Most artists use paint or clay. Lee Goldberg uses a GoPro camera, special griddle, 10 squeeze tubes, a projection screen and pancake batter. He turns breakfast into art.
“I came to do this through cooking,” Philadelphia native Goldberg, 34, says as he crafts an edible portrait of an 8-year-old. “I was cooking alongside my dad since I was 4… But it was rehab that got me into doing this.”
One of the lucky ones to beat opioid addiction, Goldberg started washing dishes as part of his residential program. He liked the supportive atmosphere in the kitchen. That led him to become a chef, his full-time job. Now, he’s one of only about 10 people who uses pancakes as an art form through the St. Louis-based company Dancakes.
Most Saturday mornings, Goldberg performs at Sip Coffee & Beer House in Scottsdale, working in full view of the coffeehouse patrons. “I take a picture on my phone, then project it on the screen next to the pancake I’m making,” Goldberg says. “Everybody can see without crowding around.”
The process takes five to seven minutes. “You need even heat distribution,” Goldberg says. “I went through a lot – and I mean a lot – of batter before I got good at this.”
Flapjacks have taken him around the country. “I’ve worked in Pittsburgh. Dancakes has gone to London and Singapore! My future is pancakes.”
The future is finite for his golden-brown likenesses. “Most people pour syrup on and eat them, and there are some who take them home.”
Reach Goldberg at 602-682-2296 or through dancakes.com.
