Trolley 27 brings waffle dogs to Laconia

LACONIA — Leslie Judice and Ray Simanson are celebrating their ninth year as Laconia business owners next month. To mark the occasion they are unveiling a fourth business, Trolley 27, a food truck that can be found at their property on Parade Road or at Robbie Mills Field when the Laconia Muskrats have a home game.

Judice and Simanson have been upending convention since they moved into town. The property they purchased, at 2075 Parade Road, included an overgrown, abandoned golf course and a shuttered tavern.

Simanson has spent nearly a decade coaxing the nine-hole skills development course into its current condition, which he has been told is the best it has been in 50 years and which was recently included in bestthingsnh.com’s list of “The 10 Best Public Golf Courses.”

Another trick they pulled was converting the tavern’s burger-and-beer reputation to that of the Lakes Region’s first tapas restaurant. The small-plate approach to dining, which originated in Spain, has given Judice and her kitchen staff a vehicle to establish themselves as one of the most consistent, creative and delicious crews around the lake.

More recently, they added the New Hampshire Beer Garden, an open-air, low-frills spot to wet one’s whistle, whether before or after a round of golf or just to spend a few quiet moments surrounded by a nice view.

Because they have a golf course, the Beer Garden, which offers more than 40 NH beers, isn’t required to sell food. But it can now, thanks to the Trolley.

Simanson bought the Trolley in Miami and brought it up to Laconia, where he and friends spent a year replacing rotten wood and getting it ready for food service.

The food served from Trolley 27 leverages the talents of the Tavern’s kitchen staff. There are more than a dozen – and growing – chef-concocted sauces that patrons can selected. The sauces range from familiar – chipotle ketchup, dijon aioli – to intriguing, such as “fiesta” and “fancy AF.”

Those sauces can be applied to sandwiches, trolley-made chips, and to Judice’s nod to Simanson’s indulgence, a “waffle dog.” It’s like a corn dog, but the hot dog is dipped in waffle batter and baked in a waffle iron, instead of being dipped in cornbread batter and deep fried.

That waffle batter gets a wide application in the trolley. In addition to embracing hot dogs, waffles also stand in for bread slices in their sandwiches. And, of course, there are plain waffles.

Judice was careful in crafting the waffle recipe. It’s not too sweet, so that it can pair with savory sandwiches and sauces. Her waffles are also gluten-free, though she said that wasn’t the driving force behind the use of waffles.

“We’d been going back and forth about what kind of food we wanted to serve. I think the waffles taste good first and then it’s a bonus that they’re gluten-free,” Waffles also can be made fresh to order, unlike bread.

Trolley 27 is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day of the week, and is open for late service on Friday and Saturday nights – that is, unless the Muskrats are in town. Simanson he’s wanted to be a part of the Muskrats games for a couple of years, and with the trolley, he has the perfect vehicle.

“To help bring attention and attendance to the ballpark,” he said, noting that he will be offering 16-ounce NH craft beers for $4 to help bring more people to the baseball games. “I think it’s something important for my community.”