It's fun when old friends return, especially if they look better than ever. Several cookbooks we remember fondly from years past have reappeared in new designs and with updates that make them seem new again.

The Pancake Handbook, by Steve Siegelman, Bette Kroening and Sue Conley (Ten Speed Press; paperback; $12.95 ) is out in a revised second edition. This little book, first self-published by the crew at Bette's Oceanview Diner on Berkeley's Fourth Street, has been a turn-to book for breakfast or quick supper dishes in my house since it first came out in the early '90s. The book - just like Bette's menu - is a nice mixture of traditional and new ideas. Blintzes and blinis, cottage cheese pancakes and lacy Johnnycakes, crepes and souffled pancakes are all explained in a manner that doesn't intimidate, and in my experience, the recipes are just about foolproof. The writing is as light and breezy as a puffy Dutch Bunny: "A good pancake," the authors write, "like a bad politician, is full of hot air." The pancakes may be; the book is not.

Karola Saekel - San Francisco Chronicle, September 2003

For nearly two decades, hungry folks have started lining up at 6 a.m. for breakfast at Bette's Oceanview Diner. But if you can't make it to Berkeley for a batch of Bette's famous pancakes, you can attempt to re-create her fluffy flapjacks in the comfort of your own kitchen-and at a much more sensible hour.

Diner owner Bette Kroening teamed up with her original cofounders to revise The Pancake Handbook (first published in 1993). The second edition has more than 60 updated recipes, along with 15 new ones.

Of course, there's a recipe for the dish that started it all, buttermilk cakes, which Kroening calls "the perfect pancake."

"It works every time," she says, "and there are a million variations you can do." Other recipes showcase Bette's unusual tasty daily specials, like double-chocolate devil's food, lemon-blueberry yogurt, and chili-cheese soufflé pancakes.

Kroening insists it's shortsighted to believe that pancakes are only for the breakfast table. The book has suggestions for satisfying your pancake penchant at any time of day. Pair pork chops with cornmeal pancakes topped with fresh corn and salsa. Or how about blini with smoked salmon or caviar? Other variations on the genre include potato latkes, blintzes, and sweet and savory crepes. With chapters on technique and topping suggestions, The Pancake Handbook is a complete guide to hotcake heaven.

Carinne Johnson - Diablo Magazine, September 2003

One of the joys of eating breakfast out is sampling the different pancakes professional cooks come up with. In recent years, a number of companies have started to produce pancake mixes that let you create similar pancakes. Going beyond the traditional white flour variety, they offer intriguing combinations of a variety of grains.

Credit the new respectability of carbohydrates or the swings of the taste pendulum-whatever the reason, we have once again become a country of bread eaters.

Restaurants, particularly breakfast places, are rated on their bread basket as much as on the fluffiness of their omelets and the aroma of their coffee.

British Origins
Scones, that darling of the British Isles, rank high among morning indulgences, but a lot of home cooks think they are too much trouble to make from scratch.

While that's debatable, there are many scone mixes on the supermarket shelves that allow home bakers to produce scones with little effort and no guesswork whatsoever.

Bette's Diner Scone Mix If any breakfast food strikes the perfect balance between sophistication and homeyness, it is a scone. Also, a great scone can mean different things to different bakers. "A lot of scones are dense and dry," says Bette Kroening, president of Bette's Diner Products. "We intentionally developed our scones to be creamy and rich."

The Pancake Handbook, written by the cooks at Bette's Oceanview Diner - Steve Siegelman, Sue Conley, and Bette Kroening is a colorful and warmhearted compendium of pancake recipes. The recipes come not only from Bette's Diner in Berkeley but also from the Russian Tea Room (their blini recipe); from O Chame', the California-Japanese tearoom and restaurant in Berkeley (buckwheat shrimp cakes); and from other friends of the extended Bette's family, such as Niloufer Ichapouria ("Stamp and Go" salt cod pancakes). The spirited cartoons are by Mary Lawton, who works as a waitress at the diner. The 130-page book is easy to use in the kitchen. The section entitled "In Pursuit of the Perfect Pancake" offers the best advice on technique I've ever read.

S. Irene Virbila - San Francisco Focus

Several people in the Food department thought they had the best recipe for buttermilk pancakes until they tasted this version from Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley.

Owner Bette Kroening has been making these pancakes here for nearly 20 years. They have become so popular that she even started a line of packaged mixes that can be bought all around the Bay Area.

What makes these-as well as all of the all-American specialties at the diner - so good are they are made fresh. The baking soda, baking powder and buttermilk work to make these lighter and fluffier than just about any you'll find.

Michael Bauer (Chronicle's Food Editor), San Francisco Chronicle

Bette's Oceanview Diner in the gentrified Fourth Street area breaks the cardinal rule of the greasy spoon breakfast - its delectable offerings full of homemade goodness actually won't have you reaching for the antacid. The friendly staff takes great pains to provide a cozy convivial atmosphere while maintaining its commitment to simple food carefully prepared... Bette's manages to evoke the air of a classic diner... chrome tabletops, swiveling counter stools (from which one can observe the short-order cook at work) and, of course, a jukebox...

