Our friends know we’re not much on chain restaurants. But we try not to be narrow-minded, and when we find an exception to the boredom of corporate food, we speak right up. And speaking of “up,” it’s time to rise and shine to have breakfast, or brunch, or breakfast-for-lunch, at the Original Pancake House. The food is good enough that you forget you’re on the parking lot of what seems like the world’s longest strip mall.
We wish we could say the juice is squeezed to order. But no, it goes into carafes that sit in ice, awaiting a juice order. Orange juice, like wine, changes on standing, as it’s exposed to air, and these carafes have lids, but it isn’t quite the same. One day, when it ’s really quiet, we may ask for a squeeze-to-order glass. Still, it beats the supermarket stuff.
Good coffee, and real cream. The server even leaves room in the cup if you’ve said “yes” to her inquiry about whether you want it, and fills the “no, thanks” cups a little fuller.
The piece de resistance here is the apple pancake. About nine inches across and a couple of inches high, it’s oven-baked, the apples on the bottom of the pan lolling about in a brown sugar and cinnamon sauce. An eggy batter is poured over that, the whole thing popped in the oven, and 20 minutes later, there it is, gorgeous brown bottom up, steaming and smiling. This is a lot of food, no matter how delicious it is, with its tender interior, and unless you’re in a large group with volunteers to “help,” plan on taking half home for tomorrow’s breakfast. We’ve had apple pancakes before, but none so pleasing as this. We think they have the apple part right; unlike our other experiences, the fruit is nicely tart to contrast with the sweetness of the sugar.
Almost as impressive-looking but possibly less dangerous calorically is the Dutch baby, an oven pancake that’s even taller, but fluffier and sunken in the middle. Heralded by a stand with whipped butter, powdered sugar and lemon wedges, it arrives dusted with even more powdered sugar, its edges crispy and deeply browned, the center tender. We found the butter superfluous; lemon and powdered sugar, like traditional French crepes, are a perfectly marvelous combination. On another visit, we’d like to try it with some fruit inside.
We tried the sourdough pancakes, and were impressed by their delicacy. Sourdough always makes us think of rough-and-tumble Gold Rush times, and the crusty, chewy bread that descended from those days. These were almost crepe-like in their thinness and consistency. It’s real butter, although it’s pancake syrup, not real maple syrup, if that’s a concern.
Away from the world of pancakes, 11 omelets are offered, and they, like the apple pancake and Dutch baby are also 20-minute productions, baked in seemingly the same pans and about the same dimensions. First-rate bacon is thick and crisp, a pleasure. And corned beef hash is definitely not the stuff from a can, but meatier, with coarse-ground kosher corned beef, potatoes, onions and cream. It’s very moist and full of flavor, and comes with a side of potato pancakes. We’d heard good things about their hash browns, though, and asked for them instead.
Oh, my. They may look like those standard frozen shreds, but they’re cooked with a lot of crispy edges, then properly seasoned with a generous amount of onion and black pepper to become absolutely addictive.
A fine breakfast, and what does it matter if you’re eating breakfast at 1 p.m.?
The Original Pancake House
17000 Chesterfield Airport Rd., Chesterfield
636-536-4044
Breakfast & Lunch Tues.-Sun.
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
$6-$11
Comments
3 responses
This looks like a place my kids would enjoy.
Thanks for the blog–I appreciate reading your thoughts on restaurants and the tasty recipes.
Interesting take on this location. I have eaten at this “chain” in a number of cities and the Chesterfield Valley location is the worst of the franchises. This company has a James Beard regional award for the origional location in Oregon but, should the James Breard Foundation people eat at this location they would remove it. This is what is wrong with the culinary scene in St. Louis the “experts” have no frame of reference for their reviews. Travel to Chicago & try any of those locations. You will find as I have the superiority of the service and food. I know you both have carved a nitch as food critics for St. Louis but, on this one you got it wrong… very wrong!
We’re not sure what you mean by no frame of reference for reviews. We’ve eaten breakfasts on four continents, five if you count Asia Minor. And Ann’s experience in Chicago some years ago at OPH was, let’s just say, less than stellar. But tell us, please, what your experience at this one was. We always like to hear details. Thanks for writing.