settembre / September 2022
Young immigrant couple open
Waffle-Licious shop in the neighborhood
Choose your waffle ... select a filling ... pick your ice cream,
and ta-da ... you've got yourself a Waffle-Licious bubble waffle! A bubble waffle is a sweet snack - a Chinese Hong Kong
street food made in a special waffle iron which
forms small "bubbles" in a waffle sheet.
photo of Orlovas
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!"
245 Albemarle Street
667.899.7329

Waffle-Licious also serves hot & cold latte, macchiato, espresso, cappuccino, make-your-own milkshake, cold drinks, farm-made ice cream, and the coffee dessert, affogato.
fall events
  • To help select the movie for this event, click here >>>
  • Dinner menu features the Lodge's traditional crab sauce with pasta, along with other Lodge favorites!

  • VOLUNTEER! Serve your Italian American community ... consider volunteering for the October 9th Italian Heritage Festival. Your help is needed collecting admission at four gates, decorating the festival, setup (7am-noon), breakdown (5-8pm), or at the beer & vino stands. Contact Mike Gallerizzo.

  • FROM THE LODGE - Little Italy Lodge president, Albert Marra, wrote in the September issue of La Notizia, "We cannot complete event plans without a full complement of volunteers. We always need food and beverage servers. We also need members to fill leadership roles on our Council and committees." The Lodge currently needs members to fill two Council seats and a volunteer to fully coordinate Bingo operations. Please consider serving the Lodge.

  • ARTS FEST POSTPONED - The organizers of the annual Madonnari Arts Festival in Little Italy have announced that their fall event will not occur in 2022. "The Little Italy Madonnari Arts Festival has been postponed until next year due to the unpredictability of the current variant of COVID-19," said Cyd Wolf.

blast from the past
Submitted by Maria Vitale
"Mom and her brothers in Little Italy, circa 1940s. The Ranieri children: Salvatore age 8; Peter age 6; and Frances age 10."

 Include caption, people ID, location, approximate year, and your name.
Photos must be Little Italy or Italian immigrant-related.
from our email box
"A great newsletter, as always! It is especially exciting to see, in this issue, the number of unique activities being planned by so many organizations in the Little Italy community. It demonstrates how exciting and dynamic the community remains as a Baltimore oasis! (And, thanks for including the Corasaniti article. That series of articles on the Little Italy Lodge Scholarship recipients is inspiring!) The Promotion Center, this newsletter and its editor are Little Italy treasures!"
~ Tony Montcalmo

"Thanks for the great newsletter!"
~ Rose Marcin

"The Little Italy Lodge appreciates the promotion you have done for us!"
~ Christopher Pisano

paid sponsors
From Suzanna Rosa Molino, newsletter editor and volunteer director of Promotion Center for Little Italy

Dear Readers, As we find Fall in our laps, it reminds me I need to begin securing 2023 sponsors to fill the monthly ad space here in Neighborhood News. Typically, I include only up to three ads per issue; in 2023 I will consider four. You can buy one or more (you select the month to publish), or you can buy a full year. Ads are $60 each or one year of 12 discounted 20% to $576 (paid in advance).

What do I do with the sponsor $$$? Pay for this Constant Contact email marketing account - the platform I use to create and distribute this newsletter. The account costs my (unfunded) organization over $900 annually to host the large number of email addresses on our Little Italy list. Please consider taking an ad? Detailed information to purchase sponsorship space is on promotioncenterforlittleitaly.org/e-news.html.

Grazie for your consideration, support
and readership of Neighborhood News.

President
410-420-2071
Promotion Center for
Little Italy, Baltimore

CELEBRATING 12 YEARS!

Newsletter Editor:
Director & Co-founder

Editorial Advisor:
Co-founder


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