An obsession with one waffle

Off The Waffle exists for a single reason: the Liège waffle — the rich, caramelised, yeasted-dough waffle that Belgium has perfected over two centuries — and the conviction that it deserves to be made as well here as anywhere on earth.

It started in 2009 in a small orange-and-yellow house in Eugene's West Jefferson neighborhood, with a recipe that has been refined continuously ever since. Eugene kept showing up, the little house ran out of room, and the shop moved downtown to 840 Willamette Street — where it has served waffles every single morning since.

Every extreme worth going to

Making this waffle properly means caring about details most kitchens never have to think about. Pearl sugar imported from Belgium, because nothing else caramelises the same way. All produce organic, without exception. A dough given the hours it needs, every day, no shortcuts.

It eventually meant building our own equipment: when no waffle iron on the market could do the dough justice, we designed and patented our own waffle machines — engineered around this one waffle and, we quietly believe, the best in the world at making it.

Why it's worth it

Because of what happens at the table. We've watched it for seventeen years: waffles that make you want to hug someone. That's the whole mission, and we're still refining the recipe.