Thirty-Six Cafe
Soufflé pancakes–the pancakes that are lighter than air, thicker than normal, and yes, have a bit of a wobble–have arrived in Minnesota. It’s a global trend, and it’s finally here in the Twin Cities.
Macy Lee and Soua Vang, the owners of Thirty-Six Cafe located on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, spent hundreds of hours perfecting their pancake recipe in time for their opening last month.
“There’s an art to how you make it,” Lee says. “How you put the batter on. How you whip it. How you stack it. How you cook it. Every detail matters. I can see why it’s not offered, because it’s a very difficult process to make. People underestimate how difficult it is.”
As far as they’re aware, and as far as we can tell, this is the first place in Minnesota and the metro that offers these jiggly soufflé pancakes. The jiggle happens when you shake your plate a bit and the fluffy stack sort of, well, dances. They said it took a lot of tweaking to get the process to this stage, but their family–especially the kids–were willing guinea pigs.
The trendy cakes originated in Japan several years ago and set the internet on fire. They have made their way to the American restaurants in cities like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and now, St. Paul. “We’ve had people travel from all over the state of Minnesota,” Lee says, from St. Cloud to New Prague. People have even flown in from New York, Denver, and California and stopped by for a stack of soufflé pancakes.
Thirty-Six Cafe’s soufflé pancakes come in four trendy flavors: The Classic, Matcha Delight, Hooray for Ube, and Banana Foster. The Classic is topped with strawberries cut into heart shapes, whipped cream, condensed milk, and powdered sugar, but don't turn a blind-eye to the Hooray for Ube stack, which is finished with purple yam and taro whip.
“People love it, and I would say we probably put our American twist on it,” Lee says. “As you know, different countries have different ingredients, and it may be slightly different.” People have been waiting in line for two hours for a taste of the global phenomenon. “After they’ve finished their plate, and I ask, ‘was it worth the wait?’ They say ‘absolutely.’"
The wait is so long not only because the demand is huge, but also because actually making the pancakes is a bit of an elaborate procedure. It involves a lot of whipping. Like a lot. But not too much and not too little. Lee and Vang use timers to ensure the perfect amount of whip and the perfect amount of cooking, down to the second. “There’s batches where you’ll whip it up, and if you let it sit for like 30 seconds, it’ll be ruined,” Lee says. “For it to look that beautiful and taste that good, every second counts.”
While some techniques for making the fluffy stacks involve using a rice cooker or metal ring molds, Lee and Vang found it works best for them to stack the batter on a typical pancake griddle, with no mold. They’ve also found the just right Goldilocks cooking temperature. “The temperature has to be absolutely right,” she says. “If it’s overcooked by just a few seconds, it will deflate. If it’s undercooked by a few seconds… it’s wet and battery.”
The shop is still getting their legs underneath them, but seem happy with the response. “We want people to have, I would say, a magical experience when they bite into it. Like, ‘I can’t believe this tastes so good.’”
