Audio By Carbonatix
See also: Going Dutch: One Girl’s Quest to Find the Food of Her Homeland — in Phoenix
See also: Pancake Art Using a Pancake “Pen”, Pancakes (What Else?) at Butterfield’s Pancake House
Last week I shared my quest to find Dutch food in a place far from home — Phoenix. A few days later, my editor noticed “Dutch pancakes” on the breakfast menu at Lux, the uber-hip CenPho coffee shop, and so I was dispatched to try them and see if they matched up to what I remember from my homeland.
I stood in line and ordered both versions of Lux’s Dutch pancakes — sweet and savory. After a few minutes, two pie-like things were waiting for me at the counter. To be honest, they looked more like crepes on steroids than the Dutch pancakes I recall.
But don’t get me wrong; Both dishes looked delicious — but not what I had expected.
The sweet version was filled with fresh berries sprinkled lightly with powered sugar, while the savory variety included sautéed onions, bell peppers and other veggies; it felt like eating an open-faced, deconstructed skillet of eggs.
Each dish was like an an omelet with raised edges, as if it was cooked in a pie tin. By comparison, a traditional Dutch pancake is relatively thin — thicker than a crepe, but thinner than an American variety. The edges aren’t raised, like they are at Lux, but they are usually dusted with powered sugar or eaten with syrup, so that part was familiar.
The sweet pancakes were definitely more breakfast-y than the savory ones, but despite not being what I had expected, both dishes are worth a try. And at $6 each, not a bad deal for a lot of food.
Lux serves breakfast both on weekdays and weekends and their menu can be found online.
My quest continues. Know of any other Dutch food in town I should try? Leave word in the comment section.
