Original Pancake House - Anaheim

I'll begin with two words: bacon waffle. And no, there's no punctuation error here. No comma, period, or the word "and" is needed. What I had at the Original Pancake House wasn't a waffle with some bacon on the side. What I had was a waffle with bacon in it.

Crumbled, fatty bacon, to be exact, was sprinkled into the batter and then cooked until the waffle turned golden. The finished product was freckled with the brown bits. I slathered on the whipped butter and drizzled the maple syrup until each one of its dimples glistened like pools. This was the next logical step in waffle advancement since Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, and the inventor is a genius of the highest order.

Each forkful was inevitably boosted by the salty, bacon-y bursts of the porky Pop Rocks. And the way it jived with the sweet syrup was nothing short of miraculous. Between bites, I took a sip of their freshly squeezed orange juice. The citrus tartness was required to cut through the richness and ready my palate for more.

But the waffles weren't the only miracles found here at the Original Pancake House, an outpost of the Pacific Northwest chain. The cooks, who wore those poofy chef's hats, also produced a mean plate of corned beef hash. It's served as a perfectly-formed patty, with a thin and crispy outer crust that led into a butter-soft interior so smooth (save for the occasional bit of gristle and chipped potato) it ate like pudding.

No visit would be complete without some of their namesake item: pancakes. An order of banana pancakes were fanned out on the plate like petals on a flower and was too much for a normal human being to consume. What we did manage to gobble up was ethereally fluffy, like it was blessed by the breath of angels.

Original Pancake House
(714) 535-9815
1418 E Lincoln Ave
Anaheim, CA 92805