Cirque de Pancake' or Pancake Circus in Sacramento

Another "On the Road" edition.

Let that name sink in. Pancake Circus.


Pancake. Circus.



There is a restaurant out there in the world named Pancake Circus. Not just out in the world, a scant 5 hour drive north in Sacramento. Of course they have pancakes, that’s not even worth asking. Where, oh where, is the circus? The Studio Diner in Sand Diego is NEXT to a studio. Joe’s Diner was started by a guy named Joe. The House of Pies is next to houses. The first IHOP was located down the street from the UN building in New York… sometimes I LIE.

There is no circus here. No circus nearby, even. The only connection I can find is that there is a respected clown college located in Sacramento. This is a pretty close connection considering the interior of Pancake Circus is jam packed with clowns.



You walk into Pancake Circus and you understand it is not just a name, it is a decorative theme. Clowns and large autumnal colored animals heads….that look suspiciously like trademarked characters belonging to the Walt Disney Company.

I’m not from Sacramento, my family has just settled there. So now for holidays and birthdays I find myself travelling to the state capitol to see them. On my last trip up there I took my parents to Pancake Circus. I had eaten there years ago and was anxious to go back and review it for a Dinerwood "On the Road". Pancake Circus is actually one of the reasons I started this blog. Attention must be paid.

The place was busy as could be expected for a Saturday morning. We didn’t have to wait long thankfully but gave me just enough time to sneak some of these interior pictures.
Once seated we turned over our coffee mugs indicating that we did indeed want coffee with our breakfast. I love places that do this—almost as much as I love the places that give you your own coffeepot. The simple turning over of a cup makes me feel more involved in the whole process. I just wish the coffee was something special. Our waitress quickly filled our cups. She was no-nonsense without being pushy. With a "Let’s do this," she took our orders.

Looking over the menus I was surprised at how cheap everything was. The average hearty breakfast was less than six dollars. Only the full-sized dinners (things like T-Bone steak and lasagna) are more than ten. Most of the breakfasts default to "two circus pancakes" with a bread or hash browns being the substitutions. Thankfully, other than the "circus pancakes" there is little shoe-horning of the circus theme into the menu. Although my dad and I did both order the Big Top Breakfast. The one difference between our orders were that I ordered my eggs scrambled. Yes... look at the picture. That's an over medium set of huevos. They got my order wrong. That's okay. I didn't care how I got my eggs really. I would be remiss if I didn't let you guys know the truth though. I did copy my dad and ordered the hash browns "extra extra crispy". For as long as I've known my dad, which is to say, my whole life, he's ordered his hash browns this way. They are never crispy enough, but he did appreciate the effort Pancake Circus put into these. The sausage was a little soggy. My dad let me try some of his ham. He liked it well enough, while I thought it was fatty.

Now for the pancakes! The waitress brought them on a second trip to the table and they were already cooled down. Pancake Circus doesn't have warming lamps so this may more often than not be the case if the place is busy and your waitress can't get the food to your table fast enough. I was also displeased when I lifted my top pancake and saw the twerpy haggard pancake hidden beneath.

Clearly they were trying to hide this malformed creature. A creature that proved to be quite delicious. Pancake Circus does pancakes right. Light and fluffy without the feeling of swallowing a pillow.


My mom ordered the Country Fried Steak breakfast. I can't eat country fried steak. It used to be served at my elementary school for lunch. I couldn't eat it then and it has ruined it for me now. My mom liked it. Maybe you will to.

Pancake Circus is just such so kitchy and odd that you have to try it. The food is good but that's entirely secondary to the surreal environment in which you eat it.

It's not too far off I-5 making it possible to just to a quick pit stop on your way north.

Price: $5-$10

Food: Good.

Service: Good, but did get my order wrong.

