It happened again. I forgot about Pancake Tuesday. To think I let one of our few food holidays simply slip away is gut-wrenching. This has happened every year since first year. I didn’t grow up in a family that observed the day for its religious reasons, but we did use it, as many do, as an excuse to have breakfast for dinner. Cutting into a fresh stack of pancakes after a day at school made me feel like such a ruthless rule-breaker. However, since I moved out, it seems like the holiday has lost its importance. We no longer spend it debating whether we should add blueberries or chocolate chips to our pancakes, or worrying about having enough maple syrup for everyone.
I’m speaking out now on behalf of the pancakes. We must never let another Pancake Tuesday pass us by without any recognition. Heck, who cares what day it is? This breakfast food deserves a place on the dinner table any day of the week. I mean, pancakes fit right in with student diet staples like Kraft Dinner, Uncle Ben’s, and spaghetti with tomato sauce. I’d even argue that they’re healthier than these options—just hold the whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
Whether you make them yourself or pay someone else to do the work for you, I’ve compiled a list of how to get your regular serving of this favourite breakfast food.
DINING OUT
Breakfast restaurants aren’t just for Sunday mornings, and they can do a lot more for you than cure your latest hangover. Toronto and Mississauga are home to a selection of restaurants that are taking the traditional pancake and flipping it on its head. Barque Smokehouse in the West Toronto neighbourhood of Roncesvalles offers smoked duck pancakes with blueberries and chèvre. At Saving Grace at Bathurst and Dundas Street West, you’ll find the daily pancake special, which has previously included offerings such as Japanese pancakes and corn pancakes with onions—so you’ll truly never get bored of pancakes no matter how often you have them. If you’re in the Annex, head to Fanny Chadwick’s and order their stuffed Finnish pancakes, which are crammed with goat cheese and pears, then roasted in olive oil, basil, and maple syrup, topped with sea salt and honey, and served with your choice of fruit, baked black beans, bacon, peameal bacon, or beef brisket.
Closer to home in Mississauga, catch the 110S from campus to the warm and friendly Villa La Bella, where they keep it simple with your choice of plain, chocolate chip, or fresh berry pancakes. Visit on a Monday and you can get them for half price. Think you’re too good for the old-fashioned pancake? They also offer delicious crêpes, which I’ll accept as a reasonable substitution. Speaking of crêpes, it’s Crêpe Festival again at the Apricot Tree, where you can have the pancake’s closest relative for your appetizer, main course, and dessert. And this Thursday, March 13, the Department of Language Studies is serving them up in the Dean’s Lounge to celebrate Mardi Gras.
If you’re on campus and desperate, Colman Commons will occasionally serve up not-so-homemade pancakes for breakfast, but it’s not guaranteed that they’ll be available or delicious. Their waffles on Sundays, though, are not to be missed—but that’s another article entirely.
DINING IN
If you can’t drag yourself outside, pancakes are one recipe you can master without much skill, particularly with some help from our favourite aunt, Aunt Jemima, and her trustworthy pancake mix and syrup. You could save a bit more money and buy bulk pancake mix by the pound from Bulk Barn, to make sure you’ll always have some on hand. But why bother making pancakes when you can just pop premade ones in the toaster à la Kellogg’s Eggo buttermilk pancakes?
However, if you have more dignity, 100% homemade pancakes are worth the effort. My go-to place for reliable pancake recipes is Milk Canada. Heeding the advice in their tips section, I made a big batch of farm-favourite oatmeal pancakes and froze them for a week’s worth of pancakes, which was as quick and easy as the recipe suggested. I ate mine with cream cheese, dried figs, and a drizzle of honey. Next, I have my eyes on their oatmeal date pancakes, which are gluten-free and made with quick-cooking oatmeal flakes (although I imagine quick-cooking oatmeal would work) in place of regular flour.
