Daniel Drake – better known by his absurd culinary moniker ‘Doctor Dan the Pancake Man’ – did NOT see himself becoming ‘The World’s First Professional Pancake Artist’. In fact, six years ago, when he began pouring silly faces and odd shapes into pancakes at his frycook day job, he regularly laughed off suggestions that he could turn his odd talents into a business.

Fast forward a half decade: Images of his work have spread like wildfire across the internet, thanks to a fortuitous encounter with a creative friend and a series of increasingly popular posts on the well-known imageboard, Reddit. The Reddit posts became Buzzfeed lists and Yahoo! News clips, and eventually, a call from a producer on NBC’s The Today Show.

“My phone started ringing while I was cooking,” says Drake, “and I checked the number, and it was from New York, so I ran off the grill and answered it. The voice on the other end asked if I was ‘Doctor Dan the Pancake Man’ and I could barely control my laughter.”

He was flown to New York City the day before Thanksgiving of 2013, and hasn’t looked back since.

“It was the Today Show that really did it,” says Drake, brandishing a screenshot of him standing next to Al Roker, holding a pancake of Al Roker’s face. “After that happened is when I knew I’d be stupid not to capitalize on this.”

Since his trip to New York, Drake has been profiled in countless media outlets, from Viralnova and The Riverfront Times, to Fox News, KSDK Channel 5, The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, FEAST Magazine, St. Louis Magazine, The Steve Harvey Show, and more. He has taken up a residency at the beautiful Corvid’s Café in South Saint Louis (5001 Mardel Avenue) as a part of their fabulous Sunday Brunch, and rents his time out as a performer/caterer to private parties, business events, weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, and really, anywhere else.

“Any time that I can be cooking pancake art for money instead of working a minimum wage diner gig is time well spent,” he says.

Drake also performs as the frontman and lead lyricist behind the megahip pop-rock experiment Psych Squared, he freelances as a graphic designer, and illustrates and self-publishes his own line of comic books, featuring characters of his own design as well as members of his band. He spends his free time writing songs, sketching humorous videos with his best friend and creative conspirator Henry ‘Hank’ Gustafson (who also plays bass with their band), and enjoying his absurd twist of good fortune.

“The rule is, I’ll never turn down a request,” he says of his pancake art. “If you wanna challenge me, do it. I challenge you to challenge me. Come find me around town!”