Pie: Yes. Apple, Boysenberry and Cherry


Pancake Circus
2101 Broadway

Sacramento, CA 95818-2535

916-452-3322

Hungry like a fox! The Hungry Fox

We first saw it on television. Only a brief establishing shot of the exterior before we cut inside to Pam and Roy sharing a cup of coffee. Would they get back together? What about Jim? He’s with Karen now! But Roy’s really changed! Or has he? We’d soon learn that he hadn’t really. For that brief moment inside the “Hungry Fox” we were unsure of where things might be going for our favorite receptionist.

This is THE table that they sat at.


Thanks to NBC’s “The Office”, the Hungry Fox established itself on my radar. I had no idea it was even local until a google search revealed its North Hollywood location. The first time out there, I was surprised not only at the off-putting hotel pastel coloring of the interior but by the presence of Thai icons and art (and waitstaff- but it feels racist pointing out the ethnicity of a restaurant's employees, so keep that mum).
Hungry Fox looks like a Holiday Inn and your favorite Thai Bistro vomited on each other or had a baby-whichever scenario is more baffling to you. [This baby was born with an ill-placed claw machine in the middle of the rear dining room.]
The menu is pretty typical with a little bit of everything- not too many omelets, not too many types of bread. The thing that really shines at Hungry Fox are the homemade jams. The pumpkin jam is really spectacular and available for purchase at only 4.99. That is the best deal you’ll find there. I won’t say Hungry Fox is pricey-- it certainly isn't when compared to an Eat Well or Doughboys-- but you definitely feel it for what you get. The meals are well-proportioned but are priced in a way that I expect to be debating whether or not to force those last two bites of hash browns down or go for the second slice of toast that I haven’t even touched yet.

What can I say? I felt adventurous this morning. My eyes kept being drawn to the mysteriously named "Flipping Rice". Scrambled eggs with cheese and chunks of turkey served on a bed of rice. Sounds gross right? Sounds kind of good also though, right? Am I crazy? I went ahead and ordered. I ordered some flippin' rice.
Due to the proximity of the dish to the "Mexican Favorites" on the menu, I assumed the rice would be spainish style. I wasn't expecting white rice. That sort of killed it for me. I was having two different meals here-- A turkey scramble and a plate of plain rice. Neither really satisfied me.

Near the entrance is a poster, seemingly not specific to the Hungry Fox, extolling the deliciousness of the Belgian Waffle. I guess it was put out by the ABWAC (American Belgian Waffle Ad Council) because who else would make a poster for a waffle. The poster worked because Antoinette ordered the waffle breakfast.
The waffle didn't have much flavor and required a lot of jam to make it good. The bacon was decent, being more crispy than greasy. The eggs were "Eh-ggs".

We had been there a couple of times and the food was just never better than "decent". Here's some pictures from a previous visit.

Remember my biscuits and gravy phase?


It is kind of cute the way each tiny Pillsbury biscuit gets a dollop of gravy. The large round object at the bottom of the plate.... I can't even remember what that was- A sausage patty probably.. kind of looks like a really toasted english muffin.



Those hash browns were pretty crispy....or like dog food.... You decide!

I really want to like the Hungry Fox. It's one of those places you want to tell someone else about. The same way I heard about the Delores, I want to say to some stranger at a party, "Hey have you been to that diner in the valley that's run by Thais?" I don't think it deserves it though. Other than the pumpkin jam there's nothing there that I can recommend. The jam you can just walk in and buy and walk out. No reason to even sit. Well, you may want to sit. Sometimes it can take them awhile to fetch the jam from the back. Maybe they have to win it from the claw machine? God, I wish I had taken a picture of that damn claw machine. Seriously, it is right in the center of the rear dining room.

Funny tidbit- Our first time there, a crying baby could be heard from the back of the restaurant. One of the waitresses said fairly loudly "Will someone shut that baby up?"

Price: $7-$14
Food: Decent
Service: Attentive
Pie: Yes.

