And after I inhaled a breakfast sandwich consisting of hash browns, cheese, bacon and sour cream (I skipped the egg), between sliced halves of a crispy, sugary creation from The Dough Nut, I decided that maybe this business name wasn't so hyperbolic after all. My wife agreed, as she took the last few bites of her savory crème brulee brioche French toast. You read that correctly. There is a place in town that will give you brioche French toast for a mere $5. And it exists in real life.
"Yeah, the French toast is a bit of a labor of love," says Luke Maxwell-Muir, the owner and operator of Crazy Delicious, which resembles a surf shack from some early '60s beach-babe movie on the outside, yet houses a slick and fully functioning kitchen within its surprisingly spacious confines.While the $5 breakfast - and its corresponding sign - might draw you in, it's Crazy Delicious' signature lunch dish of chicken and waffles that will have you talking about this Day-Glo food cart. Although rarely seen, or even heard of, around these parts, chicken and waffles have long been a Southern comfort food staple and Maxwell-Muir is helping introduce the dish with his own personal spin.
He serves his chicken and waffles sandwich style: two jalapeno-and-cheddar waffles with a buttermilk chicken breast, two strips of bacon and Havarti cheese pressed between for your indulgence. He tops it with lime syrup, adding another dash of sweet to this innovative creation that he laughingly calls "my Food Network dish."
A longtime Bend cook who has worked at The Blacksmith, The Victorian Café, Tetherow and other spots, opened the cart in September and has had steady business, especially since moving to Gavelston Avenue.
"I was tired of making everyone else's food and wanted to try my hand at making my own stuff," says Maxwell-Muir, who does all the prep work, cooking and anything else that needs doing around the cart.
The menu isn't just chicken and waffles, even if it might be Crazy Delicious' most appealing, mouthwatering, appetite elevating, can't-get-it-out-of-your-mind item. There's also a pulled pork sandwich, a pesto mozzarella BLT and a turkey fig brie onion sandwich. And we'll let you be the judge of whether or not this all lives up to the cart's name.
Crazy Delicious
1009 NW Galveston Ave (next to Aspect Board Shop). 541-633-3808 for call-ahead orders. Open 7am-4pm, Tuesday-Saturday.