Pannenkoeken

I'm eagerly anticipating the opening of this new cafe, which will serve Dutch pancakes (midway between American pancakes and crepes) starting at 6 a.m. The paper is off the windows and the tables and chairs are set up, so surely it won't be long now...

Pannenkoeken Cafe (edited to correct spelling)
4757 N. Western (just north of Garcia's)
Chicago 60625

Do you have a date when your restaurant will be opening?

Call off the dogs.

This place has been posted about in at least one other thread.

Maybe it's a new poster (gasp) actually excited about a restaurant.

How about a little benefit of the doubt?

Or even if it is the owner, who cares? If they say it's a great place (which they should), people on the Forum will check it out. If it is no good, someone will post about it being no good. And if it is good, then we have one more great place to eat.

* No I also do not own this restaurant *

JeanneBean wrote:Or even if it is the owner, who cares? If they say it's a great place (which they should), people on the Forum will check it out. If it is no good, someone will post about it being no good. And if it is good, then we have one more great place to eat.

* No I also do not own this restaurant *

If they're the owner and they're saying it's a great place, they should tell us they're the owner.

It's when people aren't up front about their professional affiliations that we have problems.

That said, I do think stevez jumped the gun on this one

JeanneBean wrote:Or even if it is the owner, who cares? If they say it's a great place (which they should), people on the Forum will check it out.

We have no problem with owners mentioning their restaurant, but it is a big problem if they do so without mentioning it. It really violates the trust in the community that our interest in helping ourselves and each other eat well is our primary motivation.

From the Posting Guidelines:

Posting Guidelines wrote:- Don't shill! Don't use more than one handle! Your overall credibility, based on one name and a track record of honest posts, is part of the value of every post you make. So don't dilute it, and recognize that we reserve the right to enforce this rule more strictly when we are forced to.

- Disclose any special relationship (be it owner, employee, friend, or frequent customer) you have with an establishment you're discussing. Make sure you provide enough information so that readers know where you're coming from.

- If you're in the food and restaurant biz, we're quite happy to have you join the community. Please be upfront about your professional status whenever it relates to what you're posting about. You can include this info in your profile, in your signature, and most importantly, in your conversations as relevant. We welcome your insights and contributions.

That said, we do encourage people to give posters, new or otherwise, the benefit of the doubt. If you suspect someone is shilling, it is generally preferable to notify a moderator than confront them on the board, so as not to maintain the friendly and welcoming character of the board.

And also to avoid these distracting tangents in a topic on a new place...look forward to hearing what those pancakes taste like.

Cheers,

Aaron

Since the OP did not spell the name of the place correctly, I'm guessing this is not the owner. Anyway, I have walked and driven by the place several times and I'm excited -- looks like a nice place . . . nice colors, small. Hopefully, it will be a fine addition to the Lincoln Square neighborhood.

According to Wikipedia, pannenkoeken is the name for Dutch style pancakes. And from Chicago Magazine's Dish newsletter:

Batter Up
Linda Ellis spent the past three summers learning how to make traditional Dutch pancakes at Le Soleil, a small family-owned spot in Amsterdam. But this summer, Ellis stayed home to work on Pannenkoeken Café (4757 N. Western Ave.; 773-769-8800), which she plans to open at the end of August. “Dutch pancakes are open-faced, thicker than crêpes, 11 inches in diameter, and they have a variety of toppings,” says Gina Salgado, Ellis’s daughter and partner. Salgado predicts the chocolate-banana pancake, drizzled with imported chocolate syrup, topped with mounds of whipped cream, and sprinkled with cocoa powder and hazelnuts will be the big hit. “That’s one large pancake for $7.95. I think it’s enough even for the American appetite.”

HI,

I happen to know the person behind the screen name. Their professional interests are not related to this place.

Regards,

The right way to plug your own restaurant on this board: Antonio at Xni-Pec, Tony at Taqueria Puebla (use search function to find their comments). Humble, welcoming, clearly self-identified

The way to make it seem like you're plugging your own restaurant in a poor disguise even if you are a legitimate, independent poster: Absolutely Delicious, State Street Bread Company, Buffalo Joe's (most recent thread).

We can't expect every new poster to have been lurking long enough to understand the usual free-market flow of information, but I do reiterate a call that was made in the State Street thread that some kind of required disclaimer could be added to the new account creation screen about self-posting.

Edit: Thanks, Cathy. Good to know. I composed this before your first post registered.

Again, this person has no professional relationship with this restaurant at as of the last time I knew of their employment.

Regards,

I read about this place, too, and it raised a question someone here might be able to answer: these don't look like the "Dutch baby" pancakes my dad used to make--the ones that puff up like a souffle, with a similar consistency to a popover, but deflate as soon as they're out of the oven/skillet.

