When I was a child, I occasionally stayed overnight at my grandma Emma's house. It was one of those 1950's cape cods with oak floors and blonde woodwork. It had a distinct smell of wool carpet and gas stove. The window screens were those wonderful "shade" screens that looked a little bit like corduroy. They must have been pressed out of a sheet of very thin metal, and each thin thread of metal was angled slightly like an awning. You had to look very close to see the threads, but they worked beautifully, and I've often wondered why we don't see them around any more.
Anyway, to get to the point of my story, my grandma Emma would fire up her little gas stove and fry pancakes in the morning. But these weren't just any pancakes. Grandma's pancakes were made with lots of eggs and didn't fluff up like an ordinary pancake. They were fried in grease and were crispy on the edges and I had never tasted anything like it - until I ate at the Original Pancake House in Edina, Minnesota and ordered up the 49er. Talk about a slice of heaven!
I had a craving for my grandma's pancakes and talked Melanie into visiting the OPH where you always have to wait for a table on the weekends. Judging by the crowd in the waiting area and out on the sidewalk, the wait is clearly worth it. When Melanie and I were seated I knew right away what I wanted to order. I ordered the cherry crepes which is a juked up version of my grandma's eggy pancakes. (Oh snap! I found a way to use the word juked! Check it out.)
Melanie ordered the strawberry crepes with an extra lop of whipped cream. She even requested sourcream. That girl knows how to eat a crepe! The Original Pancake House offers more than great breakfast. The setting is like an old fashioned dining room with lots of woodwork and warm colors. The place settings are old-fashioned and the coffee cups have the proper heft to them. Not to mention that the coffee is made with a big dose of love in it. Oh man. I'm getting a hankering to head back to OPH real soon. Pancakes anybody?
