Original Pancake House

Address: 750 E 2100 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84106. 801.484.7200.

Review: Situated a mere skip-and-a-jump away from my favorite Sugarhouse restaurant, O' Falafel, is the ever bustling Original Pancake House (the House). On a recent bright Saturday morn', my wife's friend was preparing for her doctoral voice recital, and she wanted pancakes. Hence, we enjoyed a group breakfast at the House.

After the obligatory wait, we perused the menu and decided to share a Greek omelet.

We were fortunate to have decided to share, because this was a massive omelet which came filled with spinach, sundried tomatoes, and feta cheese. Unlike a french omelet, which are usually light but dense at the same time, this omelet was all about light and airy. I had never encountered an omelet like this before, and I liked it. The tomatoes and feta added a nice bit of acid and salt, but the spinach added no flavor or texture. The potatoes were a bit disappointing. They were cooked, but not crispy, so they were just a bit limp and oily. Ultimately, I'm looking forward to trying more omelets, but not more potatoes.

And then there were the pancakes. Our omelet came with the buttermilk variety.

Mmm, pretty. And don't worry, if you prefer another genre of pancake, you're in luck, because the House serves umpteen different varieties. At our table alone there were buttermilk, chocolate chip, Georgia pecan, and blueberry. Our pancakes were, to be honest, just alright. I enjoyed the taste, but they weren't particularly fluffy, and they were a bit stretchy and tough. The stretchiness/toughness comes from having overbeaten the batter, which produces too much gluten and almost transforms the pancake into a bread product. In the end, while these pancakes are the House's signature dish, they aren't any better than what any mom, armed with a quality recipe, can make on a weekend morning.

I also tried the chocolate chip and blueberry varieties. I was similarly unmoved. And I wasn't the only one; the table was split down the middle regarding the quality of the pancakes.

Rating: 5/10 (5/10 is average).