There’s a reason people are talking about the pancakes at Virginia’s Pancake Palace.

Their pancakes are 14 inches across, so large they arrive on a pizza pan, and they are piled with toppings. They’re fluffy, photogenic and designed to be shared, unless one is hungry enough to tackle a serious challenge on their own.

With National Pancake Day falling on Saturday, Sept. 26, there may be no better place in Lake County to celebrate.

But there’s something else worth talking about at this new Howey-in-the-Hills restaurant.

Behind those hubcap-sized pancakes is a restaurant built around second chances.

Owned by Brad and Christina Cowherd, who also own the historic Howey Mansion, Virginia’s Pancake Palace opened about two months ago with a simple idea: Create a welcoming, family-centered breakfast and lunch spot while offering meaningful opportunities for women rebuilding their lives after incarceration and other difficult circumstances.

The Cowherds partnered with The Penitent Thief, a small nonprofit organization that works with people transitioning back into their communities after incarceration. The Cowherds had previously worked with the organization by providing housing in some of their Orlando apartments.

At the restaurant, that partnership goes further.

The Cowherds employ participants and provide housing in Howey-in-the-Hills, while The Penitent Thief handles the program component and support.

“We always try and have a redemptive portion of our businesses; our Christian faith drives our desire to do that,” Brad says. “With this one, we wanted to reach that population that had been previously incarcerated.”

The goal is straightforward: Give people a stable place to live, a job and the opportunity to build a different future.

“Most folks who have a criminal record find it very difficult to get a decent paying job, and so the rate of reincarceration is very high,” Brad says.

His goal, he says, is to give participants “a great place to live and a great place to work where they can be successful.”

So far, he says, the stories have been successes and General Manager Sarah Taylor has seen the impact firsthand.

Sarah previously worked for the Cowherds at Infusion Tea, their vegan-vegetarian tea restaurant in Orlando, for seven or eight years. When they decided to open in Howey-in-the-Hills, they asked her to become general manager.

She says creating a supportive workplace has been just as important as creating a successful restaurant.

“We have a lot of high values when it comes to second chances and just being able to restart and to create a new chapter in life,” Sarah says.

Some employees participating in the program are on probation and still dealing with the challenges of rebuilding their lives. Sarah says having a workplace where they can talk openly about their past without being defined by it has been meaningful.

“Not just being their manager, but also having a friend that they can count on to be able to open up and talk about the things they’ve done, I think is huge,” she says.

Employment provides more than a paycheck, Sarah adds. It provides structure, purpose and an opportunity to move forward.

“You can’t change the past, but you can do better for the future,” she says.

For Tara Nordick, that opportunity has been life-changing.

Tara spent seven months incarcerated in county jail and then 14 months in inpatient rehabilitation. She was introduced to The Penitent Thief through a family member and moved into one of the organization’s houses after leaving rehab last year.

Eventually, an opportunity opened in Howey-in-the-Hills. She could work at Virginia’s Pancake Palace and the Howey Mansion, live in a house provided through the program and, most importantly, bring her 13-year-old daughter to live with her.

“It’s definitely been like a blessing moving out here,” Tara says. “I have my own little place. I have my daughter back with me.”

For someone who once avoided applying for jobs that required background checks because she assumed she would be rejected, having an employer willing to give her an opportunity has made an enormous difference.

She says the participants in the restaurant’s second-chance program have become some of its hardest workers.

“I like to work. I like to make money,” Tara says.

Today, she has a reliable car, a home and her daughter living with her. She also says she will celebrate one year of being out of incarceration on Sept. 30 and is approaching three years of sobriety.

“I wouldn’t imagine that my life would be this good only having a year out,” she says.

Tara has also become a stabilizing presence for the other women living in the Howey-in-the-Hills house. With three women connected to the program there, she helps keep things running smoothly.

“I manage the house. I keep things calm,” she says.

Her gratitude extends to Paul and Stacy Del Favero, the couple who run The Penitent Thief. Paul is the organization’s founder and president; Stacy is its vice president and director of its women’s program.

“I look at them like they’re my mom and my dad,” Tara says. “They’re amazing people.”

She hopes the partnership with the Cowherds continues to grow so more people can find the same kind of opportunity.

Of course, the restaurant still has to serve a memorable breakfast, starting with those pancakes everyone is talking about.

The inspiration for the name and the pancakes is personal. Brad and Christina have six children, and their 11-year-old daughter, Virginia, loves pancakes. Christina loves making them, too.

The result is the restaurant’s signature 14-inch pancake, served on a pizza pan. If not finished and taken to go, the to of box for them is; you guessed it…a pizza box.

Topping options include house-made blueberry compote, fresh strawberries and bananas, maple pecans and more. Diners who prefer to keep it simple can order the Mary Grace’s Sweet Cream pancake.

“The pancakes alone have been a draw, even without toppings,” Sarah says. “It’s an experience and that’s what people like.”

For Shaleishka Rodriguez of DeLand and her boyfriend, David Flores of Tavares, the experience was part of a birthday outing for David. Shaleishka wondered whether a pancake that big could also be good. David says it exceeded their expectations.

“With the amount of quantity that you’re getting for the pancake, you would expect less quality, but the quality even overtakes how big the pancake is,” he says.

Jack Mintz and Dave Keidel biked from Mount Dora to try Virginia’s after hearing about it on social media. The pancake’s size caught their attention, but so did its texture.

“If it was doughy or it was heavy, it probably wouldn’t be very good, but it was nice and light,” Dave says.

The restaurant also serves omelets, specialty breakfast plates, Belgian waffles, chicken and waffles, cheese grits, biscuits and gravy and a Mediterranean-inspired shakshuka served in a small cast-iron skillet.

Lunch is being expanded, with additional items and monthly specials planned.

The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Its coffee program features espresso from Axum Coffee in downtown Winter Garden, with lattes among the popular choices.

Since opening, word of mouth has spread beyond Howey-in-the-Hills, with guests coming from Mission Resort + Club, Mount Dora, Clermont and other nearby communities.

For the Cowherds, that response is gratifying. But the restaurant’s success is measured in more than customers, meals and pancakes. In the dining room, he has a box where guests can drop a story, photos or information about the city’s history, since one day he hopes to incorporate that into the restaurant.

“Being a welcoming place in Howey and being family-centric place is a lot of fun,” Brad says. “When you add being a place for folks who have been previously incarcerated to start a new life, well, it’s just a lot of goodness in one place and that’s exactly what we were going for.”

And maybe that’s what makes Virginia’s Pancake Palace worth talking about.

The pancakes may be big.

But the second chances are bigger.