Waffle-Licious is a new cozy small sweet shop in Little Italy that opened in July with the motto, "Let's be friends." Proprietors Diana & Vlad Orlov(a), a young couple who live nearby, are both immigrants: Diana from Kazakhstan, a country in Central Asia, and Vlad from Russia, who moved to the Unites States as a child.
Why Little Italy?
"Our friend lives in Little Italy, so we would come to visit her a lot. As soon as we came to the neighborhood, we instantly fell in love with the atmosphere: the nicest people, the most delicious food, and cozy streets. It is truly charming here. Especially the people: kind, friendly, and nice! We are so happy and lucky to be in this neighborhood."
What has been your experience so far being here?
"We have been enjoying Little Italy from day one. When we were preparing to open, we had ordered a few packages. One day when we came to the shop, a package that should have been delivered was missing. The next day, two nice girls show up at our shop with the package. It had been sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, so they held onto it until we were there. We were shocked, and so extremely grateful to be surrounded by people like those two girls. We would like to continue to spread these inspiring values across the neighborhood and, hopefully, the whole city."
What did you do before opening your shop?
"We both have affluent experience in the food industry. We served and bartended in restaurants while earning our bachelor's degrees at Salisbury University."
You specialize in "bubble waffles." What are they and why are you so passionate about them?
A bubble waffle is an amazing dessert that deserves to be talked about, looked at, and, of course, eaten! It is a new concept of a waffle that originated in Hong Kong in the 1950s. It first gained its popularity in Asia and is now slowly taking over some parts of Europe. We are proud to be one of the few pioneers here in the United States to share this unique dessert with everyone.
When we first tried it, we were blown away. We quickly realized we have never seen a bubble waffle shop in the U.S. At that time we couldn't afford to open a business, so we put the idea aside. A few years went by and we still felt as passionate about bubble waffles as on the day we tried them.
How are bubble waffles made?
Bubble waffles are like pieces of art - each time you customize your waffle (base, filling, ice cream, toppings), you are creating your own masterpiece. We make batter every morning from scratch and carry the ultra-premium (the highest grade of the ice cream) farm-made ice cream.
We were not sure whether the residents of Little Italy would welcome bubble waffles, since it is not Italian, yet from what we have gathered during conversations with locals, they seem very happy about fresh waffles and farm-made ice cream!"