13359 Sherman Way
North Hollywood, CA, 91605
(818) 765-7111

PS
Hungry Fox has another location in Arizona. If you are ever going to Tucson- and oh my lord, why would you?- try that location. Antoinette has actually eaten there and can recommend it a bit more than our local one.



Look at that second food picture... that's not a hearty bowl of cream o' something soup... that's the Arizona biscuits and gravy.

A Tale of Two Diners – One City

SPECIAL SAN DIEGO REPORT!

Taking a long weekend trip to San Diego a few weeks ago, I decided to hit not one, but two of the area's better known diners.


Rudford’s Restaurant had all the indications of being a great place to eat this kind of food; old timey sign, sketch neighborhood (a strip club and a restaurant named "Lips" are just down the street), open 24 hours, and the elderly dining inside. Unfortunately this turned out to be quite the disappointing experience.

Three of us walked in on a Sunday morning around 10:30. There was only “a short waiting list”, the bubbly pregnant girl at the counter informed us. At the end of the counter we saw three empty spots. I told her we’d take the counter seats and was told in that sing-songy way that only a pregnant woman should be able to get away with that we could not. We were handed menus so we could spend our time wisely.

It wasn’t too long before we were called up and led, past the still empty counter seats mind you, to our booth. The booth itself was large and comfy with a nice window view of the apartment construction next door.

We were then greeted by Mean Ol’ Lady Madge. I don’t know her real name but MOLM was to be our waitress and she was as old as cantankery itself. This is the kind of waitress you want at a diner usually, she had character. You want to get a sense that underneath the mean ol’ ladyness is a heart of gold there to serve you lunch. Madge had no heart of gold; she had a heart of rusty sheet metal, which had been rusted by years of hobo piss.

When Patrick, one of my companions, asked if he could get the garden burger with a side of half french-fries and half cottage cheese, her reaction was priceless. Granted, that is an odd request, she, however, took it to a whole new level. “No!” she snapped, with a look of sheer incredulity. “The kitchen would toss me out into the street.” Geez, if the kitchen staff is so cruel, how could we expect our waitress to not be withered by such an environment?


Antoinette ordered the tuna melt with potato salad and I took a chance on ordering the Eggs Benedict with a side of home fries. I also warned MOLM that I’d order pie after we ate our lunch.

Then we waited. And then we waited some more. A couple who was seated after us, who didn’t have MOLM as a waitress, got their food. Then we waited.

Then Mean Ol’ Lady Madge finally brought out our food. The review of that food goes like this:

“My eggs are cold.”


“So is my tuna melt.”


“How’s your burger?”

“It’s not great.”


“These potatoes are cold too.”

“My potato salad is nothing but relish.”

So cold food, not so great garden burger (but really, how good is a garden burger going to be anyway?) and potato salad that was nothing but relish. We hadn’t eaten breakfast before heading out and by now it was almost noon, so we did a good job of cleaning our plates. This was more out of necessity than choice.

Eventually, after another glacial age, MOLM dropped off our check without saying a word and disappeared into an AARP limbo. I would have liked to have tried their pie. They seemed like they’d maybe have a good selection. And hey--Jello was on the menu too.


Since this whole excursion was my idea, I felt responsible for our all-around disappointment. I decided I wasn't going to let us wait any longer for MOLM to come back and take our money. We took the check up to the front, again passing the three empty seats at the counter. I left an 8% tip and we skeedadled.

I do not recommend Rudford’s.

On the other hand, I can recommend the Studio Diner in northern San Diego.



I was a little nervous finding this place. I was going this one solo and was using badly transcribed directions from the restaurant information booth at the San Diego Convention Center. The ladies at the booth went above and beyond the call of duty to get me directions to this place. When it was oddly missing from the phone book, they called the studio next door (from which the diner gets its name) to find out how to get there.

