8127 Mesa Blvd, 795-8969
Weekdays 6:30am-8pm, Weekends 7am-8pm I really love breakfast, though not necessarily first thing in the morning. So
I’m predisposed to favor a restaurant that serves breakfast all day long and
I’ve discovered another one at the Original Pancake House. Knowledgeable
friends told me this unassuming family restaurant had been designated one of
the best restaurants in the country at one point by none other than James Beard
himself. They insisted that I check it out and try the famous “Dutch Baby,” a
oven-baked souffle pancake.
The local Original Pancake House is a franchise operation founded in Portland,
Oregon by Les Highet and Erma Hueneke in 1953. The former hotel chef and his
partner based the dishes in their restaurant on recipes of the European
immigrant families who trekked across the American West and settled in Oregon.
They became famous for the naturally leavened sourdough pancakes, flapjacks,
waffles, crepes, a German apple pancake, and the inimitable Dutch Baby. They
staked their fame on using only the finest ingredients: the best eggs, real
butter, top-quality syrups, seasonal fruits, imported berries, Hormel meats,
and a special house coffee blend.
Portland native James Beard did designate the Original Pancake House as one of
the “10 Best Restaurants in the Country” in a McCall’s magazine article
in 1956. Ron Highet, who took over the company from his father years ago, still
has the certificate on the wall in his Portland office. He told me recently
that the company only opens about four franchise operations a year in suburban
neighborhoods where the clientele is likely to appreciate food prepared with
quality ingredients. Theirs are not 24-hour-a-day operations beside highways.
Some of the Oregon locations are owned by the next generation of Highet and
Hueneke heirs and the remainder of the 75 nationwide units are owned by
franchisees, such as the Kim family of Austin.
This place is a must for breakfast lovers. There are 18 varieties of pancakes,
seven waffles, six crepes. They have steak and eggs ($7.95), corned beef hash
($6.25) and Potato Pancakes ($4.95) with applesauce. The fried eggs are
perfectly done, virginal white with no brown scrunge. The bacon slices are
thick, meaty, and flat. There are omelettes to choose from, hot and cold cereal
if you must. But you should have at least one Dutch Baby — an oven-baked
souffle pancake as big as a plate, sprinkled with powdered sugar with crocks of
real whipped butter, more powdered sugar and fresh lemon slices on the side.
The waitress will gladly demonstrate the time-honored tradition of spreading
the butter around the pancake’s interior and then squeezing lemon juice over
the top. At that point, you can add fresh fruit or syrup or just roll that baby
up and dig right in!
— Virginia Wood
This article appears in February 23 • 1996 and February 23 • 1996 (Cover).