Mr Shuck and I ventured out for breakfast today. We are trying to go to new (for us) restaurants when we go out and we were both in the mood for pancakes. After internet surfing, I discovered that Portage Bay Cafe might have better pancakes than IHOP. We programmed the GPS and headed off to Ballard. We were delighted when the building housing the cafe had a parking lot. We were also delighted that there was no wait: probably because it was 8am on a Saturday. There is an open kitchen and the dining room is very lofty and Ikea-esque.
We both chose the 
Organic Pancakes: Two big pancakes made from emmer faro heirloom wheat, yogurt, brown sugar and vanilla ($9) and a side order of peppered bacon ($3). The pancakes included a trip to the toppings bar, which held bowls of strawberries, peaches (canned?), blueberries, sliced almonds, brown sugar, whipped butter, whipped cream and syrup. This is Mr Shuck’s pancake creation:
Portage Bay Cafe's Pancakes: Click to enlarge
The pancakes were yummy and smelled amazing. The peppered bacon seemed to have had pepper sprinkled on it before it was cooked. I was expecting pepper cured bacon, I guess. Most of the bacon came home with us for a salad later. After the huge serving of pancakes, neither of us could squeeze in the bacon anyway.
We’d both go back!
