Pancakes are pretty good. I don’t really need to drive that point home.
Our local Pancake makin’ guy, Ruben, had been making Pancakes his whole life. At first, he started simple. Just a Pancake. No toppings. Just a pad of butter on top, and a glass of milk. People went CRAZY for Ruben’s Pancakes, man. Lemme tell ya.
Then came his next idea. Ruben threw some syrup on his Pancakes. It was a HIT. People loved and cherished and remembered his Pancakes for decades.
Down the road a bit, he threw more into his Pancakes, perfecting the recipe. He was in his prime. Nobody could top good ol’ Ruben and his Pancakes.
Then Steve came along, with his waffles.
Man. Lemme tell ya. A lot of Ruben’s fans HATED waffles because of their mainstream appeal. He added things like whipped cream, and fruit flavored syrup. I tried his waffles myself. They were alright, but not for me.
Anyway, Ruben did a few spinoffs of his Pancakes, then landed on what he thought was BIG. Fresh Fruit. On PANCAKES. It was his last hurrah, before he went on to make a different dish. He truly believed it would be good.
I myself loved it.
The competitive Pancake community went ape-s***. STEVE used fruit flavored syrup on his -Yoink- WAFFLES. Are friggin’ PANCAKES becoming WAFFLES?!
I admit, the overall presentation of Pancakes: Reach was…too gritty, and dark, and boring, and the recipe was too slow and clunky for my taste, but it had some good qualities. Qualities that made it stand well as its own Pancake.
I myself enjoyed the fruit. I even stuck up for Ruben’s choice a few times, but everywhere, people where shouting insults. “BANANAS ARE OVERPOWERED!” True, Ruben could have toned down the bananas, and I wasn’t too fond of the taste.
The worst blow, to a lot of people, is that Steve’s Waffles surpassed Ruben’s Pancakes.
Dark days loomed over the Pancake community.
Then along came Bryan. Ruben passed Pancakes down to Bryan. He tried to nerf a few things, but his true plan was a whole NEW Pancake trilogy.
Now, we stare into the future, when Bryan will give us Pancakes 4.
I love what they’ve done with the fruit, and bananas are gone, replaced with some kinda blackberry type deal.
But they’re adding WHIPPED CREAM. Some people, who disdain Steve’s Waffles, believe that’s what MAKES Steve’s Waffles so mainstream. That Whipped Cream was taken directly from Steve’s Waffles, and that Bryan is just trying to copy and out-do Steve.
But still, the Competive Pancakers complained, as is their right as Pancake lovers. Some want to go back to the Pancakes: Batter Evolved, and Pancakes 2, and cut the fruit out completely.
I have a few things to say to that.
We can’t GO back to the days where Pancakes only had a pad of butter, or just syrup. That kind of advertising just doesn’t appeal anymore. It’s bland, and appeals to so few people.
If you don’t like Pancakes with fruit, or whipped cream, you can order them that way. Bryan is making a Classic Menu. But, overall, the restaurant can’t go back to the old days, where everyone got just a pad of butter and syrup. Time has moved on.
Pancakes can NEVER be Waffles. Their preparation, and their ingredients, and the way they’re cooked…there is just too much distance between the two. I They’re just so…disparate. Even if Pancakes takes some of Waffle’s presentation, they’ll taste and feel different because of their core ingredients.
We just have to trust Bryan’s Pancakes. He’s learned from past Pancake mistakes, and he’s doing his best.
