The Californian in me is startled to hear the words "Smoking or non"
from the hostess of indeterminate age when I walk through the doors of the diner. After agreeing to a wait for a
nonsmoking table and a "No, I don't want that table because all the tables around it are smoking, even if it's
not," I settle in to wait. I lean against the side of a jukebox that probably works but doesn't get much use
and watch the rest of the people milling about in the entrance. There are kids looking at the impossibly tall cakes and
pies in the dessert case and oohing and ahhing over the giant, plastic-wrapped black and white
cookies. There are parents and primly dressed grandparents: the after-church crowd on a Sunday.
When we're seated, we order hot chocolates from a waitress wearing about two tubes of mascara, enough white face paint to make Dracula look tan and with dyed black hair. The drinks come in different sized cups: one tall and slim, one a huge mug. I assume that this means they were in-between washing cycles at the drink station. Both drinks have whipped cream and I manage to snag the larger of the two. When the would-be Elvira waitress returns, I order buttermilk pancakes. I love the seemingly limitless comfort-food options on diner menus but will almost never stray from the one food that diners do best.
Maybe it's the atmosphere of the room, with red vinyl seats and paper place-mats with local advertisements, that makes the pancakes taste so good. Maybe it's people, from the man eating creamed chipped beef with his kids to the woman at the table across the way who bears a striking resemblance to Ms. Pac-man, though she's at least 75 and wearing a floor-length fur coat. Probably, they're just darn good pancakes. They are lightly, fluffy and perfectly browned on the outside, slightly crisp on top as though they have just come off the grill. And they come out exactly the same no matter the week, year or time or day.
My favorite place? The Marlton Diner in - where else - Marlton, New Jersey. Who cares if they only ever seem to have pancake syrup made with Karo instead of real maple syrup? At a diner, somehow, it all just tastes right.
[Image via Population Five]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-14-2006 @ 5:10AM
Trav said...
It's a nice place to hang out late at night. The waitstaff doesn't crowd you and try to get you to leave. The food is pretty good - I've never gone out of my way to go there, but I'm never sorry I've gone.
Reply
4-14-2006 @ 8:12AM
Robbie said...
If you really want the BEST pancakes around, go to southern Georgia, Savannah, Tybee Island, and see the hours and hours of waiting just to sample the pancakes! Soft, fluffy and scrumptuous!
Reply
4-14-2006 @ 11:45AM
Jim said...
I had lived in Boston for 24 yrs. and now live here in Ohio and everyone says my home made from scrach are the best.
Reply
4-14-2006 @ 12:48PM
Whin said...
Jim, care to share your recipe?
Reply
4-15-2006 @ 5:33PM
jumper said...
Wow, you brought back some memories, I used to live in Mt Laurel way back when. I don't recall if I ever ate at the Marlton diner, but I have a tradition that was start ed at home when I was a kid of Tuesday night's dinner was always pancakes and breakfast food. I don't remember why my Mom started it but I still follow the tradition faithfully.
Reply
4-17-2006 @ 9:11PM
Dave said...
You have not had "cakes" until you have had "Dottes very berry pancake" in Wilmington Vermont... huge fluffy pancakes stuffed with Vermont fresh strawberries, blueberries, and red rasberries... and topped with the best local made vt maple syrup...
Reply
4-20-2006 @ 12:28AM
Steve D said...
I respectfully but vociferously disagree with your closing statement that "who cares if the Marlton Diner uses Karo syrup instead of Maple syrup"Are you kidding me or what?Thats like saying they use tartar sauce instead of fresh whipped cream on their ice-cream sundaes!The Original Pancake house(Whippany, West Caldwell) serves top-notch pancakes with high quality Maple syrup;also gigantic omelettes and hard to find crepes, that were raved about by WOR` radio`s Joan Hamburg, food critic par excellence!
Reply
4-20-2006 @ 2:39AM
Tripper said...
You're all crazy, the very best pancakes are Jimmy Dean's
frozen stacks served with Karo with a little food color.
Heaven, and cheap.
Reply
4-25-2006 @ 8:16AM
Richard Baker said...
The best pancake house in the USA is in Naples, Fla, called the "Cove"
Reply
4-25-2006 @ 11:23AM
Karin said...
The Purple Cow Restaurant in Fairfield, Maine has the best blueberry pancakes. They are as big as the dinner plate and are jam-packed with fresh blueberries. And, they serve real maple syrup.
Reply
4-28-2006 @ 10:59AM
Cathy said...
Best pancakes hands down = Cracker Barrel! I also have a recipe for "from scratch" pancakes that I got at a B&B in Camden, Maine. They are fabulous, too. But for any pancake, you MUST have maple syrup.
Reply
4-29-2006 @ 4:03PM
Walt P. said...
I never had the pleasure of eating at the establishments
you've noted but my favorite place has always been the
Perkins pancake restaurant chain. Anytime I'm traveling
and see a Perkins place I always go there for their
pancakes.
Reply
4-30-2006 @ 10:39AM
Carrie Melle said...
BY far, the world's best Pancakes are from
Uncle Bill's Pancake House in Wildwood, NJ. No questions asked.. the selection alone of(cholcolate chip, gummy bear, buckwheat, s'more, and my favorite old fashioned buttermilk, to name a few)of fluffy big plate sized stack melting whipped butter sitting pretty on top, maple syrup. To Die For!
Reply
5-01-2006 @ 3:34AM
Mike Lawson said...
I have had the chance to eat many pancakes in many cities. The best I have ever had were the blueberry pancakes at a little diner in Bethel Maine called Crossroads. The amount of fresh wild blueberries in these pancakes were amaizing! Being able to top them off with Real Maple syrup was almost as good as the cakes themselves!
Reply
6-08-2006 @ 7:06PM
Kristina said...
Pancake Circus on Broadway, Sacramento, Califoria. Worth a 2 hour drive. Big as your dinner plate. Stacked 4 high. Perfect every time. Real Maple Syrup. Whipped butter already sliding off, leaving it's salty trail behind. To syrup or not? Eat a few bites of salty buttery cakes, then dip into syrup. Heaven on a plate. Read local ads under the plastic topped table for entertainment, and pick out how many have been closed for decades. Given the "pancake circus" theme be prepared for some really scary clowns all over the walls -- many painted and sent in by patrons. Didn't see one from John Wayne Gacy, but his would have fit right in.
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