Friday, May 14, 2010

Ol' South Pancake House

When it comes to breakfast in Fort Worth, the elephant in the room is Ol' South Pancake House at 1509 S. University. It is a place to see and be seen, a place to finish out a night of revelry, and oh, yeah, a lot of people just have breakfast there. They are in a prime location, just off the Trinity Trail bike path at the south end of Trinity Park, but also close to the Cultural District, the Zoo, TCU, the new West 7th developments and a short ride from downtown. Location, location, location, location. So this morning, I made that my destination.

So I got on the The Old Gentleman (my Raleigh DL-1 Tourist) and started touring through Fort Worth. I followed a route north along Trail Lake, cutting through my favorite "wormhole" in Fort Worth, Foster Park, which has a path that takes you from Trail Lake & South Drive to Overton Park East without having to climb the big ol' hill between if you stick to the roads. And it's scenic.



Then a nice mellow ride through Tanglewood on the way to the Colonial Country Club area



...and out to the Trinity Trail. The section under University Drive was rebuilt and opened this spring. In this shot, the University bridge in the background. This picture really brings it to light, but May is the most verdant month in North Texas. I think the fact that it was mostly cloudy only enhanced the green tones of the pics I took on this ride.



After crossing under University the trail swings north toward Trinity Park. Just before entering the park, there is a spot to get off on Old University which takes you right to Ol' South Pancake House.



Give points for being so easy to get to by bike, but subtract points for bike parking; the best I could do was lock my bike to a handicap sign.



If you've never been to Ol' South, the deal is this: They do all the standard breakfast fare well. Waffles? You bet. French toast? Yum. But they have something I haven't seen anywhere else. It's called a German Pancake, which seems to be made from half egg and half pancake batter, producing something like either a very thin, fluffy omelet or an eggy pancake. They finish it off at your table by squeezing the juice of a lemon on it, sprinkling powder sugar on it and mixing it in to make a kind of sauce, then folding the pancake over on itself so the lemon-sugar mixture is contained inside like a filling. One pancake is too much for a lot of people, but they sell a smaller portion called a Dutch Baby. Another favorite of mine is the Greek Omelet.



This time, though, I went for the Dutch Baby with a side of sausage. After mixing in the powder sugar and lemon and folding it all up it looks like this-



It was, as always, delicious. Then I hopped on the trail,



And headed into Trinity Park



I got on the western part of the Loop Trail and enjoyed one of my favorite parks. (Click below to see my first EVAR bike film.)



At the north end of Trinity Park I got on West 7th Street and headed downtown. That route goes right by Burnett Park which is called downtown Fort Worth's backyard.



The park features a sculpture called Man With Briefcase



See that little thing on the lower left of the sculpture? That's my bike! I put that in there to give a sense of the scale of this sculpture.



It wasn't particularly warm but it was humid. Time for one more stop, this time at one of the downtown Starbucks. A bottle of water was all I needed though.



Then it was time to high-tail it home, since the rain was coming. After I got home, this swept over the area (I live near FWS+).



I got home with about 20 minutes to spare.

13 comments:

Big Oak said...

I live in an area with a lot of Dutch and German folks and have never heard of the German pancake, but the lemon touch sounds like something they would do. We eat a lot of potato pancakes around here, which have a lot of egg in them.

I would like to try out that restaurant.

Steve A said...

I've been by the Pancake House many time but have never stopped in. Which Starbucks? I don't recognize it. If you have a water bottle, their free ice water is triple filtered and much "greener" than their bottled water,

Pondero said...

Great ride report. Unfortunately, I was schedule constrained on Friday and only managed about 30 minutes on the bike. As a huge breakfast fan, I must get to that restaurant. Thanks for the tip!

PennyCandy said...

Lovely pictures, my love.

Rat Trap Press said...

I've wanted to try the Pancake House for years but have never gotten around to it. It's always crowded so I figured that it must be good.

Doohickie said...

Steve A: That Starbucks is on the east side of Main Street, about a block north of the Convention Center (which is visible in the background of the picture), in the Hilton Hotel.

Myles: It's definitely worth trying. I would recommend if you try it on a weekend, to make sure there are no special events going on in Fort Worth; it is where people meet up. If you can get there during the week, they will be less crowded.

MELI. said...

weekend rides +pancakes = happynessss
:D great set of photos !

Apertome said...

That is one handsome bicycle, I love it!

The pancake house looks great too, and you put together an interesting ride to get there. Sounds like a good morning.

Doohickie said...

NOT SHOWN: My ride home through the industrial district along McCart Avenue.

Someday I'll do a post just showing the nasty bits of my rides. ;- )

Francis Shivone said...

Love the pictures and the video. Did you snynchronize the music so that you got the beep-beep sound as you crossed the road?

I live on the Eastside so I take lancaster to the bridge then take the stairs down to the trail. Sometimes I go all the way around to the old Carters Bowling Alley, now a church.

Doohickie said...

Nope, no synchronization; I'm not that smart. If you upload a video to Youtube it gives you the option to replace the sound with music (which is already online). There's an option to list only pieces of music that are about as long as the video. I chose that option, then looked in the jazz genre because I wanted something instrumental. That's the first time I ever tried it; I'm pleased with the result.

I'm looking into a camera mount so I can film more extensively (I was holding the camera in my hand for that video.)

Felicia said...

WOW! I've actually ate there....and I have to agree. The german pancake was amazing!!!

Unknown said...

What year is your DL-1? I have an opportunity to pick one up with the same font, which I've found more difficult to find, and I'm interested if the year I'm quoted is accurate. Thanks!