Pancakes are simple yet profound, made from flour, egg, sugar, and leavening. They are esteemed for their unpretentiousness and can highlight a restaurant's reputation and success. Various pancake styles have evolved over time, serving as cultural touchstones, such as those from Golden Diner and Chez Ma Tante. Recent innovations like heirloom-masa pancakes at Hellbender exemplify the delicacy and creativity of modern brunch offerings. Pancakes continue to be revered for their comforting nature and versatility.
God help anyone trying to wax poetic about a pancake. A golden circle? A saintly halo? A shining sun? No metaphor is needed to capture its simplicity: flour, egg, a bit of sugar, the gentle tangy exhale of leavening.
A pancake is the anti-Cronut, the opposite of a stunty gimmick: a flat meditation on the beauty of the simple and the unremarkable, stacked to modest height.
A killer stack can put a restaurant on the map, secure its legacy, grant it longevity.
Today, lines snake around the block for Golden Diner's fluffy stack; before that, the cult-object pancake was a thin, almost crêpe-like version at Chez Ma Tante...
Three relatively new takes on the pancake have captured my attention recently, as modern classics of the brunch canon very much worth seeking out.
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