Bette's first opened 16 years ago, the brainchild of Bette Kroening, a clinical social worker turned professional food lover. "We wanted a little neighborhood restaurant where people went to over and over again," says Kroening. Her vision rings true today as a veritable cross section of Berkeley residents patiently accept the long wait for the comforting meal that awaits them...

One whiff of your neighbor's souffle pancakes... and it will be hard to refrain from reaching over and sampling a complete stranger's meal... The emphasis at Bette's is on freshness. All the pastries are baked fresh twice daily, including the incredibly moist blueberry muffins chock full of huge, just-ripe berries. The diner roasts its own meat and makes its own mayonnaise.

Regulars know they can expect a consistently good time at Bette's, and a lot of that has to do with its long-term staff. The employees, who were recently featured in a touchy-feely commercial for Tide, are one big family. It is clear that they make customers feel like part of the brood as well.

Michelle Lo - THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN

Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley plays on nostalgia for another era. This witty takeoff on a 50's diner pays homage to all the truck stops and diners of the American highway: those legendary places where brute-strength coffee is served up in sturdy mugs and the short order cook sweats it out just across the counter, while a harried waitress scribbles orders for eggs over easy, home fries, a side of bacon, buttered toast and flapjacks. That's just what happens at Bette's. What's missing: most of the grease and the scratchy burnt toast.

The sign is a steaming coffee cup in pink neon. This vision of a diner boasts a black and white harlequin-patterned floor, yards of chrome and a glorious 1957 Seeburg jukebox that belts out everything from Dolly Parton and Jimmy Reed to the season's top five French hits. The jukebox selectors mounted on the counter make good reading if you're alone, and the booths are roomy enough to hold both your breakfast and the Sunday paper. At Bette's, breakfast is served all day long, so no matter how topy turvy your hours, you won't miss eggs scrambled with fresh salsa or the lacy potato pancakes served with applesauce and sour cream. Home fries are definitely not freezer-bag issue. These are cut from potatoes with the skins on and served with eggs over easy, sunnny side up, any way you like them.

The diner does its own baking too: muffins in flavors like walnut or orange cardamom, and sweet yeasted morning buns freckled with cinnamon and glazed with dark caramel. If you like something really sweet, order one of the enormous souffle pancakes to share. Apple brandy or banana rum, it's covered with a drift of powdered sugar, with real maple syrup on the side.

Another favorite is the Philadelphia scrapple made from cornmeal cooked up with pork butt and fresh ham hocks. The sage-scented loaf is sliced and fried, served with grilled green tomatoes, poached eggs and toast. Transplanted New Yorkers (like Bette herself) can order a bagel-a California bagel, it's true-with lox and cream cheese. Both these, and the huevos rancheros with black beans, salsa and cheddar, are standard fare in this revised edition of the classic diner.

S. Irene Virbila - The New York Times, Sunday

Shortly after 6:30 lazily creeps around on Sunday morning, a line begins to form outside Bette's Oceanview diner.

As the throng grows, the wait can be as long as 90- minutes at the Berkeley, CA, restaurant. Hunger and anticipation compounded by the sizzling grill and brewing coffee are enough to provoke the most patient into accosting the wit staff for a booth in the 42-seat diner.

But there are no scuffles. Breakfast on Sundays-known as brunch to later risers - is relaxed and leisurely. Besides, no one wants to risk the chance of forfeiting a taste of what has kept Bette Kroening's breakfast- and lunch-only business thriving for the last 16 years.

Omelets and scrambled eggs prepared the French way, freshly baked pastries, house-made corned beef hash and fruit-filled pancake soufflés have helped build Bette's reputation. And the food has been as consistent and dependable as the regulars. But still, that's only part of the magic.

Kroening takes breakfast seriously, treating it with as much respect and creativity as a chef would dinner. With that kin of approach, breakfast and Sunday brunch are not only worthwhile but can make a significant difference in an increasingly competitive business.

In some cities, where rent takes a big bite out of profit-and-loss statements, operators are serving breakfast and brunch to solidify their business. Some restaurants are gaining ground by countering the grab-and-go rituals spawned by the proliferation of bagel and coffee shops over the last several years.

Laura Yee, R & I Senior Editor, Restaurants and Institutions

Classic Counters
Queen of the East Bay eateries, Bette's Oceanview Diner offers a jukebox that plays everything from Edith Piaf to Peter Tosh, red booths, and a counter complete with swivel stools, perfect for watching the jovial cooks slinging hash and scrapple and soft-scrambling orders of eggs. Everything here is one right, from the extra-strong coffee to the housemade scones. Avoid the maddening weekend crowd and go on a weekday before work.

SAN FRANCISCO FOCUS