February is getting me DOWN, friends! You feel me? Are you actually able to feel anything besides how wickedly cold it is outside? It’s been miserable all month, with temperatures down in the single digits. The sun is a tease, playing hard to get and honestly doesn’t seem that into things heating up. My ambition has gone into hibernation and all the yelling and screaming I can muster fails to awaken it. My creativity appears to be frozen and waiting for true love’s kiss to wake it. Or some shit. Ugh! February sucks! I hate this month! The best thing right now is that it’s half over! Ugh!
Welcome to the winter cloud that’s settled over me. What’s a NYC gal to do? Chop off her hair and treat herself to the best pancakes in town. If that can’t make February better, nothing can!
Today is National Pancake Day. It’s also Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, the last day before Lent. Eating pancakes is a tradition on Fat Tuesday, it’s not hard to see why. Now Clinton Street Baking Company, a charming well-awarded restaurant in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has taken this an awesome step further. They’ve proclaimed February Pancake MONTH. Every couple of days they feature a new delicious pancake special, served all day and all night.
If you catch them today, National Pancake Day, you’ll be treated to pancakes with “Chocolate Chunks, fresh raspberries, raspberry-caramel sauce”. The chocolate chunks are perfectly melter and perfect with the tart raspberries. It was happiness and sunshine in my mouth. Then again, raspberries and chocolate both make the list of My Favorite Foods Ever.
If you want a mouth explosion of that Caribbean vacation you’re dreaming of, go tomorrow/Thursday for “Fresh Coconut Pancakes with caramelized pineapple, bruleed bananas, roasted macadamia nuts, and warm maple butter”. Something more sophisticated to stuff into your face? “Pistachio frangipane with burgundy cherries and roasted, crushed pistachios” will be on the griddle February 23rd and 24th. A full list of all Pancake Month specials can be found here. Don’t get too sad about the ones you missed!
Clinton Street Baking Co. embodies a certain New York cliché: a long wait to eat. There’s a page dedicated to waiting info on their website. It says for weekend brunch a 2 hour wait is not uncommon. That’s the mark of a popular NYC eatery. Well, I went at 3:30pm on a weekday afternoon and, surprise, there was no wait! I was starving from not eating since breakfast, it was perfect! It was still well populated at such an atypical eating hour. That’s how popular this place is.
Clinton Street Baking Co. DOES take reservations for evening dining though! So call them up, make a reservation for up to 6 for dinner, and have a pancake feast! Trust me, it’ll make February seem much less oppressive! Also trust me, these pancakes are worth the effort. They live up to the hype and the many “Best Pancake in NYC” titles they’ve been awarded. Light and fluffy, perfectly browned, delicious even without syrup. No joke. Even my mother, a total pancake snob (Bisquik was a dirty word in our house), would approve of these.
If you’re not in NYC in February, Clinton Street Baking Co always has amazing pancakes. Just not the incredible variety of Pancake Month. What’s your favorite kind of pancakes? I think I’m going to have to go back for thePistachio frangipane! I have no idea what “frangipane” is but I think I need to find out!
God – I love this place! Their blueberry pancakes are the best! They also make good fried chicken too. I’m going to the gym to burn off some calorie after reading this!
Phil recently posted…Valentine’s Day in NYC. Forever alone or happily psychotic!
Yes on their blueberry pancakes! I’ll have to give their fried chicken a try… Fortunately they have a pretty great pancake selection year round. Otherwise, I’d be a little sad February is ending (and lord knows I hate February)!
Frangipane is an almond paste, and it is so delicious. This place looks amazing – I’m all for eating pancakes all month… if only I can stomach the queue!
Lydia recently posted……made ravioli at Pazzi Pasta
There is something satisfying about waiting do long and by the time you eat you’re starving and the food tastes so worth the wait! A lot more crazy-queue places (including Clinton) put you on a list and then text when your table is ready. So you can go window shopping/explore the neighborhood instead of hovering around as time crawls!