Do you grow weary of having cold cereal in your room for breakfast? Are the pancakes in the Caf becoming boring? It is time for you to consider spicing up your morning meal routine. I suggest a visit to the Griddle Café a popular breakfast place on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood famous for its ridiculously long lines and gigantic creatively flavored pancakes.
Arriving at 10 a.m. on a Saturday visitors should expect to see a line out the door but luckily it moves fast sometimes leaving hungry customers waiting no longer than 25 minutes for a table. While the line may seem intimidating don’t let it stop you — the food is well worth the wait. Why else should Pepperdine students get up early on a Saturday morning to drive to crowded West Hollywood? If you want to avoid the wait and are willing to sacrifice sleep it is a good idea to aim for arriving at or before 8:30 a.m.
While the tiny restaurant is crowded going as a party of more than two is a good idea in order to share — and with the dizzying array of interesting pancakes on the menu it’s hard not to want to try more than one.
My usual pancake of choice is called the “Golden Ticket which consists of a stack of banana pancakes filled with caramel, walnuts, and streusel and topped with whipped cream and more caramel and streusel. While it sounds over the top, it actually has just the right amount of sweetness, achieving a precarious balance between subtlety and decadence.
This time I was initially tempted to order the Golden Ticket” once again but eventually decided that there were too many intriguing options not to branch out at least this once.
Taking the plunge I ordered what sounded like the most decadent pancake on the menu — the “Red Velvet PanCAKE which comes topped with cocoa powder, powdered sugar and a swirl of cream cheese frosting.
My companion considered the Mounds of Joy filled with chocolate and coconut and capped with whipped cream, and Barry Yellow a buttermilk pancake filled with raspberry and lemon, before opting for Black Magic a stack of Oreo-filled pancakes topped with whipped cream, powdered sugar and Oreo pieces.
While waiting for your pancakes to cook, order some coffee. Coffee connoisseurs will be pleased with the Griddle Café’s offerings. Not only can customers choose between mild, medium and dark roasts, but there are also flavored syrups with which the coffee can be enhanced. Instead of coming around and refilling your mug from a pot, the server instead brings a French press to your table, not only satisfying any caffeine addict’s craving for multiple cups, but also ensuring that the coffee is as fresh as can be. As if your own personal pot of coffee is somehow not enough to supply your caffeine fix, refills are complimentary.
Although the service is not always the fastest, considering the sheer number of people packed into the restaurant, they are quick. In fact, the brusque but efficient host, who had been busy taking names all morning, actually remembered mine at the end of our meal. When the pancakes arrived after a bearable wait, our dessert — I mean breakfast — did not disappoint. Most of the pancake selections on the menu come in a stack of three pancakes, each as large as a dinner plate. While the enormous portion ensured we got our money’s worth and a few days of leftovers, it made figuring out how to eat it a daunting task.
It works best to slice through all three layers as if through a cake. Black Magic like most of the pancakes, came in a stack, but my Red Velvet panCAKE” came as a single pancake because one is more than enough. The “Red Velvet PanCAKE” was drier than preferred — only the slightest bit — but delectable nonetheless. The thick smear of smooth cream cheese frosting not only had the optimal balance of tartness and sweetness — it also made up for the cakey dryness of the pancake. However a word of caution: This dish is so rich that it is not for the faint of heart or stomach.
The “Black Magic on the other hand, was nearly perfect. Although I had doubts about an Oreo-filled pancake, it soon converted me. The pancake itself was light, fluffy and moist, a nice contrast to the dense pieces of chocolate Oreo cookie inside. Of course, the whipped cream, melting and smothered over the stack of fresh pancakes, didn’t hurt either.
We left happy and full after another successful visit to the Griddle Café. Maybe one day I will try their French toast — another breakfast dish the restaurant has made over in several different incarnations — or even their lunch items. For now, though, their pancakes have me enthralled.
Overall, it is difficult to leave the Griddle Café dissatisfied with your dining experience. There is a reason people will wait up to an hour every weekend to eat there. Despite the crowded, loud atmosphere and the shortage of good parking spaces, the sheer ingenuity, quality of their menu items and the dedication of their wait staff earn them 4 out of 5 stars.