Clinton St. Baking Company: Pancakes for Dinner
Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
Nothing beats pancakes and biscuits for dinner. And Clinton St. Baking Company on the Lower East Side in New York serves them all day long. I first visited Clinton St. Baking Company years ago for brunch. We had read about their award-winning pancakes on a food blog and decided to wait in line for Sunday brunch. I’ve been craving their blueberry pancakes ever since.
Buttermilk biscuits, Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
Another Clinton St. Baking Company specialty is their buttermilk biscuits. Since I had my heart set on pancakes, I was going to skip the biscuits but to my delight, complimentary mini biscuits were provided as soon as we sat down. These buttery, flaky light little clouds crumbled as we carefully cut them in half to spread butter. The butter melted quickly in each biscuit’s warm center. Unfortunately, the biscuits were not as rich and flavourful as I had remembered. There were hints of butter in each bite, and the biscuits certainly smelled richly of butter but I distinctly remember these biscuits being so incredible that they gave you a heart attack on the spot. Instead, these mini complimentary biscuits this time around were slightly on the chalky side.
Buttermilk biscuits, Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
Buttermilk biscuits, Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
I saw the mini biscuits baking up in the oven as I passed the kitchen to use the ladies’ room. I suspect these mini biscuits must be constructed out of the leftover dough, the scraps of over-kneaded dough that the real Clinton St. Baking Company buttermilk biscuits were cut from.
Blueberry pancakes, Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
When I got back to our table, a stack of fluffy blueberry pancakes were awaiting me, sprinkled with lots of powdered sugar, a ramekin full of warm maple butter was leaning against the pancakes. I couldn’t wait to dig in.
Maple butter, Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
Thankfully, the pancakes were just as I had remembered: fluffy and pillowy soft in the middle, moist and rich. One of the things I love about Clinton St. Baking Company’s pancakes are that they’re nice and thick and spongy enough to soak up lots of maple butter. I can’t stand thin, wafer-like pancakes that get all soppy and limp when you pour on the syrup.
Blueberry pancakes, Clinton St. Baking Company, Lower East Side, 4 Clinton Street, New York, NY
The fresh Maine blueberries added an amazing sweetness to the pancakes and gave the pancakes a dramatic indigo blue hue. It’s like everything is bigger on the East Coast: lobsters, oysters and now plump, juicy blueberries. Some of the blueberries on top of my pancakes were so plump, it was as if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Violet Beauregarde herself was standing on top of the stack (after she had morphed into a huge human blueberry that is).
The maple butter was intensely rich and so sweet, nutty and scrumptious that I could eat it with a spoon.
We left happy and satisfied with our tummies warm and full, ready to brave the arctic New York night.