the creme brulee cart

04/29/2023

IYKYK

07/31/2022

If you’re in San Diego tomorrow, come through and have some pancakes with me!

07/31/2022

Thanks for letting me pancake around a bit, Los Angeles. Everything was incredible. Except the humidity. Didn’t love that. Luckily I’m moving to DC so I won’t have to deal with that.

07/30/2022

Dear Los Angeles Residents,

Your city is so insanely beautiful and full of life. I’m gonna be making and sharing pancakes for you tomorrow morning. And they’re pretty hecking good pancakes too. imho. 10am-noon. Tell your friends to come be my friend.

07/22/2022

Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that it’s now my turn to leave San Francisco. After 20+ years of calling this beautiful city home, I’ve gotta go. The good news is that

I’m throwing a pancake party. TOMORROW. You should totally come! Tell everyone and bring your friends! Come give me a high five or a hug or some good advice or talk me out of leaving.

“But Curtis, why are you throwing a pancake party if you’re leaving?”

Thanks for asking, Strawperson. I recently had someone I am very close to and admire and love quite a bit get diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. It’s crushing. Life is unwaveringly temporary.

So for the past few months I’ve done A LOT of thinking about what does and doesn’t matter in life, and when it’s my time to go, what will I leave behind? And here’s where I’ve landed:

Most of it doesn’t matter. Your house, your Tesla, the nice meals you ate, the vacations you took, your political affiliations and level of commitment, money, your quarterly review, your 15 simple tricks to make you more productive. All of that is temporary.

As far as I can tell the most valuable things in this world are your health and your relationships with other people. The love that you give and receive to everyone your share your life and world with.

So I’m making pancakes. I’m making pancakes to make friends. I’m making pancakes to spread love. I’m making pancakes so that you’ll make pancakes and you’ll spread love.

It’s crazy. It’s silly. But most of all it’s important. Next week I climb in my car and start my journey across the country. And I’m hoping to do pancake parties all across this great land.

Next Saturday I’ll be doing one in LA. Sunday in San Diego. Then on from there. So follow along with my journey. We’re gonna meet some great people and share laughs and the joy and wonder of being human.

I love you all.
Yours,
Curtis

02/14/2022

Maybe it worked. Maybe we made the city a tiny bit more special even if only for a moment.

Love up on each other, people. We’re all we’ve got.

Curtis Kimball’s Bernal Heights pancake parties went viral for the way they brought...

02/14/2022

A month ago I had a ridiculous, silly, simple idea: I could make my neighborhood a better place, AND make some new friends just by making pancakes in front of my house for anyone who came by to hang out. Everything that followed 🤯 👇
As you probably know, I hung fliers all around the neighborhood and hilariously, people showed up! And the vibes were incredible! I had kind of accidentally stumbled on something. A lot of people were hungry to connect with their neighbors and share smiles and laughter and joy.
Then it got picked up by a lot of media outlets. And while I don’t particularly enjoy 15 minutes of fame, I felt it was important that as many people as possible heard about my ridiculous idea for connecting with neighbors and maybe that would help them do their own silly idea.

So I prepared as many pancakes as I possibly could. I hung up the fliers again and hoped for the best. I didn’t know if anyone would come, but I thought maybe…

AND THEY DID! The line stretched down the block and around the corner. In 2 hours, myself, my mother-in-law and some friends I used to work with made over 700 pancakes for 300 brand new friends. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

The joy, the laughter, the gratitude, the kindness was all overwhelming (as was the smell of pancakes). Not to be a softy, but I got a little misty a few times as every person thanked me for what to them felt like the perfect antidote at the perfect time after a rough 2 years.

I have no idea what comes next for this silly little project of mine. Maybe you’ll invite me to make pancakes in front of your house for your friends and neighbors! Or maybe you’ll just do one on your own (how can I help?)

But until then, San Franciscans have my undying gratitude for some of the most fun times of my life. Everyone who came was a little more wind in my sails as we all start to put our world back together. So go forth! Make friends! Reach out! Give love and receive it!

(Also, a lot of people yesterday asked for a donation jar. I didn’t want to have one because out, but if you wanna pitch in, https://www.gofundme.com/f/pancake-party-love?member=17367329&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer )

MY HEART TO ALL OF YOU!

02/14/2022

What a wild ride this whole pancake fiasco has been!

Curtis Kimball started the now-defunct Creme Brulee Cart, and wanted to use his griddle to inspire kindness in others.

02/12/2022

Let’s celebrate each other. I’ll celebrate you and you’ll celebrate me. I’ll root for you and you’ll root for me. It won’t fix everything or maybe anything, but it will give our souls the strength we need to fix everything. Or fix anything.

(Pancakes today 2/12 9-11am. On Alabama St between Cesar Chavez and Precita. Be there.)