The famous Golden Diner pancakes are made by flooding a pan with yeasted batter, which allows them to grow tall and domed in shape. | Cole Saladino

Buttermilk pancakes were a “day-one” item when Luella’s Southern Kitchen first opened in Chicago in 2015, explains owner Darnell Reed; nevertheless, they eventually came off the menu as the restaurant focused on dinner service . But when Reed re-opened Luella’s in a new location last year with an exclusive focus on brunch, he put pancakes back on the menu — albeit with a slight revamp.

Instead of the traditional diner-style stack, they’re now extra-tall golden-brown cakes, two to an order, and slightly rounded on the edges. “Our recipe has not changed,” Reed says.…