‘Home of the X-rated pancake.’ New business in Fresno’s Tower District sells erotic eats

Maria Silva doesn’t like to be told no.

When her husband did that one time, she ended up launching a business selling edible treats in the shapes of certain body parts normally hidden under several layers of clothing.

The unusual beginnings are fitting for what is an unusual business, one of the latest to open in Fresno’s Tower District.

It’s perhaps the only place where a business named Cum With Me 559 would fly. The storefront opened this month on Olive Avenue, between Pacifica Pizza and the smoke shop on the corner of Roosevelt Avenue.

“We are the home of the X-rated pancake,” Silva said.

Because we don’t want to get too graphic when it comes to describing baked goods in the shape of nether regions, you’ll need to use your imagination. The business sells pancakes in the shapes of male and female bits — or as the menu calls them, d-pops, v-pops and boobies.

Each costs $12 and is available with all sorts of toppings.

A popular favorite is the d-pop, drizzled with La Lechera (sweetened condensed milk) and caramel. Sprinkles, chocolate sauce, strawberries and more are also available.

There are also mostly anatomically correct ice pops in the shape of certain male body parts.

They come in flavors such as mango, lemon, pineapple and tamarind.

A business is born

Silva got the idea for the takeout restaurant when she heard about a similar place in Los Angeles. She wanted to go check it out.

That one sold only the male versions of the treats. When she told her husband about the trip, he said there was nothing there he could eat and didn’t want to go.

“When you tell a woman no, it changes the whole story,” Silva said.

The couple went to bed after the conversation and while he snored away, she fumed. By morning, she had hatched a business idea.

“I woke him up early and said: ‘We’re going to do it. We’re going to have our own company.’”

When waffle makers with molds in the shapes of private parts started showing up in the mail, he realized she was serious.

“He was like, ‘Oh, you’re not playing,’” she said. “That’s how that started. Never tell a woman no.”

She started with a pop-up tent in 2021, then two, hawking her unusual edibles at Art Hop and outside the former Chicken Pie Shop.

Now, she’s got the storefront, designed to cater to anyone looking for breakfast, a hangover cure, lunch, or a drunken late-night snack after a night out in the Tower.

It’s open until 1:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Customer Anthony Gonzales of Fresno discovered the business when driving by the tent in the Tower District.

“I would always (do) a double take because it’s like, there’s no way there’s a place named that,” he said.

But there is, and on a recent weekend, after a night out, he stumbled across the brick-and-mortar shop.

“It was exactly what the name implied,” he said. “I did really like the dulce de leche that they put on top.

The business is a good fit for late nights in the Tower, he said, and it’s better than having a building that sits empty.

It’s an experience, he said: “You have lowered inhibitions. It’s almost more like entertainment than food itself. All my friends are laughing.”

Silva said she deliberately chose the Tower District because of its tolerance, and the LGBTQ club just down the street.

“If I were to go to River Park, I think I’d have all the moms trying to kick me out,” she said.

Moms do come to the Olive storefront, though — if their kids are small enough to not understand what’s going on. That’s why Silva carries regular rectangular waffles and pancakes in the shape of a poop emoji.

It’s also why she didn’t make the storefront too racy. She’s a mom of five herself.

“I think it’s fun,” said customer Susana Cuevas of Fresno. “I can understand how it might seem inappropriate in some places for kids, but it’s something that’s fun for a bachelorette to go to and have a fun time with friends.”

And though Silva realizes this type of business could inspire some pushback, it hasn’t happened yet — at least before this story was published.

“I’ve never had anybody come up to me and say: ‘Hey, this is inappropriate. You shouldn’t be doing this,’” she said.

It’s not even the only explicit eatery in town. The G Spot is a mobile pop-up vendor selling dessert in the shapes of various naughty bits.

Silva’s business faces other challenges, though, like keeping an Instagram account alive. The one under its original name was removed, along with nine other variations.

For now, you can follow the business at @sexypancakes559.

The owner

“I am a person who does everything outside the box,” Silva said.

She always wanted to own her own business.

Instead, she became a tax professional.

She also has a side gig as a placenta encapsulator. New moms hire her to take the afterbirth to a lab and put it into capsules that they ingest.

The practice is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

But Silva, who took them with her last two children, swears ingesting the nutrients and hormones in the placenta leads to less bleeding and a lower risk of post-partum depression.

But the X-rated pancake business?

It makes people happy, she said. Every sale seems to be full of giggles and jokes, and people always leave with a smile on their faces, she said.

Details: Cum With Me 559 is at 506 E. Olive. Hours: 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.