I drove through a deserted industrial park looking for this place. I almost missed it on account of the distraction of the Jack in the Box Product Development Center being located across the street. [I once carried on a torrid online romance with a girl who worked at the Taco Bell PDC. The chalupa was based on an old family recipe of hers- I digress] You may recognize this place if you were a fan of the late, (I heard it was-) great Veronica Mars, where the Studio Diner was used for filming.

This is a diner done in the traditional East Coast diner style. That pretty much means long and narrow with lots of shiny metal. Check out the interior- That's shiny! They also boast an East Coast specific section of the menu with crab cakes and clam chowder.
The friendly waitstaff of college-aged brunettes (I swear to G-d, they were all brunettes) greeted me and were sweetly attentive, like in some school boy's dream. The girl who wasn't my waitress but still in the same section would stop by and check in with me from time to time. I ordered a diet coke and I swear everytime I was setting down an empty glass, a fresh glass was being set on my table.

The Studio Diner plays up its "studio" theme by having things like the "Grip Burger" (it's just a burger, seriously), the "Crew Sliders" (which are four mini-burgers) and the "Studio Toast" (Texas toast topped with powdered sugar). The ladies at the restaurant information booth heard that the fish and chips was the best thing there. I rarely feel like fish and chips but I decided to just go for it. Live a little, y'know.

Here's what the fish and chips looks like on the Studio Diner website.


And this is what I got-



Check that out! Despite the murky lighting, I would say that what I was actually served looks better than the promotional shot. That's a whole freakin' cod, minus the gross parts with eyes and fins. This fish was delicious, probably one of the best deep fried cods I've ever had. Not greasy at all and still maintained the flavor and flakiness of the cod, where often the fish just turns to mush. The fries were thin-cut and there was just the perfect amount of them. The tartar sauce was either homemade or the best store bought tartar sauce I've ever tried. The little dish of coleslaw was a curiousity. It was only about three of four fork fulls so I was left feeling- "Well, um gee thanks." The meal was filling. I left a good 1/4 of the fish on the plate and could not take another bite.

I was somewhat relieved by my fullness, because I was still jonsing for some pie since Rudford's robbed me of the pleasure. The pie at Studio Diner is rather pricey. 6 bucks for a slice! Egads! That would have put my diner dinner at over 20$.
That apple pie did tempt me though. It rested on the counter under a glass dome like Snow White waiting for a kiss- or rather large bite- from me. In the end I declined.



And now for the stats.

Rudford's Restaurant

Price: $5-$14
Food: Not so great.
Service: Dreadful
Pie: Yes.

2900 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA

The Studio Diner

Price: $9-$16
Food: Great
Service: Amazing
Pie: Yes, but pricey.

4701 Ruffin Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 715-6400

Dinah-wood.

In Los Angeles, taking a friend to LAX is the equivalent of donating a kidney in just about any other city. It means a lot. Picking them up there may mean even more. That’s like being a sexual surrogate. Me? I don’t mind doing either, for one simple reason—-going to LAX means I am minutes away from Dinah’s Family Restaurant.

On this particular day, I wasn’t taking anyone to, or picking anyone up at the airport. This was a special trip just for Dinah’s. Arriving mid-afternoon, I was surprised that the main dining room, with its retro booths and Formica flooring, was full. I was regulated to the annex at the back of the restaurant. I’m not a fan of the annex since it tends to be noisier (larger parties are seated back there) and the room has a large television, usually playing soccer.

My dining companions, Antoinette and Janice would be meeting me within a few minutes; I took the opportunity to let my waitress know that I would be having the banana walnut oven baked pancake. Having already had the apple version, (and loved it to no end) I wanted to try the other option. I ordered early since the oven pancakes take roughly twenty minutes.

The coffee at Dinah’s is nothing special, a hint of roasted flavor and not too strong. I will, however, recommend it for the simple reason that they give you your own pot. Refill to your heart’s content, my little caffeine lovers. This of course works best when only one person at the table is drinking coffee. You can get 4 or 5 refills from one pot.