At the Originial House of Pancakes in Hyde Park, I think they're called "German pancakes".

Anyone know if these are the same style of pancakes, or are these just flat and thin crepe-like pancakes?

crrush wrote:I read about this place, too, and it raised a question someone here might be able to answer: these don't look like the "Dutch baby" pancakes my dad used to make--the ones that puff up like a souffle, with a similar consistency to a popover, but deflate as soon as they're out of the oven/skillet.

At the Originial House of Pancakes in Hyde Park, I think they're called "German pancakes".

Anyone know if these are the same style of pancakes, or are these just flat and thin crepe-like pancakes?

I think they're different, but I know the style you're speaking of. The recipe I use is from an old Joy of Cooking, and it's for Pfannkuchen, bespeaking its Germanic, rather than Dutch, origin.

Like French toast, however, these "German pancakes" are a dish unto themselves and not what you would expect to get by simply ordering pancakes in Germany.

Edit: Pfannkuchen recipe here

Jesus.

I am not the owner and am in no way affiliated with the restaurant (thanks to Cathy2 for the clarification).

I live in the area and am looking forward to walking to breakfast. Although I like Over Easy, it's a bit too far in this heat.

I make pancakes, waffles, or crepes just about every weekend (David Eyre's, German apple, yeasted, buckwheat), but I've never tried this style, and I'm looking forward to it.

crrush wrote:I read about this place, too, and it raised a question someone here might be able to answer: these don't look like the "Dutch baby" pancakes my dad used to make--the ones that puff up like a souffle, with a similar consistency to a popover, but deflate as soon as they're out of the oven/skillet.

At the Originial House of Pancakes in Hyde Park, I think they're called "German pancakes".

Anyone know if these are the same style of pancakes, or are these just flat and thin crepe-like pancakes?

I'm assuming these are the same as the pannenkoeken I've had in Belgium. They are thinner pancakes (in between American pancakes and crepes) that are topped with various items. In Belgium, I've only had them as dessert so I'm used to having them topped with chocolate/hazelnut sauces and ice cream. I'm really excited about this addition to the Lincoln Square neighborhood.

fleurdesel deserves an apology from the stone-throwers.

***

Regarding the style of pannenkoeken or -- as many Dutch-speakers, including myself, prefer -- pannekoeken*, they are in their basic composition and the resulting form much the same as crêpes, which is to say that they are fairly eggy with a good dose of flour and come out quite thin and not puffy. Traditionally they were served as much with savory as with sweet fillings. Over the years I have had them made by home cooks in the Low Countries, i.e., both Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as now and again in public eating establishments in both countries. Back in the 70's and early 80's I often would make a meal of one (very often with spek) when in Amsterdam at a very old little place (on the Grimburgwal, I think), run by an old couple -- that place has been closed now for some time.

Anyway, Crrush, I would assume that if one calls a place Panne(n)koeken, one would be serving primarily the thin crêpe-like thingies that the word primarily indicates in Dutch, as you surmised.

***

By the way, Aaron, Dutch and Frisian and English and Faroese, etc., etc., are no less Germanic languages than German.

Leve de Nederlandse taal!
Leve de pannekoek (zonder extra-n)!

Antonius Brabanticus


* I believe the most recent spelling reform (1995) insists that the n be added before the second element of the compound.

De Dutch Pannekoek House is a chain in BC we discovered in Vancouver. They specialize in traditional pannekoeken with many varieties as: strawberries and cream, banana walnut, and peach. www.dedutch.com

fleurdesel wrote:I am not the owner and am in no way affiliated with the restaurant

Sorry if you were offended. It's just that we have had so may shill postings about new restaurants lately (some justified and some not so much), that my BS alarm went off when I saw your post. My post was semi tongue-in-cheek, and certainly not meant to create a firestorm. Personally, I'm looking forward to this restaurant opening. Hopefully it will be somewhat authentic without too much shtick.

stevez wrote:Hopefully it will be somewhat authentic without too much shtick.

Well, I will be a little disappointed if the servers aren't wearing wooden shoes, you know, just like they do in Holland.

Hi,

The next time the BS alarm goes off, then send an alert to a moderator who will investigate. Either PM individual moderators or send an e-mail to moderators@lthforum.com.

Regards,

So... Regarding savory pancakes (which I hope this new restaurant will have)

I had an amazing savory pancake type thing in Baden Baden, Germany. It was somewhere between a crepe, a Dutch Baby (in terms of eggyness, it was slightly thicker than a crepe) and rosti (from Switzerland) in terms of the stuff heaped upon it. (cheese, ham, other stuff I can't remember...)

So is this the same as a Pannekoeken? or is it called something else in the Alsace region? Or is it some other creature entirely?

