Go Free with Gaufree! + GIVEAWAY (CLOSED)

Disclosure: I was provided a meal courtesy of Gaufree for a media tasting event/review. All opinions are my own. 

Hey, everyone! I meant to post yesterday but my school's wifi was down for about twelve hours, so I wasn't able to post! However, I am back today with a restraurant review and exclusive giveaway for Southern California residents (If you're not from Southern California, I apologize)!

So I recently went to a media tasting event in Irvine, California at a new artisan waffle shop that just opened up--Gaufree: Artisan Waffle Sandwiches.

In French, Dutch, and Hungarian, Gaufre means waffle! The founder of Gaufree, Paul Hortobagyi, decided to play on words and add an extra "e" to play on the words "Go Free." The name and pronunciation of Gaufree also has to do with Hortobagyi's desire to "Go Free" from corporate America and to be an independent entrepreneur.

So, when you walk into the restaurant, it has a very cool vibe with its main colors being red, yellow, and gray. I really like the squares on the wall and how the layout of the restaurant is, mixed with benches, booths, and normal tables. On the tables they have cards to break the ice with people sitting at the table, entitled, "Do You Know Me?" Which I thought was a fun and simple way to get conversations started and to get to know someone!

We were given a sample menu to choose items from, and since I had my boyfriend, Darell, with me, we both decided to get different entrees. I decided to get an Organic Eggs & Applewood Bacon waffle sandwich while Darell got the Philly Cheese Steak. The Organic Eggs & Applewood Bacon sandwich also came with garden herb pesto sauce. The Philly Cheese Steak also comes with sautéed peppers, sweet onions, and melted Swiss Cheese. We also got a side of their Belgian Street Corner Fries and Gaufree's Homemade Pure Cane Sugar Natural Lemonade. The food came with two dipping sauces: homemade ketchup and garlic aoli sauce--the last container in the picture below is a side of peppers.

I figured that I'd add in a semi-decent picture of me eating.

The lemonade was satisfying! I loved it.

The taste of the waffle wasn't something I was used to, but that's because Gaufree creates their waffles to be savory rather than sweet. They do this so that waffles can be paired with non-sweet waffle sandwiches, like the Philly Cheese Steak!

I loved the fries; they had a good amount of seasoning, but because I like food a little salty, I added only a little bit to it. As for the sandwich, I must say that I really enjoyed mine! I love breakfast food any time of the day, so the sandwich was exactly what I was craving. Darell also preferred my sandwich to his own. He ordered the Philly Cheese Steak without the onions and while he wished he had gotten my sandwich, I still enjoyed trying his! The meat and cheese flavors worked really well together; I think it was the savory waffle that threw me off as far as the flavors. I still enjoyed it, however.

After eating all that food, I decided to try a dessert waffle. Besides, that is what most people think of when they think of waffles. Well, they at least think of the sweet aspect of it.

For dessert, I ordered the Peanut Butter Pie Waffle with Sea Salt Caramel.

It looked amazing! When I actually tried it, I thought that the whipped cream was a little much for me, but everything else was delicious, especially the caramel, bananas, and waffle itself! There were peanuts drizzled on the waffle so there was a sweet, salty, and peanut-y combination that blended well together. I also would not have minded eating the waffle simply with caramel by itself.

Are you hungry yet? Well good news for you, I'm giving away a $15 gift card to one lucky Southern California reader to get to try one of these tantalizing waffles! Enter below for your chance to win! Giveaway ends Thursday, March 20th!

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