My last excursion to North Carolina was so great that I decided to return another year later to see how much has changed (not much) and see if I can try out the other great restaurants in the Chapel Hill area.  One place that looked really interesting that I didn’t have a chance to try was Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe (think Waffle House, if Waffle House was founded in 1832).  Ye Olde Waffle House is not that old, but it definitely acts as if it is.

How do you know you’re in a Southern Diner?  Look for folksy puns on the menu.  Only the pun on this menu is confusing as I think they mean “good food, no yolk”, replacing “joke” with “yolk” as they serve a lot of egg-based foods here.  But I guess they thought they weren’t going far enough with their pun, so they punned “yolk” and “yoke”, which is strange, as a yoke has more to do with oxen, and has a slight connotation of the slave-holding history of the South.  Or they could just not know how to spell yolk.  I tend to overthink these things.

I was so hungry I didn’t realize I should be taking pictures before eating (a rare feat for me), so you’ll have to forgive me for not getting the missing piece of waffle in this picture.  But, I’ll promise you that the missing piece tasted exactly like the rest of the waffle… delicious.  Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe waffles have a slightly “doughnut” batter taste to them, which is pretty awesome.  It’s almost like eating a funnel cake with butter and syrup (ooh! idea!).

No Waffle House/Shoppe meal is complete without some hash browns.  I got them with onions, peppers, mushrooms and cheese (the works).  They were a little overcooked in my opinion, but were fine with some hot sauce.  It’s pretty hard to ruin potatoes and cheese without completely burning them.

Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe is a quaint folksy place to come grab breakfast or lunch if you’re in the Chapel Hill area.  It’s popular among the local students, so expect to fight for a table, or you can just sit up front.  There are not a lot of vegetarian friendly choices (as per usual), but otherwise it is pretty good.  The prices are reasonable by Boston standards, but may be a little steep for a Waffle House clone (or progenitor?).  So, I’ll give it three and a half cheese sandwiches.

Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe
173 East Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27514 
(919) 929-9192