National Pancake Day

How do Austin's best pancakes stack up? Here are our top picks

Celebrate National Pancake Day at one of these Austin establishments.

Breakfast is an institution in Austin, and few morning meals inspire as much nostalgia, intrigue, and flavor profiles as a stack of fluffy, syrup-laden pancakes. Buttery flapjacks are aplenty on local menus, but it takes a certain knack and attention to detail to craft the perfect short stack.

In honor of National Pancake Day, September 26, we rounded up our top pancake picks from around town.

Olivia
James Holmes is the master of Southern comfort food, which explains how he's crafted Olivia’s pancakes to near perfection. During weekend brunch, the South Lamar restaurant serves decadent pancakes with fresh berries, a dollop of whipped cream, and warm vanilla or cinnamon syrup.

Kerbey Lane Cafe
An oldie but a goodie, Kerbey Lane’s pancakes are legendary. While we love the buttermilk, gingerbread, and apple cinnamon selections, we always look forward to the surprise specials, which include beignet, vegan vanilla, lemon poppy seed, and much more.

Austin Diner
Believe it or not, the secret ingredient to this Burnet Road diner’s amazing “Jake Cakes” is cottage cheese. Upgrade the unique cakes to the gingered version — you won’t regret it.

Josephine House
A fancy improvement to your childhood pancakes, Josephine House makes a beautiful stack of fragrant lemon ricotta pancakes accompanied with blackberries, cultured butter, and maple syrup.

Chez Zee
The brunch menu at Chez Zee is a sight to behold. Creme brulee French toast, crab cakes, migas, and savory omelettes saturate the selections, but nothing beats the restaurant's doughy, delightful blueberry, gingerbread and buttermilk pancakes.

Launderette
Launderette is a newcomer to the restaurant scene, knocking it out of the park with a well-executed brunch menu. Selections like zucchini bread, duck hash, and pork and grits make our mouths water, but do yourself a favor and order the luscious chocolate chip or buttermilk pancakes with blueberry maple compote and crème fraîche.

Hillside Farmacy
Leave it up to this east side gem to craft a wonderful pile of blueberry pancakes. Soft and fluffy, these crispy edged cakes come with delicious brown butter, real maple syrup, and fresh orange slices.

Dai Due
Quickly becoming our new brunch place, Dai Due presents a unique play on the traditional American pancake. Instead of the usual buttermilk or banana, the restaurant has crafted delicious sourdough pancakes with blueberries, blackberries, honey, and Neufchâtel.

breakfast

Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.