The chicken flavor is there. but you’re right, it’s really, really hidden. Like artificial maple syrup flavor on greasy potato chips with one or two “Dixies” snack crackers or 'Chicken in a Biskit" crackers mixed in. Real greasy and a bit sticky.
'Course, I only had a 3 ounce cup of the things to place my judgement on.
Triple D:
A proper chicken & waffles thread needs to mention Gladys Knight and Ron Winan’s Chicken & Waffles.
I had walked by one for years going “Chicken and Waffles?” “Gladys Knight?” And then one day I went in, ordered chicken and waffles, asked to meet Gladys Knight, as in the Pips and not someone else of the same name, and got to meet the one I requested. So the thing played out more or less according to the signage, which up to that time I had taken more as synecdochal/metonymous than literal.
I too am confused at how fried chicken is a thing that can go with waffles.
My friends and I got into a bit of a waffle war on Twitter recently, and I wrote a post on my blog about where I stand on what should go on waffles.
Basically, I’m baffled by the idea of mixing breakfast foods with non-breakfast ones. And how do you eat chicken and waffles? Pick up the chicken with your hands? Move it off the waffles to get at it with a fork without crushing the waffles? And there’s syrup all over it? It just seems unnecessarily complicated for something you’re eating before your coffee has kicked in.
I’ve yet to try it, but I can’t imagine it would be that different from biscuits and sausage gravy, which I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!!
Problem is, I rarely eat breakfast any more, not since I hit 50. Usually, I have orange juice, black coffee (no sugar), and aspirin and vitamins. At most, I eat twice a day, and never before 2:00 pm. 
Harlem. Southern California.
Nothing baffling.
You put syrup or gravy (or nothing) on the waffles, and eat it with your fork.
You eat the chicken with your hands or a fork.
You can drizzle some of the gravy on your chicken.
You can create a chickenized version of pigs in a blanket.
BTW: Chicken and waffles is not necessarily eaten for breakfast. I have had it for lunch and dinner. And it’s no more weirder than people having steak and eggs for breakfast.
As you continue to venture into different restaurants of the same food genre, you will begin to notice that many of them contain items on their menu that other restaurants don’t have. It’s a pretty new phenomena, whereas just a few years ago every restaurant was required to have identical menus.
I don’t think it’s too odd (although I’ve only had C&W for lunch), but comparing it to steak and eggs misses where the weirdness comes in for most people, IMHO. It’s the mix of fried chicken, a salty savory food, with a sweet breakfast food. It’s more like, it’s no weirder than, say, pancakes with breakfast sausages and syrup. And some people find that combo revolting. And others love it. That’s a bit more analogous.
I love chicken’n’waffles (with syrup on both… but I’m a big fan of that salty/sweet combo.)
That said, I am not a huge fan of Roscoe’s, I thought they were just ok. And the chips are kinda nasty, although there was someone here in the office who LOVED them and finished the bag.
When I lived in Cambridge (England) in the '70s, there was a place called Waffles that was owned by a Canadian guy. In addition to the sweet fruit & whipped cream and maple-syrupy sorts, he had a variety of savory ones on the menu. My favorite was sliced ham smothered in cheddar cheese sauce. Heavenly!
That looks delicious! Of course, the fried chicken looks like a great standalone dish. I would think the Chicken & Waffles idea would be more for average fried chicken and average waffles.
Just wanted to add Austin to this list. You can get Chicken and Waffles at a few different places around town. (ALL OF THOSE LINKS GO TO PDF MENUS) If you do take a look at any of those links you may notice that these are not soul food places.
My mom used to make chicken and waffles for breakfast on the weekends. Since she always used chicken from dinner the night before, I just assumed it was a leftover brunch type thing. I also assumed it was super common in the south but until I moved to Austin, I had never seen it on a menu outside of Harlem and I spent all of my summers growing up between Mississippi and South Carolina.
Definitely an enjoyable meal of food. I butter my waffle and use syrup on the waffle and the chicken. Delicious!
Indianapolis has a few chicken and waffles places. It’s not unique anymore.
I got a free sample bag of the chicken and waffle chips at Ralphs a couple weeks ago. I shared some with my daughter and members of my extended family to see their reactions, which were mixed. I personally liked them well enough, but my daughter HATED them, as did my sister (her twin refused to try them) and my older niece. My BILs liked them, but the biggest fan was my 3-year-old nephew. Now, every time he sees me he asks, “Auntie Lucky, do you have chips?”
I really want to try the cheesy garlic bread flavor, but I can’t find it anywhere, not even in the store where I got the sample.
I don’t know how much of a “tradition” it really is. I don’t think I ever saw this combination before the 1990s. Despite the claims on the wikipedia page, I suspect it is of recent vintage.
After reading some of the other posts, I am beginning to think this must have sprung up among the black diaspora in Harlem and southern California. It is not “a Southern thing.” I have lived in the South and eaten Southern cooking all my life and had never seen “chicken and waffles” on offer until about 20 years ago. When I first saw it advertised, I thought it a weird combo. I still do.
I didn’t know that. It’s one of the few Cain novels I haven’t read (saw the movies, though). It would be cool if chicken and waffles could be added the really short list of things that are indigenous to LA.
Here in Indianapolis, the place to go is Maxine’s Chicken and Waffles (Warning, must let annoying flash intro finish before you can enter the site. But there are photos!)
I’ve known about this dish since I was a kid growing up in a one-stoplight town in Indiana, far from any urban center…I’d never had it, but I was certainly aware of it from books, TV, etc.
I grew up in Virginia, I’m 46 and I’ve always been aware of chicken and waffles. Most waffle houses in my area when I was a kid would have had chicken and waffles on the menu. It was seen as a food more popular among black people when I was growing up.