Category: Pancake Breakfasts

I first read about Abundant Life Ministry Center’s Pancake Breakfast on the Geauga County Maple Leaf’s Pancake Breakfast page. It caught my eye, because it was a pancake breakfast on a Saturday. Most pancake breakfasts are held on Sunday. It takes place every Saturday in March from 7 a.m. to noon. It advertises “Enjoy all-you-can-eat buttermilk pancake breakfasts with real maple syrup at Abundant Life Ministry Center, 13724 Carlton St. in Burton. There will be three varieties of pancakes along with sausage for $10. Add a side of eggs for $1.” When I investigated further I discovered that banana is one of the three varieties. I was sold and decided I would be sure to check them out.

I didn’t know what to expect as I headed out. I left my house at 8 a.m. since I had gone to bed early the night before because my sleep schedule is all out of whack after three days of Zoom classes from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. this week. I made the mistake of not having a coffee beforehand. I decided not to get one on the way, because I knew there would be coffee there. Take my advice and get the coffee. Anyway, I drove to Burton, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and keeping my eyes on the lines on the road because it was raining so hard visibility was bad. I was also grumpily questioning why I was driving to Burton for a pancake breakfast on this chilly, rainy morning. My GPS took me out 422, which is a drive I love because it takes me past LaDue Reservoir. I even drove past several Amish residences with buggies in the driveway, and one of the small parks had blue buckets on the trees collecting sap for maple syrup.

As I said, I didn’t know what to expect. I kind of imagined a megachurch and a slick production with a ton of people. I was delighted to find the church is in what looks to be an old school (elementary school?). There were plenty of signs on several corners indicating where to turn. I quickly found a parking space quite close to the entrance (and it turned out to be even closer to the exit). I entered through the main door and followed the signs to the right. There was a cashier’s table at the entrance to the cafeteria. I handed her my $11 for the pancakes and eggs and grabbed a plate. I decided to try one of each pancake. I was given three lovely looking pancakes, several lumps of sausage (obviously handmade – no commercial, preformed patties here) and a ladleful of scrambled eggs, and was handed a fork and knife rolled in a napkin. Efficient!

I entered the dining area and quickly found a seat at one of the tables. The tables were covered in plastic tableclothes and had plates of butter, salt (Himalayan salt!) and pepper and squirt bottles filled with real maple syrup on them. There was a table as you entered that had some pancake syrup, ketchup, etc. as well as urns of coffee and hot water and jugs of orange juice and water. There were china containers of sugar and powdered creamer. I grabbed two styrofoam cups and filled one with coffee and the other with orange juice. If I come again I will bring my own mug and juice glass. And some liquid coffee creamer or half and half. But hey, for $11 I am not going to complain. And the coffee wasn’t terrible. I did enjoy it, and it did the job of waking me up.

The place was swarming with kids offering to get more pancakes or refills on your beverages. I agreed to a refill on my orange juice, but didn’t need more than my initial three pancakes. It was the perfect amount. Several of the kids even asked if they could clear my plate. There were more helpers than diners. There was even a Mennonite family there enjoying their meal. I was impressed how polite and helpful the kids were. Well done, Abundant Life parents!

As for the meal, it was excellent. I particularly loved the banana and blueberry pancakes. They were fluffy and packed with real fruit. I’m going to have to start making banana pancakes at home! I probably could have asked for more sausage, but I didn’t feel I needed it. The scrambled eggs were softly scrambled and were tasty after a quick shake of salt and pepper.

I am pleased to report that this pancake breakfast was unassuming and charming. And there was no line. It is a hidden gem and deserves more attendance. I mean, what better way is there to start a lazy Saturday than a plateful of pancakes?And for just $10 plus another $1 for eggs? I’m going to be full all day. I will definitely be back – maybe even before the end of March. It’s worth the 45 minute drive.

Contact info:

Abundant Life Ministry Center
13724 Carlton Street
Burton, OH 44021
(440) 273-8151

Most pancake breakfasts are served on Sunday mornings in March when the maple trees are being tapped and the sap is flowing, although a couple run into mid-April. If you look you can find several maple syrup making events. Geauga County is known for its maple syrup, and the pancake breakfasts in the area serve genuine Geauga County maple syrup, freshly tapped and boiled. This pancake breakfast has their maple syrup in water pitchers.

