A stout red-headed adolescent checks her phone as her frown deepens with each passing minute standing in front of the Waffle Wagon. Eventually she is handed a waffle, though it’s all she can do to stifle her frustration when she reads the name on the ticket, realizes she was accidentally handed someone else’s order, and finds the proper recipient. Her father, after done perusing the other food trucks in the vicinity, stops by to make sure everything is okay. With utter disdain, she reveals she’s been waiting for nearly Ten. Whole. Minutes. Nothing is made of it, and she is soon provided with her waffle. It is then I understand why«It’s worth the wait!» is written among other encouraging statements in glass marker around the window of the man taking orders. Taking the cardinal rule of doing one thing and doing it really well, Waffle Wagon offers Belgian Liège waffles and nothing else. Fortunately, this is a novelty worth tracking down: this version of the popular breakfast food is turned into a confection by increasing the sugar content, culminating in tiny bits of pearl sugar that caramelize and provide an incredibly crispy exterior while the interior stays fluffy. It’s a waffle that has the syrup built in. It was so sweet it gave me a stomachache after I powered through the whole thing. Waffle Wagon blurs the lines between food truck and carnival concession stand: it has no social media presence and given their extremely limited menu it’s hard to imagine them finding an audience outside of tagging along with one of the other established food trucks, but they provide an opportunity to try something you’re not otherwise going to find in Wichita, and they do it very well. It really is worth the wait.
