Welcome to Food Court, in which The Washington Post will attempt to mediate the unsolvable food debates of our time. 

#TeamPancakes

Fact: Market Lunch, the Eastern Market counter-service restaurant most famous for its Blue Buck pancakes, used to serve waffles. Gasp! "The problem is I love both," admits owner Tom Glasgow. Double gasp! But if he had to choose, he's going with pancakes. Whew.

"The most important thing with pancakes is they have to be scratch-made pancakes," Glasgow says. From there, it's easy to experiment with the ratio of buttermilk, flour and eggs to come up with your perfect recipe. "That's one of the things I love about pancakes," he says. "Pancakes can easily be adapted to your own personal preference."

Market Lunch's signature blueberry buckwheat pancakes are only available on Saturdays, but the counter also sells plain buckwheat, buttermilk, blueberry and chocolate chip stacks. Key word: stacks.

Advertisement

"To me, pancakes are a lot more filling than waffles," Glasgow says. "Waffles are a lot more airy."

Waffles, he thinks, can sometimes be too crusty, and he appreciates the soft texture inherent in pancakes.

Still, he observes, "There's a lot of people who love waffles." For now anyway, he's going to keep focusing on the hordes who faithfully wait in Market Lunch's famously long lines in pursuit of pancakes.

#TeamWaffles

Chef Bart Vandaele has been on Team Waffle since his childhood in Belgium, which is famous for its light and airy Belgian (a.k.a. Brussels) waffles and its denser, sugary Liege waffles.

Vandaele estimates he has created more than 100 waffle-based dishes over the years for his two restaurants, B Too and Belga Cafe. His home country's famous dish "became kind of like a passion," especially after he realized how much Americans love waffles. So he's gone all in.

Advertisement

He appreciates waffles' versatility and how they lend themselves so well to creativity -- "You name it," anything can go with a waffle. He rattles off some of his creations: Eggs in a waffle, foie gras waffles, duck a l'orange waffles, couscous waffles, gluten-free waffles, waffles with ice cream. Waffle sandwiches. Waffles made out of french toast. You could try to stop him, but you won't.

"I think it's also a better vessel" than a pancake, Vandaele said. "It has these nice big squares of space that are perfect to capture something."

The chef just can't see himself devouring a pile of pancakes in the morning, and he's a guy who needs an a.m. sugar hit. "That syrup, nah, definitely not," he adds for good measure. (And, no, don't even think of putting it on a waffle.)

"I think waffles win," Vandaele says. "We win."

[Pick a side: Pancakes or waffles]

Related items:

French fries and onion rings are American classics. But which one is better?

If you're going to Rehoboth, then you've got to try this fried pancake thing called kaiserschmarrn.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLumw9Jonqihnpx6sMHTZp6uoZSafLi8jmtnam5fZYBwfpNop5qmk5a4pr%2BMmqWdZaeWs6e4xKxkmqqVYrqwvs2ipaBlkaG5br%2FTmqmsZZKqwW7Dx6KaoWWfo7JutdJmmZ6spJq%2FcA%3D%3D