Pancake on TV or the Movies?

April 20, 2006 4:22 PM

Working on a project - please scan your memory banks - any TV or movies featuring people eating pancakes in a chain restaurant - preferably friendly not like Jack going off on the waitress in FIVE EASY PIECES ... Thanks!
posted by jbelkin to media & arts (18 comments total)

I'm pretty sure there are folk enjoying flapjacks in Groundhog Day.
posted by vagabond at 4:31 PM on April 20, 2006

Tim Allen's character & his son go to Denny's for Christmas Eve dinner in The Santa Clause. Not sure if anybody's eating pancakes, though.
posted by designbot at 4:49 PM on April 20, 2006

The nihilists in The Big Lebowski.
posted by Tuwa at 4:50 PM on April 20, 2006

In Super Troopers, aren't they eating pancakes right before they chug the syrup?
posted by Number27 at 5:03 PM on April 20, 2006

The main characters in Dead Like Me met every day at "Der Wafflehaus," but I don't know if that was supposed to be a chain or not.
posted by Zozo at 5:17 PM on April 20, 2006

Rain Man
posted by tkolstee at 5:30 PM on April 20, 2006

Swingers. At least I think there were pancakes. Definitely breakfast food.

Pulp Fiction. Not friendly, and lots of Tarantino language.
posted by Cyrie at 6:46 PM on April 20, 2006

The new version of The Ladykillers has a scene at a waffle house.

"Madam, we must have waffles! We must all have waffles forthwith! We must all think, and we must all have waffles."
posted by rhapsodie at 7:20 PM on April 20, 2006

Diner?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:25 PM on April 20, 2006

There's a family guy episode where Meg works as a waitress in a diner while Stewie, posing as her son so she'll get more pity tips, eats pancakes during her shift.

script here

The cook's name is Flappy!

There's also a Simpsons episode where Marge uses a pancake as a funnel to pour cereal into Bart's mouth.

I found some images here, here, here, and here.

Also, I believe they were eating pancakes in the opening scane of Reservoir Dogs, while they discussed tipping and the, um, virtue of Madonna in relation to Like a Virgin.
posted by Kellydamnit at 7:35 PM on April 20, 2006

I hope this isn't a spoiler for anyone, but in the most recent Sopranos the guy who lost all the weight (I can't remember anyone's name on that show...) was eating pancakes.
posted by pwb503 at 7:43 PM on April 20, 2006

How important is it that they be pancakes and that it be a chain? If so:

No one in Diner orders pancakes, though there is a scene where a guy eats everything on the menu (but you don't see pancakes) and it ain't a chain restaurant.

Same with Swingers, unless they're included in the Renaissance Breakfast (which we never see)--but they order at a casino, not a chain. There is another scene in a diner, later, but I don't think they ordered pancakes.

Pretty sure pancakes are ordered in Groundhog Day, as mentioned above, but it ain't a chain.

Pulp Fiction: the place is called Hawthorne Grill and Vince Vega orders pancakes and bacon in the final scene. (Jules eats a muffin.)

On the Sopranos, Vito was eating Johnny Cakes, which are "pancakes made with white cornmeal", so they probably count, but again, it wasn't a chain.

And, just FYI, Bobby didn't order pancakes in 5EP. He ordered a chicken salad sandwich (but he only wanted toast). Plus, he doesn't get it.
posted by dobbs at 9:12 PM on April 20, 2006

Not sure if these are chains but you could try:

Dazed and Confused
Fargo
My Blue Heaven
Road Trip (definitely French toast...)
posted by SpacemanRed at 2:15 AM on April 21, 2006

duh... "in a chain"
sorry about that.
posted by Kellydamnit at 4:33 AM on April 21, 2006

Julia Roberts goes nuts on some breakfast food in "America's Sweethearts". I'm pretty sure pancakes are involved but I could be wrong.
posted by fuzzbean at 6:48 AM on April 21, 2006

I thought of Fargo too--if you're thinking of the scene where Lundegaard and his father-in-law and his advisor go to the restaurant to discuss what to do about the kidnapping, the pancake (if that's what it is) on the plate in front of the man at left is visible for about half a second as he raises his arm. And for all I can tell, it might not be a pancake.

Earlier, one of the kidnappers (the Peter Stormare one) does insist on going to the "Pancakes House," though. There's no shot of it in the film, though.
posted by Tuwa at 8:05 AM on April 21, 2006

Barbarian! In Five Easy Pieces, Jack went off not on pancakes, but on a chicken salad sandwich ("Hold everything but the toast!") not pancakes. Sheesh, have you no couth? ;-)
posted by wordwhiz at 6:34 PM on April 21, 2006

Road Trip.
posted by Blandanomics at 10:32 AM on April 22, 2006