Petaluma’s home to one massive pancake at Sax’s Joint

A real showstopper, “The Joint” giant pancake is a literal table topper.

It is so big that it requires more than a half-gallon of batter and is served on a pizza platter. There are photos all over social media of kids in utter disbelief upon its arrival. “The Joint” has been making waves since it first appeared on the menu at Sax’s Joint years ago.

There is a lot of pink in the décor around Sax’s Joint, but “The Joint” holds a special place on the menu, highlighted in big letters and is described as, “The biggest damn hot cake you ever did see!”

First thought up by Desi Patocchi, co-owner Kimberly Saxby’s daughter-in-law and has been on the menu since the first day Sax’s opened their doors.

According to Martin Jones’ book “Feast: Why Humans Share Food,” there is evidence that pancakes are one of the earliest foods, eaten as far back as prehistoric times. Also known as hotcakes, flapjacks and griddlecakes, pancakes appear in just about every cuisine around the world in one fashion or another. Every continent offers multiple versions, spanning the palate from sweet to savory.

“The Joint” is available in a range of flavors, including buttermilk sweet cream blueberry, chocolate chip, strawberries and bananas and cinnamon roll, which is another of Sax’s specialties.

“My son is fixated with figuring out how the chef flips it,” said regular customer Erica Arent.

“We use two spatulas to flip it,” explains Chef Tiffany Saxby. “Marco usually yells out so I have time to move out of the way so I don’t get bombed with batter.”

At well over half a gallon of batter, there is plenty of splash to go around. It is served with a pitcher of syrup riding atop the huge pancake.

“We used to have a contest for how fast you could eat ‘The Joint’,” continued Tiffany. “The fastest was a guy named Rick, who ate it in six and half minutes. However, we stopped doing the contest because we didn’t really have an effective way to make sure the size was consistent.”

Sax’s Joint itself is named after co-owners Kimberly and Tiffany Saxby’s father and was one of Conrad “Sax” Saxby’s final wishes before he passed away from cancer. He watched his daughter help others open and run successful restaurants and wanted to see their dream of running their own place come to fruition. And boy has it. August marks the six year anniversary of Sax’s Joint, which still has long lines each and every weekend, as much for the excellent and homey service as the hearty and affordable plates of food.

Along with serving great food at the Petaluma Boulevard South diner (next to Pinky’s Pizza), the ladies of Sax’s Joint can often be found serving at local events, such as this Saturday’s (Aug. 3) Petaluma Music Festival. They will be serving their White Trash Chili, which was always a favorite at the Great Petaluma Chili Cookoff, along with barbecue pulled pork sandwiches.

At just $10, this larger-than-life carb certainly qualifies as cheap thrills, whether your table is surrounded by kids or adults. However, as with all Sax’s food, there is nothing gimmicky about its flavor. Sax’s consistently turns out great food no matter the size of the plate.