Du-Par’s
Coffee
Bread Pudding with Ice Cream, Caramel, Walnuts, Raisins
Short Stack Pancakes
Short Stack French Toast
Glazed Donut Hot at 7am
Almond Bear Claw Hot at 7am
A veritable Los Angeles institution that I’d always neglected given their ever-evolving dining landscape I was admittedly excited when I found out that DuPar’s famous pancakes could be found in Las Vegas at the Golden Gate Casino, but it was not until I found out that they were available 24/7 and that some inebriated friends from out of town were there post-clubbing just as I was finishing my morning run that I committed to a 5:15am Saturday visit. Located right in the heart of downtown where the last of the nighttime crowd was returning to their homes/hotels free street parking was an easy score and with myself the only person in the restaurant who’d actually been asleep the night prior it was mere moments before we were seated, coffee poured, and orders taken – a plethora of carbs from which my friends would merely pick at prior to retiring for the night thus leaving me with enviable task of playing cleanup to some truly textbook diner food, decadent desserts, and even a pair of fresh baked goods as I hung around abusing the free Wi-Fi and copious coffee refills until 7:00am. Without a doubt the sort of place where quality and quantity both matter it really came as no surprise that both the restaurant’s French Toast and signature pancakes, even as ‘short stacks,’ were immense but outstanding – the pancakes particularly light and quite literally ‘melt-in-the-mouth,’ but perhaps more impressive were the pastries and bread pudding – the donut a lightly raised and amply yeasted version without a bit of grease, the “bear claw” reminiscent of the Hungarian Nut Horns at Christmas during my youth but warmer and 10x the size, and the bread pudding a dense, steaming hot wedge covered in caramel and ice cream that rivals the best I’ve found in Sin City – especially at 5am.
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