When Antoinette and Janice arrived, they needed some extra time with the menu. I almost regretted ordering my oven pancake early. The menu at Dinah’s is quite large and covers just about everything you can imagine. They are famous for their fried chicken, which even has its own outlets around the LA area. [I was quite pleased when I unexpectedly found one located in Los Feliz on San Fernando Rd.] Antoinette ordered the chicken salad sandwich with a side of fruit and Janice ordered the Cobb salad with dressing on the side.

I took the opportunity right then to order the chocolate cream pie and Antoinette ordered the pumpkin cream pie for dessert. Janice went pie-less.

After a short time, our waitress brought out a plate with a (warmed) roll, a slice of carrot bread and a bowl of something oily and reddish. “Who got soup?” we all wondered. The waitress assessing our confusion quickly explained, “That’s the dressing. I’ll be right back with the salad.” Which she did.



Janice enjoyed her salad. Not much more to say about that. It’s a Cobb salad. Can you screw that up?



Antoinette found her sandwich bland. Too much mayonnaise and not enough chicken.



I wish I could speak better of my banana walnut oven baked pancake. The outer most edges were perfect. They had crispiness to them with just a bit of banana and perfect bits of toasted walnut. Even the occasional burned walnut piece added to the overall flavor very well. As I got closer to the center though, it became a mush of too much banana and not enough pancake. I gave up halfway through to insure that I had room for pie.



When the pie came, I was delighted. The chocolate cream was better than any I had ever had. The cream was freshly whipped giving it a lighter and airy taste you just don’t expect. It was rich without being guilt-inducing.



Antoinette was disappointed in her pumpkin cream pie because--really, she had wanted just regular pumpkin pie and found this too creamy. So you can’t really call that a bad review.



Despite the food being a tad on the disappointing side, the pie more than made up for it.

Price: $5-$16
Food: Varies
Service: Friendly
Pie: Delicious Creams and Fruits.

6521 S Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
90045-1592
Phone: (310) 645-0456


* * *

As a bonus I will include two pics from a previous trip to Dinah's. This was early one morning after taking my friend Greg to the airport. I was in my biscuits and gravy phase and had a delightful breakfast. The coconut cream pie was once again the best coconut cream pie I had ever tasted. It was like ice cream almost.



UPDATE: Dinah's switched to a mini-pie instead of a slice of pie. I don't like it as much.

Dolores. "We never clos"

“You just go to diners?” the stranger at the party asked.
“Pretty much,” I replied. “I write reviews. Y’know, for the internets.”
“Have you been to Dolores? It’s awful!”

When someone tells me a place is awful, this is supposed put me off that place. Tell me that Mexican place on Sunset next to the barbershop is ‘for shit’, I’m not going to go—but tell me a diner is awful. It’s my job* to find out for myself.

Then the stranger added.
“Every waitress there is over 70.”

Is it creepy that it was THAT claim that sold me on HAVING to go as soon as possible to this place? Since Paul was present, I roped him into yet another diner adventure while he’d probably much rather be sleeping.

Dolores is on Santa Monica Blvd in that odd wasteland between West Hollywood and Santa Monica, the beachy place. I went through a Nuart theater phase and am shocked that I never ventured the simple four or so blocks west to the restaurant.



Pulling up to Dolores, I was instantly struck by the decrepit sign that towered above the place. This to me was a good (forgive me for saying) sign. The sign was so weathered I could believe no seventy year old waitress had been up there to spruce it up.




For this pic I offer special thanks to: http://www.latimemachines.com/new_page_3.htm

Walking inside I instantly fell in love. The homey décor mixes an odd sense of the 1970s with brown and golds with the pastels of the early 80s. After I instantly fell in love, I also instantly knew I had been lied to. Our greeter might have been rocking an outfit way too young for her but she was not a near octogenarian. We briefly breezed past display case full of giant pastries and muffins on our way to the booth. This booth gave us a great view of the counter and the nearby dessert cabinet. Delicious looking pies and cakes were found inside. Delicious cakes my friends! You know cakes aren’t my thing but these looked delicious.

