: pulled pork, smoky barbecue sauce, coleslaw and a "Kool-Aid pickle," squeezed between a pair of mini waffles.

DeGeest called the pulled-pork slider "legendary."

The new Wafels & Dinges booth is scheduled to open in three weeks, timed to coincide with the unveiling of the Macy's holiday storefront. The impending opening was first reported by MidtownLunch.com.

On the south side of Herald Square, Nuchas — which won 2013 Vendy's "Rookie of the Year" award with its line of baked empanadas — will be setting up shop in a booth on 32nd Street. The vendor plans to serve its signature empanadas, as well as coffee, espresso and iced slushes.

It is overhauling the kiosk "to suit our aesthetic sensibilities," and it is expected to open Nov. 11.

For a rundown of the food trucks that most frequently roll into Midtown, check out our DNAinfo.com New York Guide to food trucks.