I've been wondering for a while what it was that we ate, which my husband declared the "best food in Germany".

I posted a couple photos of the restaurant - still under construction - not long ago in this discussion: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=13373&start=60.

One of the photos in the other discussion is of a poster with food items on it and I assumed, when I saw it, that it is meant to depict some of the items which will be on the menu of this new place. I looked at the photo again just now and I don't see much difference between what's being advertised and what you can find in other "pancake" places. Maybe the poster was meant to be generic and not specific as to what the menu will feature.

The restaurant will open at 6:00 a.m. (daily?), for those wanting breakfast on their way to the nearby METRA or Brown Line stations.

Thanks, Steve Z.

One of the chief reasons for my post was that the owner of Pannenkoeken has apparently spent the last three summers in Amsterdam learning to make them (reporting courtesy of Chicago mag).

Is it called something else in the Alsace region?

I lived in Alsace in the mid-1990s, and I was not aware of such a pancake.

Breakfast usually meant kugelhopf, fresh baguette delivered by truck (except on Sundays), or, if I was very lucky indeed, something from MOF patissier (meilleur ouvrier de France, or best artisan) Thierry Mulhaupt.

Britanny is the region of France best known for its crepes and galettes (buckwheat crepes).


--Molly

fleurdesel wrote:

Is it called something else in the Alsace region?

I lived in Alsace in the mid-1990s, and I was not aware of such a pancake.

I lived there in the mid...well, way before the 90s, and I don't remember this kind of pancake either...though they may have been served hours before I woke up. I do, however, remember beaucoup de patisseries vending fantastic Frenchified fluff.

Drove by yesterday and it looks open. I plan to stop by this weekend for a try with the kids. We had savory pancakes when visiting Amsterdam and really enjoyed them.

In terms of European pancakes and their connection to the apple pancake and German pancake served by the Original Pancake House and its Walker Brothers franchise locations, Steven Katz, writing in the Chicago Tribune ("Chicago's Big Apple", January 10, 2007) noted the similarity of those two dishes to versions from Germany: the apfelpfannkuchen, in which the German pancake batter is poured over sauteed apples that caramelize during baking, and the pfannkuchen, the puffy German pancakes, or Dutch babies, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar and lemon juice but no apples. He also noted other pancakes made by pouring batter over apples or other ingredients include the kaiserschmarrn of Austria, and the ugnspannkaka of Sweden.

I assume the Panne(n)koeken from the Netherlands is/are a different pancake dish. I also assume the nickname "Dutch baby" for the Walker Brothers German pancake is not a reference to the Netherlands, but rather, a corruption of the word Deutsch (a la "Pennsylvania Dutch").

Walker Brothers apple pancake (from their website):

nsxtasy wrote:He also noted other pancakes made by pouring batter over apples or other ingredients include the kaiserschmarrn of Austria, and the ugnspannkaka of Sweden.

Not to mention the Apfle Pancakes Americanski at Depot Diner.

Photo by GWiv

I looked at the photo again just now and I don't see much difference between what's being advertised and what you can find in other "pancake" places. Maybe the poster was meant to be generic and not specific as to what the menu will feature.

The photos seem very generic indeed. There is a place in Calgary called the Pfanntastic Pannenkoek Haus that I've been to many times that offers over 80 different types of pannenkoeks, ranging from leek and sausage (savory), bacon, raisin and apple (sweet and savory) to saskatoon berry with or without powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and ice cream (sweet). The pannenkoeks there are meal sized and are not at all the fluffy stack of pancakes as was pictured. There are two tableside choices for topping the pannenkoek: the syrup (I forget the name) rich and thick, molasses-looking, or Maggi seasoning. I will have to make a trip to see if the offerings are similar.

chicagostyledog wrote:De Dutch Pannekoek House is a chain in BC we discovered in Vancouver. They specialize in traditional pannekoeken with many varieties as: strawberries and cream, banana walnut, and peach. www.dedutch.com

We did the location in Victoria two years ago. I guess that my reaction to De Dutch was that it was pretty forgettable and fairly expensive.

Now the German pancakes ...

LTH,

Given the ridiculous controversy my original post seems to have created, I thought it best for all on the Board to delete my post in its entirety. Mods can feel free to just take this away at their discretion. This will be my last comment in this thread. Thanks.

Bster

We stopped by as promised but around dinner/7 p.m. time on Friday. Although the hours posted stated they should have been open, the door was kinda blocked with stuff and employees (owners?) were occupying two of the 6 tables. No one beckoned us in after we lingered, nor did they tell us they weren't open. Menu wasn't as extensive as I had hoped. We'll stop by some other time after they're really up and running and give them a shot.