tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Huddle House
Owner -- Privately Held
Primary Operating Region -- Southeastern US
Number of Locations -- 400

Wife #1 learned everything she needed to know in romance novels.  Today, she read about Huddle House.

"Hey dear?"

"What."

"Is there a chain called 'Huddle House'?"

"Huh?"

"It's in my book that I'm reading."

"What is?"

"Huddle House."

"Hold, please."

"Meow."

"Go away, cat."

"Wow.  They have, like, 400 stores.  They look like a Waffle House rip-off."

"Really?  Where are they?"

They're in Waffle House territory, of course.  John Sparks started the chain in 1964 "to provide a place for high school football fans of Decatur, Georgia to 'huddle up' and eat after Friday night games."  The same page on their website that says this ALSO says the goal was to create a 24-hour restaurant that franchises.  A banking group purchased the chain in 1994.

Huddle House initially appears to be a total Waffle House rip-off, and in some ways it is.  It’s a similar layout, but it’s bigger and has a more colorful décor.  There is a more extensive back room than Waffle House has.  The dishes are done back there, where Waffle House does dishes behind the counter.  The menu is more like Denny’s with seven pages of breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, and dinners.

The in-house music seems to be mostly 80’s hits.  The cook at this location likes to speak some of the words of the music out loud, then add his own twist to them as the song plays.  Literally everybody eating here at this hour (5am) knows each other and the staff.  They probably come here every day.

This isn't exactly a "fresh-made daily" type place.  When I ordered chili, the cook went in the back, came out with some chili in a stained plastic container, stuck it in the microwave, heated it up, poured it in a bowl, and served it.  It looked like something straight out of a can.  And it was fabulous.  Seriously...It was similar to Steak n Shake in flavor and texture, and Steak n Shake is my favorite chili anywhere.  Tragically, no Huddle House I’ve visited since has ever replicated it.  If you get chili from a Huddle House that has a bin of it warmed and ready to serve, it basically tastes like Waffle House chili.  I’ve also been to a location where they reheated the "stained plastic container" batch it in a sauce pan.  It was better, but still not that first batch.  I guess this stuff gets better with age.

Everything else I've had was okay...nothing terribly spectacular.  Some burgers and patty melts have had really dry, like overcooked, beef.  They know how to cook eggs.  They know how to make biscuits and gravy.  Speaking of which....WOW do they use a lot of gravy.  There must have been a ladle of gravy for each biscuit half.

Anyway, if you find yourself reading a reference to them in a bad romance novel, that's who they are.  I'm sure you'll sleep better knowing that, and have more time to pet your annoying cat.

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