Sometimes you get a craving for one type of food, and it almost doesn't matter where you get it. The Feed takes a look at local restaurants that all serve a single food in common with one another. This week The Feed takes a close look at pancakes in Wilmette.

The Original Pancake House

Anyone with a bit of North Shore blood in them knows about Walker Brothers. From Wilmette stretching as far as northwest Barrington, it feels like these things are all over the place, not that anyone's complaining. Your parents may have brought you here so much as a kid that you're a bit Walker'd out, but you can't hold it against the pancake house itself. The place serves up a killer version of some Dutch and German pancakes that are otherwise hard to find.

The Feed: This giant apple pancake almost seems to have more in common with a fritter than a pancake. Filled with fresh apples and topped with a cinnamon and sugar glaze, this pancake is big enough to require baking. $8.95, or top it with vanilla ice cream for $1.5o more. Yes, top it.

Hotcakes Cafe

Hotcakes Cafe is an adorable Wilmette original. The blond wood interior almost evokes a Wisconsin ski lodge, and the sweet, good vibes here do feel just as cozy. Hotcakes Cafe is a great option for breakfast or lunch, and it's cheap too. This is one of those places you're glad still exists.

The Feed: The Hotcakes Cafe original, the M&M Pancakes. A stack goes for about $6, and the multi-colored chocolate candies peeking through the buttermilk pancakes lights up any diner's face.

Mrs. D's Wilmette Diner

It's hard to walk into Mrs. D's and not immediately think of the 50's, but in reality this place has only been in operation for five years. A lot like Hotcakes Cafe, this place is a breakfast and luncher, but it does offer a few menu items that set it apart. Customers rave about the service here as well as the friendliness of the staff.

The Feed: The pancakes here are described on the menu as "the world's best," and the way some customers rave about them, they might be right. At $5 a stack, they're somehow just a bit crunchy (yes, crunchy!) on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside, these pancakes have only one flaw: the syrup served alongside them comes from a packet, and isn't worthy of this breakfast treat.

Ridgeview Grill

When it comes to breakfast at the Ridgeview, the place is known for its eggs benedict. Less well known here are the pancakes, but they hold their own against the rest of the Ridgeview breakfast menu as well as other places in town. 

The Feed: The Ridgeview offers perhaps the healthiest of the pancake choices in the Multigrain Pancake. At $6, this stack is thick and hearty without being grainy, and topped with fruits like cinnamon apples or fresh strawberries for just $2 more. Customers also have the option of splurging and having a few chocolate chips tossed into the mix, and really: why not?