When I moved back to Charleston after two years in the Catskills, I was hanging out with a group of people one night, and a friend of a friend asked from where had I just moved back. Assuming that most people in South Carolina are not familiar with the tiny towns in the Catskill mountains, I said that I had been about two hours north of Manhattan up in the mountains. She is a photographer and said that she had shot a wedding up in the Catskills the past summer. She then went onto say that while she was up there, she had eaten breakfast at this little place and had the best pancakes. It was obvious, she had been at Maggie’s Krooked Cafe. I was right. It was a very small world coincidence- the wedding she shot had been an acquaintance who grew up summering in a neighboring park to Twilight called Onteora. These two parks are only about 10 miles away from each other on either side of a town called Tannersville, and all of this is one town over from Hunter Ski Mountain. I remember the first time I went to Maggie’s and thinking how quirky the whole place was. There is a reason the place is called Krooked Cafe- there is not a right angle in the whole restaurant. Then the food came out. We had ordered corned beef hash with a fried egg on top for the table, two people got the Ploughman’s breakfast, one person an omelet, and I got the blueberry pancakes. First of all, corned beef hash is not something that I would think I would enjoy, and fried eggs are not my favorite (I have a thing against yolk- I don’t like it). This stuff was amazing. It had a lot of curry spice to it, and it was unbelievably flavorful. Then I got to my pancakes. When I tell you that these pancakes were unlike any pancake I have every eaten- its true, and you will only believe me if you actually taste them for yourself. It might be the pound of butter of the entire sack of sugar that goes into each one, but there is something in those pancakes that is very special. Since that day, whenever we have friends up on the mountain with us, going to Maggie’s for breakfast is a requirement. So, if you happen to find yourself in Tannersville, NY- Maggie’s Krooked Cafe should be on your list of must do’s. You can check out her website and all the accolades she has received here www.krookedcafe.com.
