Photo: Hugo Yu
Spots like Clinton St. Baking Co., Bubby’s, and Tom’s Restaurant in Prospect Heights may have been the pioneers of covetable pancakes, but just about eight years ago, when Sunday in Brooklyn and Chez Ma Tante both opened their doors, the news spread like hazelnut syrup over a pile of malted flapjacks: The pancakes are coming, the pancakes are coming. These days, the brunch favorites are doing the most. Like the chef burgers of yore, a great pancake can become a restaurant’s calling card: They can be the most over-the-top, the most praised, the most talked about, and the most posted. “Between Chez Ma Tante and Golden Diner, there’s so much buzz even internationally,” says Erika Kwee, a.k.a. the Pancake Princess, who has tried them all. With the new guard of griddle cakes, the leavening is fancier, ricotta’s out while Greek yogurt’s in, masa is the new flour, and seasonal fruit is something of a must.
Named for (and “invented by”) the son of one of the owners who likes his pancakes with Nutella and whipped cream. Is it overkill to get this mix on top of chocolate-chip pancakes? Rosco would approve.
Inspired by the first dessert chef Emily Yuen learned to make during her time as a pastry cook, down to the salty red-miso caramel ice cream on top. “The goal was to merge the light, airy texture of a Japanese soufflé pancake with the comforting familiarity of an American one,” she explains.
Lingo, 27 Greenpoint Ave., Greenpoint
A chubby, buoyant golden disc is stuffed with melted Akkawi cheese (which gives great pull) and crunchy kataifi. The pancake batter itself is whisked with semolina flour, and buttermilk and a puckery, warm blueberry compote is spooned on top, right over a gob of butter.
These cakes have a crisp perimeter that yields to the fluffy texture inside. The masa, coupled with the absence of sugar in the batter, gives them a savory edge that’s balanced by cinnamon butter and maple syrup.
Eric Valdez applies the namesake ingredient — used liberally in savory and sweet dishes in the Philippines — to the custardy sauce and grates the cured yolks on top for good measure.
Naks, 201 First Ave.
It’s common practice for customers to order a single sourdough pancake for the table as soon as they sit down. This one-pancake show is thick, aggressively browned, assertively salted, and soaked with syrup before it lands for a group (or an ambitious lone diner) to devour.
This Harlem-born beauty looks a lot like Golden Diner’s gold standard: They share the same skillet-forged shape and moat of syrup that combines honey, butter and maple. But chef Karina Garcia’s pancake is a showcase for corn. Her batter starts with Mexican masa from Masienda, the preferred source for the country’s best chefs.
Chef Anthony Ricco loves a Southern Italian pignoli cookie, and he gives his griddle-kissed lemon-ricotta stacks a similar texture with pine nuts that are roasted in brown butter. The syrup is infused with orange blossom, and Ricco makes good on the Sicilian theme by finishing everything with a few segments of fresh citrus.
Thick Greek yogurt imparts both the tanginess of buttermilk and the fluffiness of ricotta; it was the obvious choice for owners Costa Damaskos and Jake Marsiglia, who modeled their shop after a classic Greek diner. On the side: more maple from the syrup and extra bloobs from a compote spiced with cinnamon and clove.
The city’s most viral pancakes — plump and bouncy and covered in butter-enriched maple-, honey-, and soy-seasoned syrup — are now available without a two-hour wait: Golden Diner at last takes brunch reservations.
Photographs: Hugo Yu
