Velocity lists five favorite pancakes

[Robin Garr]

In Velocity's restaurant column this week, Lisa Hornung lists, and briefly describes, five favorite spots for pancakes.

[url=http://www.velocityweekly.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/VELOCITY01/709190411/1065]<B>Food & Drink</b>
Batter Up
All pancakes are not created equal. Here are five of our favorites.[/url]

<b>Lynn's Paradise Café</b>
984 Barret Ave.
583-3447

<b>IHOP</b>
1220 Veterans Blvd.
Clarksville, Ind.
285-1772

<b>Sweet & Savory Café</b>
1574 Bardstown Road
456-6566

<b>Toast</b>
736 E. Market St.
569-4099

<b>North End Café</b>
1722 Frankfort Ave.
896-8770

My favorite pancakes of all are Lynn's. Outstanding.

A second place that has really good pancakes is A Nice Restaurant in New Albany. They're only open for breakfast and lunch but good pancakes. They also have great French toast and all their bread is homemade.

An lastly, this is embarrassing, but I like Bob Evans cinnamon pancakes. I'm not really a Bob Evans fan, but I do like these.

Lynn's P Cafe makes an outstanding pancake. I used to have to have them every Saturday morning.

A pancake list cannot be complete without the inclusion of Little Chef in New Albany

Hmmm, that's really tough! I love Lynn's as much as the next happy Highlander, but those Lemon Souffle Pancakes (with blueberries!) at Toast send me to a whole other level.

And everyone else too, apparently, since they tend to sell out of the darned things...

For all the bad rap it's gotten for lunch and dinner foods, I still think the apple pumpkin pancakes at Mimi's Cafe are incredible!

I have always loved the pancakes at the Cracker Barrel. Fluffy inside, crunchy around the edges and pure Grade A maple syrup. They also offer all of the fruit and whipped cream confections, but I prefer simple maple syrup.

I had a couple of foodie friends in from NY a few weeks ago and I took them to North End for breakfast. One of them ordered the special - Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancakes. Although I was dubious of such a concoction they were stupendous!

I actually called the C-J to see if they could get the recipe so I could pass it on to my foodie friends (who were impressed with the Louisville food scene - I also took them to Seviche). Sadly the response was something like - add peanut butter chips to your favorite recipe and top with jam...I guess they don't like to share their secrets.

Last spring on our way back from the beach, some friends and I stopped for a late dinner at IHOP. I have to say, I was quite impressed. I had never been before and had avoided it because I thought it would be like Dennys or Shoneys. I was wrong. I had a dinner salad that was very fresh and absolutely delicious. Some of us got dinner items and others had breakfast items. I tried everyone's and it was all very good. Yes, I tried the pancakes and they were yummy - very fluffy. They offer like 5 kinds of syrup which can be interesting and fun too.

are there any pancake houses in louisville that offer a "dutch baby" pancake? Those are killer.

[Robin Garr]

are there any pancake houses in louisville that offer a "dutch baby" pancake? Those are killer.

Back in the '70s and '80s we used to have an Original House of Pancakes here (on the southwest corner of Browns Lane and Shelbyville Road, diagonally across from where Sears Used To Be), and Dutch Babies were one of their specialties. Possibly a trademarked specialty in fact.

It was one of the best chains I ever knew of - supposedly James Beard had declared it his favorite (it originated in Portland, his home town) - and their pancakes made IHOP look like a joke.

Looks like the chain still exists, with outlets in Indy and Montgomery, near Cincy, but none in Kentucky. And of course there's no telling what it's like 20 years later. (I did eat at one in Lincoln Park in Chicago in the '90s, and it was pretty much as I remembered.)

Original Pancake House Website:
http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/

Sheila, I found two very different recipes online for PB&J pancakes. Is either of these like the one at the North End Café? http://www.recipezaar.com/125683 and http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=538

Ron, this recipe, which has been in my family for eons, isn’t for a “Dutch baby” pancake but it is similar and oh-so-easy to make.

Oven Pancakes
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. milk
3 tbsp. butter, melted
Pinch salt
1. Preheat oven to hot (450 degrees). Grease well 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.
2. Mix together eggs and flour in medium size bowl. Add milk, butter and salt; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated hot oven (450 degrees) for 15 to 20 minutes or until puffed. Cut into squares. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Alternately, maybe served with syrup and-or cut up fresh fruit. Makes 4 servings.

What is a dutch baby?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_baby_pancake

I had one of these at the Original House of Pancakes in Cincinnati recently. It was very good.

Whatever happened to IHOP in Louisville? I hear the old Ruby Tuesday's is going to be a pizza place (forget what it is called, but my cousin's husband has one in California where he is from, and he loves it).