I first attended the Pancake Breakfast in Parkman with my old neighbors from Solon in 2017. I met them at their place, and we drove out 422 to Parkman. I always love driving across LaDue Reservoir. It always brings me peace. Anyway, the patriarch and I somehow got turned around and drove in a circle for a few extra miles. I hadn’t realized how easy it was to find from 422. It’s a straight shot on 422, just past the Welshfield Inn. The Community House was built in 1863 as a cheese factory. It’s currently the social hub of this tiny town. We stood in line and got seated quickly along the large serpentine table. The table was built to allow the servers to easily walk back and forth and wait on the visitors requesting more sausage, more pancakes, more coffee, more milk, etc. That was pre-Covid.

This year was the first time back in two years, and it has made some changes. They offered takeout in lines in the parking lot. There is no more serpentine table; they are socially distanced dining tables instead. There are still plenty of all-you-can-eat buttermilk pancakes and sausage from Charlanne Farms and several beverages to choose from. They still use real dishes and flatware, which is a nice change after having to eat off styrofoam at fish fries and other pancake breakfasts. Still the same great maple syrup in drinking pitchers (we finished that pitcher among the 7 of us). And the water was drinkable (it’s been Crystal at Eat*Drink*Cleveland’s biggest complaint)! I would have happily paid extra for orange juice, but the milk hit the spot just as well.

The pancake breakfast runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. I arrived there at 12:10. I pulled into a great parking spot right at the entrance and had very little wait time to be seated. They said they had served about 350 meals that day. I handed over my $10 and walked to the door to be seated. I was seated with three couples. We were quickly served plates of pancakes and sausage, and we helped ourselves to the coffee in the thermos and the butter, creamer, sugar and maple syrup on the table.

I was full after finishing my plate, and after drinking a second cup of coffee and having a nice chat with my tablemates I got up at 1 and headed home.

Contact info:

Parkman Community Center
16295 Main Market Road
Parkman, OH 44080
440) 548-2904

Another weekend in March, another pancake breakfast. I had originally scheduled Burton’s American Legion Pancake Breakfast for this weekend, but my friend who was going to join me is allergic to potatoes. I had also heard rave reviews of the fire station pancake breakfast from friends who went there last weekend instead of joining us at the omelet and pancake breakfast at the high school. So I decided to check out the fire station and do the American Legion one next weekend (the last one for the year).

We decided on a later meet time to avoid a long wait (my friends were in line for 40 minutes – just as we were). Between an arrival time of noon and a freak snow storm that dropped 3-5 inches Burton was decidedly emptier this weekend.

We found a parking space that was very close to the fire station – and most importantly there was absolutely no line whatsoever. We waited a few minutes on the ground floor for a third friend to join us and then headed up the stairs to the second floor. As we were waiting a woman came in asking if there was an elevator because her mother used a walker. The firemen replied there wasn’t, but they had a chair they could transport her in. They strapped her in and carried her up the stairs.

Since there was no line we were able to go straight to the cashier table and purchase our meal. The cost was $8 for all you can eat pancakes and sausage. Extra sausage and extra beverages (water or orange juice) were $1 each. I opted for extra sausage and an extra orange juice, so my meal cost me $10. Still a bargain. We grabbed our trays, a plate, and silverware and mosied up to the window of the kitchen for a stack of pancakes. When asked what kind I wanted I asked for one of each. Somehow that turned into four pancakes – too much for me. The sausage patties were also generous, so I really regretted buying an extra order. I took them home wrapped in a napkin. I was very happy I got a second orange juice though. What is up with the tiny containers of o.j.? They seem wasteful to me and only contain a bit of juice. I do like that they use real plates and real mugs for the meal – not styrofoam like most of the other fish fries or pancake breakfasts.

We easily found seats at a table next to the window, so we enjoyed watching the snowflakes fall outside while eating our pancakes and talking. Volunteers walked around with fresh pancakes and thermoses of coffee. The pancakes on the refill plates were fresher than the ones that had been sitting in the window. I have a feeling they had prepared for a crowd that didn’t materialize due to the weather. My favorite pancake out of the three was the blueberry pancake. The blueberries were plump and plentiful. The buckwheat pancakes were my second favorite. The regular ones were just too thick and dried out (most likely from sitting in the serving trays). We used lots of butter and maple syrup to soften them up.

