When the thought of truly delicious pancakes bubbles up, various trips and experiences flood my mind and activate my hunger receptors.
I’m transported back aboard the Amtrak booze train heading to San Diego for a Chargers game, where I have to make time for Richard Walker’s Pancake House. Their famed, often still sizzling and flaky, gigantic baked apple pancake is the embodiment of flapjack largesse.
There’s the homespun goodness of a sweet cream pancake volcano at the Black Bear Diner, a common haunt when I visit family in the Inland Empire. And can you visit The Grove for breakfast without trying Du-Par’s heavenly and buttery pancakes?
Pancakes own a special place in many of our hearts, partly because they are comforting, filling and customizable.
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Food writer Khushbu Shah created a list of 11 pancake spots throughout Los Angeles that includes classics and some new spots.
We’ll dip into that grouping and pull out some favorites where new memories can be created.
Breakfast by Salt’s Cure (Santa Monica)
The oatmeal griddle cakes from Breakfast by Salt’s Cure.
(Andrea D’Agosto)
I almost hesitate to call these pancakes, and in fact, the official name on the menu is “Oatmeal Griddle Cakes.”
Made from a base of oat flour and cinnamon sugar, these thin-yet-hearty griddle cakes taste like a deeply gooey, slightly underbaked oatmeal cookie. There is absolutely no maple syrup or syrup of any kind available, but you won’t need any if you are careful to get the scoops of cinnamon molasses butter into every nook and cranny.
Café Telegrama (Hollywood)
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
What sets the pancakes at Café Telegrama apart from the rest of the pancakes in Los Angeles are their iconic crispy edges.
Perfectly caramelized, they are the result of cooking the pancakes for at least seven minutes in a generous pool of nutty brown butter. The edges are in sharp contrast to the rest of the pancake, which is quite tender thanks to the ricotta in the batter.
They arrive stacked two to a plate, swimming in maple syrup, and topped with a generous amount of house-made blueberry compote.
The Griddle Cafe (Hollywood Hills West)
Bigger isn’t always better, but it’s impossible not to be delighted by the truly massive, dinner plate-sized pancakes that show up either two or three to a stack at this legendary Sunset Boulevard breakfast spot.
While the classic buttermilk pancakes are solid, this is not the place to hold back — you might as well really go for it with one of the diner’s over-the-top novelty options.
The best?
Either the Golden Ticket, pancakes stuffed with brown sugar-baked bananas, caramel, walnuts and streusel; or the Black Magic, a stack of pancakes brimming with crispy yet soft crushed Oreo cookies and a mountain of whipped cream. Just be ready to nap afterward.
Yang’s Kitchen (Alhambra)
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
It’s worth braving the weekend brunch lines at this beloved Alhambra institution for the giant cornmeal pancakes.
The team at Yang’s whips together cornmeal from Grist & Toll with mochiko rice flour from Koda Farms to create a pancake that is gently chewy with deep savory notes from the cornmeal.
There is no maple syrup: Instead, they come topped with fresh whipped cream, seasonal fruit and condensed milk for drizzling. They might not be traditional by any means, but it’s always worth ordering a stack for the table.
For more, check out the full story.
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