221st Southumberland Waffleers
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The 221st Southumberland Waffleers is an informal society of Sherlockians who enjoy fellowship while consuming "vittles" from one of America's iconic restaurants.
We currently have 58 members who have met the very simple requirements for eligibility... simply dine at a Waffle House while attending a Sherlock Holmes event. |
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Our Society name is an homage to both John H. Watson (who served in the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers) and to 221bCon, held each year in Atlanta, where the Society was first born.
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221 Be Waffling
Brad Keefauver, BSI
Brad Keefauver, BSI
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Here dine together still, true fans of Holmes
Who order eggs, and so the cook must fry. How many peers they gain, how far Steve roams! That sage who gets us to give WH a try . But still a table’s open for those with mouths Hungry to taste their breakfast, bite, and chew. Waffles are waffles yet, here at this House. Oh, here they feed a Sherlockian crew. A yellow yoke swirls into scrambled egg, As toast warms within its toaster’s heat. Some chili smothered hash browns, we beg, The cheesy grits don’t fail to be a treat. Here, though some fights explode, we still arrive. And the two egg breakfast costs five ninety-five. |
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The Waffle House Poem
The Official Waffle House Poet Laureate, Karen Head, gave us permission to post her poem about our favorite gathering spot... |
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Always Open
In the dream, I’m back on the road driving south from Lincoln, NE toward Kansas City, windows half way down, Midwest winter air smacking me awake, reminding me to breathe. I’m suffering. Homesickness is the story I tell, but I know there’s more to it, this loneliness, these too fast heartbeats, this need to escape. Just outside St. Joe, traffic from the KC airport roars overhead, and just off the exit I see it, glowing warm yellow in the darkness, so I pull in. This is no photoshopped Hopper Nighthawks. No, this is home, always open, always there waiting for me past any curfew. |
I shake snow from my hair,
find the place empty, except for one counter stool, which begins to spin and Bourdain tells me to join him, so I do because I’ve got nowhere else to be. I shout, “Scattered, smothered, covered, diced, and capped,” and laughter erupts. Now the place is full of people I couldn’t save. We are all eating pecan waffles, telling each other stories, and I say, “Someday, maybe, I’ll find a way to be happy,” and Bourdain says, “Don’t you have somewhere you should be?” The faint sound of the airplanes begins to amplify, everything begins to shake. I dive down, cover my ears, shut my eyes to the looming shadows-- startled, I find myself back in Atlanta, you are snoring again, and, for once, for always, this makes me happy. |
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A Code of Their Own
from an article by Karla Walsh, Southern Living Magazine
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If you find yourself in a Waffle House, you may be surprised there is a lingo and vocabulary used only at these fine eating establishments...
Study up on the following and you can be an expert of the cuisine offered up behind the counter. At a Waffle House, you can order the hashbrowns a total of 1,572,864 various ways, using the combinations below: |
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- Scattered: The cook will spread the hash browns across the grill to get them ultra-crispy (otherwise they’re grilled in a steel ring and served more patty-style).
- Smothered: If you’re interested in aromatics, you’ll ask for onions to be sautéed alongside your hash browns.
- Topped: If you're craving something with a hint of Tex-Mex flair, you’ll flip for these hash browns covered in chili.
- Covered: Not to be confused with hash browns smothered in melted American cheese.
- Chunked: Hash browns peppered with pieces of diced ham.
- Diced: On the flip side, this order refers to hash browns with diced tomatoes.
- Peppered: Here’s a fairly intuitive one; these hash browns come spiked with jalapeños.
- Capped: Grilled button mushrooms crown this hash brown order.
- Country: A generous dose of sausage gravy coats these hash browns.
- All the way: Make a meal out of the hash browns by opting for what the menu describes as "world famous golden delicious hash browns with grilled onions, melted American cheese, hickory smoked ham, diced tomatoes, jalapeño peppers and grilled mushrooms, then topped with Bert's Chili,™ and sausage gravy."
- Jelly packet near the bottom of the plate: Scrambled eggs with white toast
- Upside-down mayo packet next to a vertical jelly packet on the bottom of the plate: Soft scrambled eggs
- Face-up mayo packet next to a vertical jelly packet on the bottom of the plate: Well done scrambled eggs
- Jelly packet on top of mustard packet: Extra egg
- Jelly packet placed horizontally near the top of a plate: Omelet with ham
- Packet of butter underneath a jelly packet: Dry toast
- Upside-down jelly packet: Wheat toast
- Apple butter packet instead of jelly: Raisin toast
- Packet of butter next to a jelly packet: Biscuit
- Butter knife on the plate: Hold the toast
- Two pieces of cheese next to the jelly packet: Scramble with cheese
- A few hash brown pieces scattered at the top of a plate: Plate includes hash browns
- Napkin topped with a packet of brown sugar: Grits instead of oatmeal
- Napkin at the top of a plate: Grits in a bowl instead of on the plate
- Two pickles placed at the bottom of a plate: Breakfast sandwich with bacon
- Two pickles placed at the top of a plate: Breakfast sandwich with ham
- Two pickles placed on the left side of a plate: Breakfast sandwich with no meat
- Two pickles placed at the right side of a plate: Breakfast sandwich with sausage
- Horizontal ketchup packet in the middle of a plate: Sirloin steak
- Horizontal mustard packet upside-down in the middle of a plate: Country ham
- Horizontal mustard packet face-up in the middle of a plate: Pork chop
- Butter packet with the lid on in the middle of a plate: T-Bone
- Butter packet with the lid off in the middle of a plate: Porterhouse