We sat around talking for two hours. There wasn’t a rush for us to leave since there weren’t people clamoring for seats. My one friend bought a pint of maple syrup and some maple treats to take home with her. We headed back to Cleveland driving through the winter wonderland. It was a great way to start the day. As I said, we are planning on attending the American Legion breakfast next weekend, which is the very last one for the year in Burton.

Contact info:

Burton Volunteer Fire Station
13828 Spring Street
Burton, OH 44021

Burton is known as Pancake Town USA. Every March since 1951, Burton has been serving pancakes every spring to over 20,000 guests. It became so popular that the Burton-Middlefield Rotary Club decided to officially trademark the town as “Pancake Town USA.” Today the Rotary Club, the Century Village Museum and other groups continue to serve these annual March Sunday pancake breakfasts. Downtown Burton was packed with cars yesterday (and I would imagine every Sunday in March), as everyone parked on the square and on Main Street to enjoy the pancake breakfasts at the Century Village Museum, Red Maple Inn, the fire station and the high school and visit the Burton Log Cabin. The American Legion’s pancake breakfast is tucked away on a side street across from the entrance to the high school. I went to that one a few years ago and really enjoyed the fried potatoes.

This year the pancake breakfasts at the high school and fire station are on March 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st. The American Legion and Century Village Museum will also be hosting theirs on April 7th as well.

This year I decided to try the Burton-Middlefield Rotary Pancake Breakfast because they serve omelets in addition to all you can eat pancakes and sausage. Two of my other friends opted to go to the Fire Station for their all you can eat breakfast featuring regular, blueberry and buckwheat pancakes. I’ll try it next year.

My friends and I decided to meet at 11 on the 24th because we had an event later in Orange that started at 2. I got there shortly before they did. They parked in the post office lot, while I parked down and across the street from the high school lot, which was jam-packed with cars. I drove through the entire lot and not a single spot was free. I had an inkling this would not be a quick breakfast like the last two pancake breakfasts were. We queued up once we walked in and wound our way up the stairs and through the hallways of the school. They had pins for the visitors to mark where they came from. There was a board for Geauga County residents as well as one of Ohio. One pin was from Toledo, while several others were from Pennsylvania.

About forty minutes later we found ourselves at the table to pay, where we specified what we wanted. They took credit cards, but I happily handed over my $12 for the pancakes and sausage with an upgrade of a Western omelet. My friends ordered veggie omelets. Since they are vegetarians I got their sausage patties after we sat down. We were given a print-out indicating our order and a colored cardboard piece with a number (#1 for Western, #2 for ham and cheese, and #3 for veggie – peppers, onion, mushrooms and cheese) and handed the print-out to the person at the door to the cafeteria serving area. We wound our way through that area, grabbing a tray and silverware and collecting our pancakes and sausage patties, choice of milk (regular or chocolate) and orange juice. They then assigned us a table and whisked away our trays before we even had a chance to sit down. The omelets were quickly brought to our tables, and we handed them the colored cardboard.

The omelets were huge and really delicious. They were served with little cups of salsa, but I preferred mine just as it was. The pancakes were fluffy and had a great taste to them. The sausage was well-cooked. The coffee was in big thermoses on the table as well as cream and sugar. Real maple syrup was in squeeze bottles on the table. The tables also came equipped with wooden sticks painted in yellow and red for more “cakes” and “sausage” and green and brown for more coffee. The yellow and red sticks got a lot of use. They gladly kept serving more pancakes and sausage until we couldn’t eat any more. The woman overseeing our table whisked my plate full of leftovers away (I had stacked my plates together) and brought it back in a to-go box. I had half an omelet and four sausage patties left. I hadn’t asked for any more pancakes or sausage, but did ask for more coffee and butter as we sat down since our table was running low. Once we were finished they cleaned our plates and detritus away. Once someone left the table they were immediately there wiping the spots down and putting a placemat down for the next group of diners. When we left at noon the line had died down considerably. However, as we learned from one of our fellow diners if you go a little later you may find they have run out of something – in their case a few years ago pancakes. They serve from 8:00 am – 1:30 pm.

We checked out the little craft fair in the gymnasium before leaving. I bought some kolachky, and my friends bought some jam. My leftovers made a great dinner that night.

Contact info:

Burton-Middlefield Rotary Pancakes & Omelets Breakfast
Berkshire High School
14510 N Cheshire Street
Burton, OH 44021