"It's the same premise as Fat Tuesday, wherein you have to give up everything good for Lent before the ritual fasting," says Snooze owner Adam Schlagel. "National Pancake Day is a glorious day to feast, store up on calories and eat something delicious before you have to starve yourself."
And all five Snooze locations -- Ballpark, Colorado Boulevard, Streets at SouthGlenn, Fort Collins and Boulder -- are going to make damn sure that you don't wake up on Wednesday with hunger pains. "This is Snooze's Hallmark holiday," says Schlagel, "and every Snooze is participating by offering fifteen different pancakes, eleven of which will just be on the menu for National Pancake Day."
In addition to its regular pancake lineup, including the pineapple upside-down pancake, Snooze is also dotting its menu with a cherry-and-bourbon version; another with chocolate batter, peanuts and brown sugar drizzled with a spicy Mexican chocolate sauce; a Monte Cristo specked with ham and stuffed with Swiss; and "pigs in an electric blanket," a buttermilk flapjack with sausage coins, poblano chile syrup and whipped butter.But National Pancake Day at Snooze is about more than simply getting your flapjack fix. "We're donating 100 percent of all pancake sales at each of our stores to local schools that either have a garden or plan to have a garden," notes Schlagel, adding that every Snooze is located within one mile of an elementary school. "Our goal is to help start or maintain a garden at the schools that we've 'adopted,' and our hope," he adds, "is that we're not only providing seed money for equipment, but also giving our staff the opportunity to become involved in as many ways as possible: the staff can weed or harvest, and our chefs can work with the students and show them how to cook and prepare meals with what they collect from the gardens."
And just about everything, stresses Schlagel, revolves around those gardens. "Having a garden teaches kids about food sources and biology, and it extends even further," he says, into "home economics, art and even literature."
That's what we call good food for a good cause.
