Pancake Circus – Gut Budget

On the corner of 21st and Broadway lies a special treat for those in the know, an establishment with high family values, understated elegance and waitresses name Phyllis and Flo. It is, of course, the Pancake Circus, or as I like to call it, “Le Cirque de Crepe.” This is greasy-spoon eating at its best. Silver dollar pancakes, mounds of bacon, cereal and milk that come out of giant machines, men with high, conical chef’s hats slinging hash and gum chewing waitresses who call you “dear” and “honey” and “sweetie.” It’s a blast from the past with all the modern conveniences. You can get pigs in a blanket with a side of egg beaters and pay for it with your ATM card.

This is no faux hipster, retro coffee lounge, with tattooed and pierced waitresses named Skyler or Trinity who, if they call you “dear” or “honey” or sweetie,” give you the crawls. This is no low carb plate special joint that features the vegetarian omelet with a frothy glass of soy milk. This is no place for the neveau poor, the hip thrift store set that refuses to take mom and dad’s money and roughs it with their 85 Civic and midtown flat they share with somebody they hooked up with on Craigslist. This place is for the old school working class folk who treat their trucks like million dollar yachts and don’t drink beer unless it comes in a can. These are people of taste that frequent the Pancake Circus, and I was proud to be among them one Sunday morning.

On one visit, both my dear dining companion and I had eggs scrambled with bacon and a side of pancakes. The eggs were done perfectly, fluffy and flavorful, hot and filling, the pancakes, enormous and heavy. Neither one of us could finish our portions, and Phyllis advised next time to just get one order of cakes for the both of us “since we were light eaters.” Bless her heart.

On my next visit, I had some clients in from out of town and thought to impress them with the hominess and legendary pancakes of Le Cirque. They were suitably impressed and the bill for the three of us came to $21. I ordered off the lunch menu and had a spectacularly greasy tuna melt that was everything a tuna melt is supposed to be. Come one, come all, wear your Hooters t-shirt and your Costco jeans. Come, eat, mingle, enjoy, leave any and all pretenses at the door.

Pancake Circus
Broadway & 21st, Sacramento
Food*** Ambience**** Service***
BUDGET EATING RECOMMENDATION

13 thoughts on “Pancake Circus – Gut Budget”

  1. I second this recommendation! Mr. Plumwin and I had our second date at Pancake Circus by mistake. We went to Tower Café but couldn’t deal with the long wait and decided we’d give the Circus a try. Cheesy to the highest degree but delicious and fun!

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  3. I don’t know how you guys do it.
    Sure ambience is great but the grease, my god, doesn’t it attack your innards?
    The food hang over I get when I go the greasy spoon route just isn’t worth it.

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  4. It’s one of the benefits of not being a vegetarian, you build up a lard and grease tolerance over time. And I’m not advising you to eat their every day either, just once a week or so should help to build up that deep fried oil immunity.

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  5. Yeah, you may be right. My damn vegan ways may have left me a bit to sensitive, to grease and some may argue in general.

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  8. Not only do they still have clowns and lions, they also are sporting what are certainly unlicensed Disney characters. Can’t beat that.

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  9. I miss Sambo’s…

    I used to stare at the mural like it was TV. How long do tigers have to run before they turn into butter?

    Seriously, you sound like such a snob “beer out of a can *snicker*”

    Lets dress up like peasants for fun!

    That is all.

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  10. How dare you impinge upon my peasantness. Don’t make me put down my Pellegrino in the cup holder of my Volvo and tell you that I, sir, am one of “the people.”

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  11. Pancake Circus is a Sacramento treasure! Anywhere you can see Tony the Tiger advertising his bail bonds on the tablecloth by dislocating someone’s jaw is great in my book.

    There, Ron. Are you happy that I’ve revived a year-old post? What am I supposed to do? Go back in the annals of SacRag every time I want to make a comment about something? 😉

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