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Flapjack nirvana

cherry pancakes
Originally uploaded by ericandkatherine

As long time readers of this blog (all four of you) will note, I am quite a fan of the pancake. In fact, when I travel to various cities across the country, I often will inquire about the best local pancakes, then go seek them out.

It's something I've kind of lost track of over the past year or so, mostly because (a) I make so many repeat visits to the same list of cities, (b) I've been just about everywhere, so its rare that I hit a new city (and it's pancake houses), or (c) in the cases where there is something exception to be had, I tend to stick with my favorites and not seek out newbies.

But that all changed this past week when I was in San Diego. I knew fate was about to teach me an important lesson when I got into a cab at the airport, and on the back of the driver's seat was a small container of flyers for a restaurant called Richard Walker's Pancake House. At the bottom of the ad, it read "The Pinnacle of Pancakes."

Being a flapjack aficionado, I wasn't about to let a claim like that go by quietly. Luckily, the restaurant was just a 10-15 walk from my hotel, so you bet I was there the next morning.

What greeted me--and I don't say this lightly--was probably some of the best pancakes I've ever eaten, anywhere, at any time. Though I am still ablush with new love, I'd have to say that Richard Walker's would definitely rank somewhere in my top 3 pancake houses of all time. Richard Walker's rivals the Original Pancake House and the LBI Pancake House for top honors, and leaves my beloved Clinton Street Baking Company in the dust.

richard walker
Originally uploaded by ericandkatherine

I had a baked cinnamon pecan pancake the first day (here you can see a picture of my friend Chantal having one the next day). The next morning I went back and had the cherry pancakes (pictured above)--which were tart and sweet but very subtle. On a third visit, I had the blueberry pancakes, which were also just stunning.

I tried to go back over the weekend for some final flings, but the line was out of control. It literally wrapped around the block. This must happen often, since there were periodic printed signs saying that the wait was XX mintues from that point, just like for amusement park rides. If I had waited, I would have been in line for at least 90 minutes just to get in the door. Those are some popular pancakes.

Their regular pancakes are spongy and moist, but substantive. They are pleasant tasting without being doughy or too sweet. They are complimented by their accessory flavors. Just amazing. Even the side dishes (we tried hand-cut bacon and delicous scrambled eggs) were show stoppers on their own.

Richard Walker, you have lived up to your claim. Residents of San Diego, you are truly blessed.

It's a viral thing, really

Bob Evans, purveyor of my much-adored Cinnamon Hotcakes, has launched a new line of pancakes--and they have their own blog! First, I'm kinda crushed, because I've always threatened to start up a blog just about pancakes, but Bob beat me to it.

The pancakes themselves seem like a guilty pleasure: tempting, but a little gross sounding. There are three varieties: Roasted Caramel Apple Cream, Chocolate Banana Cream, and Caramel Banana Pecan Cream (can anyone say "drunk food'?). These sound more like desserts than early morning breakfast sustenance, but to each his own. Even though I am a hard core pancake lover, I've never fallen for flashy tricks. Usually the pancakes with the most "bling" are the ones that taste like ass when unadorned.

In addition to creating a blog about their new pancakes, they are offering an eBay auction for a getaway weekend and breakfast with the Mr Bob Evans (current bid is over $1700--ouch!), as well as giving money to Habitat. They are obviously trying to build some viral buzz with all this. Whenever I read about corporations starting CEO or product blogs, most of them--okay, almost all of them--are completely ridiculous. If it wasn't for the fact that it's kinda working (I'm writing about it and you are reading about it), I'd say it is a complete waste of time.

Don't distract yourself with this cyber-nonsense, Bob. Get back to great flapjack makin'!!!

Nice cakes, baby

Oh, to be so close to greatness...

As regular readers will testify, I am a great lover of the pancake and am on a never-ending quest to find the world's greatest. Often when I travel I will do some advance work and find what locals claim are their best attempts at flapjack greatness and will plan my trip to include some time for a tasting.

Ms Kitten and I were in NYC this past week and wanted to catch up with our friend Melissa. I suggested we met for breakfast, she asked what I wanted, and I told her to take her best shot at the definitely great New York pancake.

Well...

I didn't hear back from Melissa for a few days. I figured that she wasn't going to have time to join us. In truth, she was taking the pancake challenge very seriously and doing copious amounts of research. I was a bit worried that she felt under pressure to deliver and repeatedly assured her that most pancakes disappoint. I told her that I would not hold the offending 'cake against her.

She suggested the Clinton Street Baking Company and Restaurant. At the mire mention of the name, I set my expectations low. That name is a mouthful--twelve syllables to be exact. I've always felt that a restaurant name should be easy to blurt out--two to four syllables is ideal (with the emphasis on two). Restaurants with one syllable--or more than four--are simply being pretentious. I figured that an eatery with twelve was never going to be able to deliver a 'cake deserving more than a three-syllable "tastes like ass" rating.

You know what they say about assuming--true, true, true about Melissa's flapjack research skills and the Clinton Baking whatever place. The breakfast menu is simple, yet mighty. I ordered a stack of banana walnut beauties.

Sweet Jesus those were fine pancakes.

A-fucking-mazing. It wasn't just the caramelized bananas and walnuts, the basic cake itself was perfect. A great pancake should be thick, but not taste that way. It should be light, not heavy. It should have the consistency and springy-ness of a slice of cake, but not be too sweet. The killer was the very thin and light walnut syrup that came with it. The cinnamon sugar sprinkled over it really sent things to another level--an attention to detail that I really appreciated.

It's been a long time since there has been a new contender for my "all time pancake Top 5" list, but these definitely made the cut. For what it's worth, here are the other "Top 5" pancakes in the world (to avoid the pressure/humiliation involved--I do not rank the list):

• LBI Pancake House, Long Beach Island, New Jersey
• The Original Pancake House, Rockville, Maryland
• Shutters Restaurant, Santa Monica, California
• Rusty's (Sheraton Sand Key Resort), Clearwater Beach, Florida
• Clinton Street Baking Company and Restaurant, New York, New York

This has renewed my faith that there are still great pancakes out there to discover. The search continues.