by Jonathan May
Clinton St. Baking Company is a haven for your taste buds located on the Lower East Side, where good conversation brews and sinfully delicious food soothes your soul. Its seating is comfortable enough that you and your friends can catch up on each other’s lives, and yet intimate enough that you can eavesdrop on the table next to you and find out the city’s latest scandalous gossips. It is imperative that you refuse the menu and demand the Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter as soon as you set foot in this luncheon hotspot, for it would be nothing but a crime to keep anyone from those pancakes for even one extra second.
The moment these pancakes are brought forth to you, the therapeutic process commences. The sweet, buttery aroma this seemingly ordinary dish dispenses seems to drive the greatest troubles and worries to the farthest corner of the world. And when you sink your teeth into a corner of these sinful pancakes that you have cut out effortlessly with your fork and knife, you will uncontrollably let go of a content sigh. Amazed by the crispy accent that the edges provide and by how gently your teeth are hugged by these fluffy, moist and buttery pancakes, you hurry on and drizzle some of the warm maple butter onto your next bite, giving it an even greater heart-warming taste.
The best part of it all is that although you may subconsciously deduce that pancakes with such incredible texture must have incorporated numerous sticks of butter, you experience nothing of the overwhelming and greasy feeling that easily comes with such a profusion of butter, making this dish essentially a guilt-free pleasure. And when your logic proves no chance of finishing these pancakes without guilt, simply sneak in some of the wild Maine blueberry preserves into your next bite to sweeten up the deal, so that you can tell yourself that at least you are getting some healthful fruits out of this truly sinfully delicious dish.
