Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Original Pancake House

I'm not a big breakfast guy. Hell, I'm probably less of a brunch fan. For whatever reason I always seem to feel sluggish as hell the rest of the day after eating brunch.

You can imagine the enthusiasm I felt when my mother suggested we go to the Original House of Pancakes with my brothers and sisters. Yippee!!! I can't wait to waddle out of a restaurant and feel like a sloth all day. What are weekends for, right?

I begrudgingly drove across town to for the big rendezvous at The Original Pancake House. Having never been, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked through the door. Fully expecting to be waiting in line as families parked their ass for after church brunch. Imagine my bewilderment when the asked how many were in our party and then walked us straight to our table!

As a Clevelander I knew my luck was going to run out. Fine - I didn't have to wait for a table. But that wasn't going to change the fact that the food was probably going to suck, right? I open the menu and went straight to the Apple Pancake. Yes, one pancake. I wanted something that didn't require me to soak it in that super sweet, artificial syrup. Oh, and they had "thick" bacon. Thick? I'll be the judge of that. I told the waitress she'd better not be lying or I'd have to flip the plate.

Out of nowhere I smell something that resembles apple pie. The waitress set "the pancake" down in front of me and I couldn't believe the size of the damn thing. When it's fresh out of the oven it's inflated (the picture shows what it looks like after it's deflated). Covered in Granny Smith Apples and Sinkiang cinnamon glaze, I wondered how I was going to finish the whole thing. With a little help from my friends I was able to finish it off.

I will say that the bacon is actually very good, too. When I cook at home I have a huge slab of Benton's bacon that cut big fat slices off of. The stuff they serve here isn't too far off that mark.

The OPH is clean, efficient, and has an attentive friendly staff. Alas the sluggishness returned, but at least I can say it was worth it. If you have the opportunity you've got to try this apple pancake. Even if you get something else, make sure you get the bacon - trust me, you won't flip the plate.

The Apple Pancake

Original Pancake House
3000 Westgate Mall
Cleveland, OH 44126
(440) 333-5515
www.originalpancakehouse.com

Original Pancake House on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. Sarah actually had to convince me to go to this place a while ago, but I was glad I finally did. The bacon is really good--Sarah got a BTC (bacon tomato cheese) omelette, which was excellent. That apple pancake looks good, too.

    I have a similar sluggishness with big breakfasts, but I seem to get it worse cooking at home (maybe because with going out I at least have to get up the energy to drive somewhere before eating).

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