Donut / Pancake Day in N-town

Most calendars have today marked as Mardi Gras, but for a lot of Norristown's residents who are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants from Italy, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean, today is Carnival or Bacchanal. So it's a great day to talk about food.

If you can get yourself dug out of the snow today, you might go looking for donuts, or as some of our earliest German settlers called them, fasnachts. Polish immigrants brought another version called paczki. Mexicans--a long ridged version called churros that just beg to be dipped in gooey chocolate.

Sure, you could just go to Dunkin' Donuts and get the generic version--there are 3 locations in N-town--but consider some of our local eateries who get their pastries from local bakeries or do the baking themselves. Here are some suggestions:

Jus' Java, 317 Swede St.(donuts at left)
Eli's Bakery Cafe, 324 W Marshall St.
Lou's (who posted the photo of the heart-shaped donuts above), 414 E Main St.





You can also find churros at Mexico Lindo, 500 W Main, and Los Potrillos, 354 W Elm.

Today is also known by some of our residents as Pancake Day and here in N-Town, we have lots of breakfast places that serve pancakes. Here are just a few:

Alfredo's, 1132 W Main (Yelp reviews give their pancakes 5 stars)
Main Street Cafe, 215 E Main (a friend of mine raves about their pancakes)
Pauline's Deli, 36 E Main
Trejo American & Mexican, 505 Swede
Norristown Diner, 234 W Johnson Hwy (I've had breakfast there a few times. I can't order the pancakes because I'm gluten intolerant, but my companions who ordered them have all liked them)
And again, Jus' Java (the pancakes in the photo).

So there are some suggestions for celebrating the day in style. Hungry yet?

Buon Carnivale!