Pittsburgh’s Most Famous Pancakes: Pamela’s Diner Crepe-style Hotcakes

A copycat recipe brings home the Pittsburgh institution’s legendary lacy pancakes.

Pamela's Diner's hotcakes are thinner than typical fluffy pancakes, and they come out plate-sized with crispy edges. Emily Goodstein/Wikimedia Commons via CC BY 2.0

Can an empire be built on a pancake? So it would seem.

In 1980, Pam Cohen and Gail Klingensmith had the opportunity to buy a hamburger/hot dog joint—the business, not the building—that had been in Ms. Cohen’s family. They reopened it as the first Pamela’s Diner location in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.