Instagram-Worthy Waffle Truck Celebrates 3 Yummy Years

DEER PARK, NY - A lot has changed for Deer Park natives Tyler DiFebo and Becca Frank in the past three years. In 2016, the two were dating and DiFebo was working at a bakery starting to toy with the idea of starting his own food truck.

Now, the two are married and own one of Deer Park's local hot spots — Liege Waffles.

The idea came after the two went snowboarding at Camelback and stopped by the Waffle Cabin to get a liege waffle with chocolate drizzle.

After that DiFebo, who graduated from the Institute Of Culinary Education in New York City, decided to start making them and selling them himself in his hometown.

He took his training from working at the A&G bakery in North Babylon to help him perfect his recipe. Thanks to the great relationship with the business, the couple was able to use the location when they first started the food truck as a "pop up shop" and still uses the bakery's kitchen today to help prepare the dough before selling the waffles.

After working as a pop up for a few months, the Liege Waffle truck moved to its current location at the Strike 10 Lanes bowling alley, located at 849 Long Island Avenue. The truck is open there every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Frank usually works the register while DiFebo cooks the waffles. A combination of friends and family, including DiFebo's mother and Frank's sister, help to decorate and box the waffles before handing them off to hungry customers.

The truck draws long lines, thanks to the unique combination of toppings. According to DiFebo, the most popular is the cannoli toast crunch waffle which consists of cannoli cream, cinnamon toast crunch cereal and powdered sugar.

The cannoli toast crunch is among Liege's staple of waffles, which are always offered, including the ROYGBIV (fluff and fruity pebbles cereal), Banella (bananas, nutella and whipped cream) and the classic chocolate drizzle.

Once in a while, they will bust out one of their specialty waffles, such as the Pink Lady (raspberry whipped cream, brownies and chocolate drizzle), the Peep Show for Easter (fluff, toasted coconut, Peeps and M&M eggs) and the Shark Attack for Shark Week (blue Jello with Piña colada mix and a teddy graham cracker being attacked by a gummy shark with crushed Nilla Wafers for sand).

These picture perfect waffles were the key to the business' popularity, gaining thousands of cult followers on Instagram and Facebook.

"I figured with enough marketing it would become popular, but I never expected to go that fast because it just launched right from the bakery on the first day," DiFebo said.

Since many love to post the picturesque waffles on social media, the crew works hard to make each waffle Instagram-worthy, resulting in many people sharing on social media.

"People reposting obviously helps a ton but that's also why we try to make everything look like the picture we post," he said.

The truck's menu also boasts an Instagram theme, which each waffle pictured on a what looks like an Instagram post on the side of the bright yellow vehicle.

DiFebo also owes his creative topping ideas and fresh ingredients to the truck's popularity.

"I try to dissect a pastry and try to imagine it on top of a waffle, that's really where the creativity comes from," he said.