Back in the late 80s or early 90s I used to frequent a chain restaurant… I keep trying to make it be either IHOP or Waffle House but this was in New York which doesn’t really have Waffle House. (Was there once another chain with the word “pancake” in its name?) They had the most scrumptious buckwheat pancakes on their menu and on the rare times I could afford to go to (or was treated to) breakfast in a restaurant (starving student era), I’d always order that. Then they took it off their menu, I quit going there, and now can no longer remember what chain it was who had them.
The Original Pancake House, which is in New York, has buckwheat pancakes.
They have those in New York?
Crap.
Don’t get me wrong, I love their menu, but I’ve encountered at least two in Southern California, and one in Hawaii. WHICH ONE IS THE FUCKING ORIGINAL?
The first one, of course-Duh.
Les Highet and Erma Hueneke, founders of the Original Pancake House in Portland, Oregon, collected recipes around the world, The pancakes served by this fine restaurant are famous all over the world.
Postum is on the menu.
In all my life, I have never seen that on a menu.
That’s definitely it, thanks! Now to find the elusive copycat recipe for the buckwheat pancakes…
I remember having buckwheat pancakes at IHOP. Long time ago though.
We’ve been to one here in So FL.
My wife really likes their buckwheat pancakes. They’re not just regular flour with a smidgen of buckwheat for marketing. They really have that rustic heavy nature. The OP should definitely give these guys a try.
I suspect that buckwheat pancakes have generally fallen out of favor in the U.S., to the point where, as the OP suggests, they can be difficult to find, even at breakfast restaurants.
In the late '90s, I worked on the Aunt Jemima brand at Quaker Oats; at that time, Aunt Jemima offered a buckwheat pancake mix as one of our mixes. I recall that it was our poorest-selling mix, and when I look at the Aunt Jemima website today, I see that they no longer offer it. (For that matter, some of the other major mix brands, like Krusteaz and Hungry Jack, don’t offer a buckwheat mix now, either.)
At that time, I tried pancakes made with our buckwheat mix a few times back then, and they weren’t very good – they were rather bitter, in fact. What I was told, back then, is that buckwheat flour doesn’t have to be bitter, but if the miller tries to cut corners by including some of the buckwheat hulls when they are ground (rather than only using the seeds), it makes the resulting flour, and anything made from that flour, bitter. My suspicion is that, over time, the milling companies made an increasingly bitter buckwheat flour, and that eventually turned consumers off to buckwheat pancakes.
If the OP enjoyed those buckwheat pancakes, I imagine that they were made with a higher-quality (i.e., hull-free) flour.
I’m surprised that buckwheat pancakes aren’t more widely available, because buckwheat is gluten-free. It could be lightened with another GF flour, like quinoa or rice.
You can still find buckwheat pancake mixes out there – I just found several on Amazon. But, they’re all from smaller specialty brands. I imagine that the major brands don’t see enough of a market for it. Also, frankly, any real live pancake mix is increasingly a niche grocery item, as even for people who like pancakes, they may not actually make them at home them very often.
Now I’ve got a craving for pancakes. Haven’t had them in probably 30 or 40 years. I don’t even know if I ever even had buckwheat pancakes.
No wonder you’re grumpy. [/
]
^^^I’m not grumpy 
[/
] was my attempt to say “just kidding”.
Sorry it missed the mark.
?
Oh, I got it 
the first time
People tell me to smile more, by the way.
I was going to say something like my niece thinks the Dwarf Grumpy was named after me
My normal pancake recipe has buttermilk and buckwheat, but also includes all-purpose flour. If I go out for breakfast, then I want buttermilk pancakes like those served at a diner.
Try yeasted buckwheat pancakes for a special taste. You have to make the batter the night before, to give the yeast time to work. Make sure to have enough space for the batter to expand.
Sydney, Australia had a small pancake chain in touristy locations, with stores named Pancakes on The Rocks. They were the sort of place you took your date after a movie before you looked old enough to get into a pub. They had buckwheat pancakes, and this was mid-late 1970s onwards. They’re not mentioned on the current menu.
Thanks, AHunter3, for making this thread. I love buckwheat. It doesn’t matter, pancakes, breads, noodles, even breakfast cereal. Luckily I can get buckwheat noodles here easily, but the rest is a make it yourself or go without issue. I remember there used to be a breakfast cereal made with buckwheat and had maple cereal flavoring. I was actually thinking of that stuff yesterday, trying to remember the name of it. Can’t think of it. Any ideas?