Strip mall delights: Austin's Counter Café

• I ordered a pecan pancake and a Caesar salad because I was feeling especially indecisive.

The intrigue: I'm calling this a strip mall — there's a small parking lot out front and the café shares walls with Endo, a Japanese restaurant, and Alienated Majesty Books — though, located so centrally, it doesn't exactly evoke American sprawl.

• Ontologically speaking, as the philosophers like to say, this place raises very profound questions about what a strip mall is.

Six-word review: Fluffy pancake pairs well with anchovies.