Hotcakes (Pancakes) or Waffles

Are Pancakes better than Waffles? And Is the Waffle House better than IHOP?

An unusual 5 am breakfast craving led to this question. Usually, no matter how hungry I’m eating, that first meal is nauseating, too much work, or just not that good, yet this morning, my growling stomach needed nourishment FAST.

My cooking skills at home lately have been dependent on waiting on the UPS or FEDX driver, whichever meal prep service I’ve been infatuated with, so while my breakfast skills are impeccable, there was no time for chopping, dicing, measuring, or lighting the stovetop for this GRITS (Girls Raised In The South).

Entering the cozy boxed-shaped diner with the sun still asleep was a no-brainer. Sitting on top of the fire red barstool seating with the hot sizzling sound of bacon frying and the grits bubbling in a bowl of butter alongside the mound of crispy brown hashbrowns, THIS TIME, I had to bypass the triple stack of pancakes served at IHOP.

Does anyone remember those Saturday mornings when Dad claimed the kitchen as his domain, regelating Mom to loading the dishwasher while he flipped pancake after pancake?

I don’t.

Besides the staged commercials where the All-American, politically correct-looking family with smiles around a beautiful table setting, that memory is limited in most childhood homes.

While the crispy waffles soaked in maple syrup, I knew the All-Star Breakfast would win. Stuffed with the thick-cut ham, double serving of soft scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and double coffee, I knew the triple stack would have been woofed down if I had chosen the pancakes at that other iconic breakfast place.

While I sat at the elevated barstool, I remembered why breakfast food spurred up so many great memories: the chatter between the customers and wait staff was kind and friendly. Respectful and playful, unlike the bickering and noisy gossip at that “other place.” One of the best features that Waffle House offers is the intimate closeness to the action. No matter where you choose to sit, that action is watching your order go from your lips to the waitress's hand to pen to paper to the cook to the grill to your plate to your mouth and finally in the tummy.

I remember that whoever mixed the batter, heated the hot grill, and cut the bananas to put those ugly dark spotted bananas to outline the smile in the pancakes my stepdad refused to call them pancakes - “hotcakes,” he called them.

And that’s the reason I know hotcakes (pancakes) are better than waffles.

Photo courtesy of Obi-@pixel8propix & @Unsplash