Stacks on Stacks - The Original Pancake House in Los Altos, CA

Nostalgic comfort food at 6:30 am

Carter looking dramatic

The Original Pancake House has been around in my hometown, Los Altos, for a long time - like Tom's Depot, it's a staple of Los Altos life and history. I remember my dad dragging me there at some early hour when I was like five in order to get a good spot in line! It used to be packed with people every morning - especially Saturday mornings - trying to get a taste of some of the best pancakes in town. It's kind of like when baby boomers look back on "good old days" - things are different these days. More specifically, there was no wait to get in to the famed Original Pancake House in Los Altos this morning when I came in for breakfast with my friend Carter Fox.


Carter and I met in sixth grade, and really became friends in seventh grade. I think we may have bonded over our mutual love of Transformers, but we became fast friends  and I got him really into astrophotography, and later general photography. It kind of started in freshman year where he thought it would be cool if I brought my camera and connected it to his telescope in order to take pictures of stars. And thus, my astrophotography stage started: late nights in the freezing cold, making the trek to his cabin in the woods for clearer night skies, fiddling with knobs and tripods. After I got more into wrestling, I kind of lost contact with him, but recently reconnected during Thanksgiving when I shot the Mountain View Turkey Trot. Now Carter works with Prep2Prep and shoots high school events, so say hi if you ever see him at one!

What Carter actually looks like

As we walked into the restaurant this morning, I instantly felt a wave of nostalgia and coziness wash over me - it is definitely  a classic old style breakfast place that first popped up in Los Altos and Mountain View area when it was still developing in the '50s and '60s. We dropped down at a table near a window and took a look at the menu. And to my surprise (and delight), I found the bacon pancakes sitting there for me ($13.81). Ordering was quick, but the service after was even better. After finishing my first cup of coffee, the server quickly noticed and came over with the coffee jug and asked if I wanted a refill. And this attention wasn't a one-off thing - all throughout our meal (and luckily until I said no to another refill) they gave us the perfect balance of attention. The atmosphere of the place is very warm and friendly, I never felt that I was ever talking too loud or too soft where I couldn't hear Carter talk. Large family gatherings are also welcome here: they have large round tables just for that purpose. The room was mostly lit by natural light, which offered a refreshing and calming start to my day. Enough about architecture, on to food.

BACON PANCAKES

While I ordered the bacon pancakes, Carter opted in for the chocolate pancakes. I tried those too, and they are similar to the bacon ones in every way except the filling. The bacon pancakes are simply filled with bacon bits instead of blueberries or chocolate chips, but they offer an interesting taste when you get to the center (where most of them are). The bacon bits were still crunchy when I got to the middle, but the chocolate chips had collapsed into a gooey and syrupy liquid that just enhanced the quality of the pancakes to another level. Don't get me wrong - the bacon pancakes were just as good as the chocolate pancakes, but I really enjoyed both pancakes. I think a big contributor was the quality of the pancake itself. They're nice and fluffy, but just a bit crunchy enough to slice through easily and deliver a bit of texture when biting into them. Overall, I can say that this restaurant was one of my favorites thus far - though it may be a little expensive, I feel that the atmosphere, service, and quality of food make it worth it. Definitely check this place out when you're in town!

Service: 4.5/5 //Fantastic!
Food: 4/5 //Also great!
Atmosphere: 4/5 //Awesome!

Overall score (percentage score): 83% //Note: using my new grading scale, scores like this will be my favorite restaurants, while most of the others will fill in the 60%-70% range.

Hot chocolate with whip cream.

You can find me on Instagram as @stumpyeatsfood and on yelp at theplumpcat.yelp.com. You can also check out more of my photos on Flickr! If you've got a restaurant recommendation or even a recipe that you think I should try, send it to me at ryanjchen2@gmail.com! Thank you for reading!