The menu at Dolores is concise and simple. The largest extravagance I found is the cheese blintzes. Oddly, where you usually find a collection of Mexican dishes on an LA diner menu, Dolores has Italian choices. That’s how old school this place is.

Our waitress came by quickly and sweetly put up with my silly questions.

“What’s a ‘Cherry Lime Ricky’”
“It’s like a Shirley Temple. It’s really sweet.”
“What do you recommend?”
“What are you in the mood for?”
“…Breakfast.”
“Our omelets are good.”
“Do those come with bread? Like a muffin?”
“Yeah.”
“If I get the muffin, is it one of those giant muffins in the display case?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll get that!”

I ordered the omelet with Parmesan cheese and Italian sausage. Paul ordered the eggs and bacon with a cinnamon roll. From my seat, I could lean back and stare longingly at the dessert case. Paul left to pee, which gave me more desert ogling time. He returned shortly and informed me of the old timey baseball game machine by the bathrooms.



By then, our food come out bursting out of the kitchen. The omelet was a little light on the Parmesan cheese but the Italian sausage was tasty. The egg of the omelet was perfect--not wet or sloppy but cooked evenly throughout. Unfortunately, Paul found his eggs runny, but liked the amount of bacon they gave him. The potatoes were thinly sliced and greasy. They did maintain a good potato flavor, though.



Our muffin and cinnamon bun were in fact-- HUGE. Too big, in my opinion. My blueberry muffin was too much like an oddly shaped piece of cake. The raisins in the cinnamon bun seemed as big as prunes. Paul and I working together couldn’t finish it. I did appreciate that the butter pats that they served had been warmed. For once, I could actually spread butter on my bread.




I had warned our waitress that I may indeed still order pie even with the muffin and cinnamon roll, so be sure to drop by before bringing the check. And like every other time that I have made this request, the waitress brought the check without stopping by. I had to get her attention to order a slice of apple to go. She then of course had to pick up our check and redo the whole thing. She did give me the largest slice of pie from the case though. That was sweet of her.

Later that evening I enjoyed the pie. The crust really weirded me out, I must say. It was perfect, I am not talking about in terms of taste but structurally perfect. Like this pie had come out of God’s own pie pan. Flavor-wise it was a perfectly good slice of apple pie.





Price: $6-$14
Food: Good
Service: Very Good
Pie: Creams and Fruits.


11407 Santa Monica Blvd- At Purdue Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310 477-1061


(*yes, this isn’t my job job-type job, but it should be.)

UPDATE-Feb 2009!

Dolores recently got a new owner. He invited me back to try out the new menu.
#1DC Antoinette and I took him up on the offer a few weekends ago.

There’s definitely a new coat of fancy on Delores. It has shifted away from the roughshod style that made it endearing. That’s no sin, just a little sad if you like the rundown aesthetic.

Being there for dinner, we decided upon classic dinner entrees. Antoinette ordered the Turkey Dinner and I ordered the Meatloaf.

We were both so incredibly impressed. The food was amazing. The turkey was nice and juicy thick cuts, the stuffing was made in a delicious chicken stock that gave it a uniquely home cooked taste. The meatloaf rivaled my mother's in its flavor and presentation. Rarely do you find the melted cheese in the center of the loaf. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had it anywhere other than at my mom’s house.

The corn bread was the best we had ever tasted. Amazingly soft and sweet, bordering on cake consistency, but staying safely within the bread family.

The new owner is definitely trying new things. He and his staff are exploring and innovating the standbys, and from what I can tell, it is successful. These things do take Delores away from its roots, but sometimes it's time to move on. So if you are looking for that old LA classic feeling, you can probably skip Delores now, but if you want a straight-up good dinner, you should definitely check out Delores. They still never clos.