I’m doing this on a dare.

My wife, a mommy blogger, dared me to start a blog on something I loved.  She said, “why not start a blog on Chocolate Chip Pancakes?”

And so…here we are.

I had dreams of starting with the best CCP (that’s Chocolate Chip Pancakes for short…I’m big on lingo) place in Manhattan…writing an exquisite review fit for the New York Times….

But let’s be real – I just want to get started.  So I went to the closest place I know…The Olympic Flame Diner on 60th and Amsterdam in Manhattan, NYC.  And the stakes were, well, medium…if it serves up the goods, it’s an A+ location for my family and me.  Hey, I’ve got twin 11-month old boys; if I wanted to get started, I needed to go somewhere and be home in time for their 11am feeding.

The decor: clean-but-straight-out-of-the-1960 booth, over the din of NYC construction.  Hey, it’s a diner – it’s not like I was expecting the St. Regis (which also sits next to construction – like every other place in NYC).

The price: $7.45 for the cakes and whipped cream.  Okay, you’ve got my attention…

The first bite: doughy, reminds me of someone using too much Aunt Jemima.  Rule of thumb – if I get that flour after-taste, I’m not a fan.  Think about it, CCP fans – there’s a lot of butter, oil and sweets in chocolate chip pancakes.  If you can’t mask the flour, which to me is simply the glue that holds together these glorious creations, you’re just flat-out lazy.

But the redeeming factor – the outer crust has a slight crunch, with just a hint of oil when you bite into them.  That’s a great thing.  That means they used a light dollop of oil or butter on the pan, not slapped them on a grease pit (so they taste doughy and oily) or made them with too little pan coating (so they taste one step away from a piece of toast).  It’s just a hint of butter or oil which does the trick, and this diner got that right.

So as I settled in, bite after bite, I realized these pancakes are good…for a diner.  A cut above Denny’s.  Diner cakes are going to be cheaper, but you hope for something special (such as crunchy outers) in these types of otherwise unspectacular chocolate chip pancakes.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not somebody who loves chocolate chip pancakes so much I’ll stay and eat any old thing.  Quite the contrary – I have no problem sending them back, having them remade time and again, or even leaving mid-way through the meal if I’m dissatisfied.  But I still want to eat it all – I mean, let’s face it, we’re still eating a large cookie! With syrup!  For breakfast!

These were good enough, but they needed some salvaging – so I took what I call the “snapshot” approach (remember that term – I’m sure I’ll be using it again).  You see, I usually eat pancakes separately to savor each bite.  But when I encounter an average but salvageable chocolate chip pancake, I stack ’em, pour syrup all over them, and snap a shot – just like the magazines.  The picture tells my mind “they look delicious…they are delicious” – then I eat myself to delirious joy.

Using the snapshot approach, these didn’t disappoint.  Being doughy and fluffy, they captured the syrup better in a stack.  I felt like “I-just-chopped-wood-and-now-I-deserve-a-huge-hearty-breakfast”.  Didn’t even use the whipped cream.  (Note to readers: always order whipped cream you won’t walk out on a chocolate chip pancake – it’s the ultimate masking agent for a bad pancake).  Also, there’s a good amount of “mash” but not too much – “mash” is that crappy mush that develops when you use too much syrup – good quality pancakes don’t have this, but doughy, floury ones do.  You have to expect some mash with diner cakes, but this had less than I would have predicted.

Overall, I’ll be back: it’s close to home, cheap, salvageable, and the service is fast.  I won’t make it a regular thing but, for a diner cake, it’ll do.

Until next time, CCP fans!