King Cake Waffle vs. Fries
With Mardi Gras only six days away and Carnival getting into full swing this weekend, we’ve been getting in the mood with some King Cake. Not just any old King Cake, though. With Lafayette’s waffle and French fry truck serving up their own versions of the season favorite, we just had to give them a taste. Both trucks made it onto our Best Food Trucks in the South list, but who does the King Cake variation better? We hit the street to find out.
We started with Freetown Fries‘ King Cake Fry. Sweet potato fries topped with a cream cheese glaze then sprinkled with a heaping of purple, green and gold sugar, this dish was almost too pretty to eat. Almost. A bit of salt on the fries helped cut the sweetness, and the cream cheese came drizzled over the top, instead of in one big glob. The fries were nice and crispy, and there were plenty of them. What to do when you get down to the bottom after all the cream cheese and sugar is gone, though? It’s hard to go back to Ketchup after tasting this version.
A similar concept, Viva La Waffle‘s King Cake Waffle continues this popular tuck’s tradition of waffle sandwiches by putting your choice of filling (raspeberry, Nutella, lemon, fig or coconut) between two slices of its namesake. The whole thing is topped with a buttery whipped cream cheese icing, stripes of colored sugar and a baby. We chose raspberry for the filling, which added a nice, fruity contrast to this decadently sweet dish. The star here though is the icing. We’d eat Viva la Waffle’s creamy spread on just about anything, but atop a crispy waffle it elevates King Cake to a new level.
As much as we enjoyed the King Cake Fries, Viva la Waffle emerged as “king” in this competition. Their buttery icing blew our beads away. As Fat Tuesday approaches, it’s not traditional King Cake we’ll be thinking about. It’s the King Cake Waffle.
To find Freetown Fries during Mardi Gras in Lafayette, check their Facebook page, and to find Viva La Waffle, check their Facebook page. You can also follow Freetown Fries on Twitter @FreetownFries and Viva La Waffle @vivalawaffle.
