This Diner Arguably Has the Best Pancakes in Maine

More than 150 years ago, Providence, Rhode Island printer Walter Scott began selling sandwiches and coffee from a horse-drawn wagon to late-night workers, making New England the birthplace of what would evolve into a glorious mealtime institution: the American Diner. Today, Palace Diner—a member of this gastronomic tradition with a fascinating history of its own—serves maybe Maine’s best pancakes in a nearly 100-year-old railcar along the coast in Biddeford.

The Pollard Company car housing the diner was built in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1927, further solidifying Palace Diner as a thoroughly New England piece of the region’s food culture. A shining example of the twentieth-century lunch cars that were the successors of Scott’s horse-drawn carts, it carries three distinctions: it’s now just one of two Pollard cars left in the country, it is one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating diners, and therefore it's also Maine's oldest diner. Business partners Greg Mitchell and Chad Conley are its sixth proprietors, having revived Palace in 2014 and renovated the Pollard car in 2021, ensuring it will last well past its centennial birthday.

Mitchell and Conley met while farming at Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine, and quickly realized they shared many passions—including simple, delicious cooking and quality meals. They bring quite a culinary pedigree to the diner counter, each having worked in acclaimed, high-profile kitchens including New York City’s Gramercy Tavern and Daniel restaurants, as well as Berkley, California’s Chez Panisse, and have both been nominated twice thus far for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast during their tenure at Palace Diner.

Their elevated versions of classic diner plates reflect Mitchell and Conley’s fine dining background, and their pancakes (listed as “buttermilk flapjacks” on said menu) are no exception. The cakes are extremely fluffy as the recipe includes both baking soda and baking powder, and their cloud-like texture is further amplified by the rich buttermilk. The special ingredient that makes pancake enthusiasts of all ages rave about them, however, isn’t listed on the menu, but it does reveal itself with the first bite; lemon zest and juice are added to the batter, and the citric acid shines through the luxurious texture. This zippy addition amuses your palate far longer than pancakes made without lemon, which in turn makes it far easier to demolish the entire stack (trust me). 

If you want just one of the probably best pancakes in Maine, you can order a single cake as a side—and don’t sleep on the sides, especially the caramelized grapefruit and brown butter banana bread; the latter makes an excellent dessert or road snack. The pancakes are guaranteed to be available from 7 a.m. to noon, “and sometimes after,” as the menu says, though note that the diner is only open until 2 p.m. daily. The vintage railcar is also tiny, so count on waiting for one of the 15 counter seats, no matter the time of day. I promise the pancakes are well worth it—and besides, you can always take a less than five-minute stroll over to Time & Tide Coffee on Main Street for a decadent pistachio latte and poke into the charming shops while you wait.

Friends with a diner devotee or pancake-lover who needs to know about Palace Diner’s exceptional stack? Share this article and start planning your trip to Biddeford today.