This isn’t the original Original Pancake House. It opened in Oregon 41 years ago. (There are dozens now throughout the U.S.A.). But the better news is that no one’s mucked with the original recipes.
 Not for the faint of heart – literally, in the cardio way – the Original Pancake House builds humdinger breakfasts such as five egg omelets and nine – inch waffles . What’s billed as “The Ever Popular Joe” is a delicious, warming platter – full of sautéed fresh spinach, sweet onion, ground mildly spicy sausage – and five eggs. That’s enough protein to put meat back on the bones of Susan Powter.

Despite the generosity of size, most of the menu’s 58 items cost $5-$7.

Of course, the restaurant’s pancakes take center stage. A base of buttermilk batter (that fluffs up into an unbeatable lightness of being) can be had with add-ins from chopped bacon to Ghirardelli chocolate chunks, Georgia pecans to true Swedish lingonberries. When the server brings syrup (passably maple only) it’s warm. The sweet butter is whipped so that it melts down into the pancakes on contact. Now, that’s thinking.

Breakfast liquids include fresh – squeezed o.j and grape fruit juice (the latter is particularly delicious and full of pulp), plus a pedestrian selection of tea – one good ol’ Lipton – and so – so coffee. The place boasts about its beans, but these are the years P.S (post-Starbucks), and ersatz Maxwell House don’t do.

Two star menu items are the apple pancake, and the dutch baby, “alike in their basic preparation. The kitchen takes an eggy batter, places it in a soufflé pan and bakes in a 450- degree oven. The pancakes puff up along the sides and come to table resembling a piecrust, but with custard like bottom that is so yummy, it’s like eating warm French vanilla ice cream. The apple pancake is filled with cinnamon – buttered Granny Smiths and the Dutch Baby is dusted with powered sugar, lemon, and butter. Five eggs here, too? Probably.

The Original Pancake House makes much of its breakfast meat selection and by and large, it can remain proud. Bacon is thick-cut and expertly prepared; the ham, just salty enough and high on the hog; the sausage, meaty and generous.  Corned beef hash, however, isn’t well crusted (that’s 75% of what makes hash a hash) and the meat is rather mealy.

It all comes down in homey, chirpy, surroundings, with robin’s-egg blue, antique dishes, and knotted pine all around. The wait staff is suitably cheery and quick on its feet. What else would a breakfast place sport?

Note that every Original Pancake House is open everyday until 2 p.m, same menu. It’s just eggs and bacon for lunch.

Best place to sit: Lotsa booths for small families or groups of four, a common table right inside the door seats eight to ten, a room in the rear can function as private dining area.

Don’t miss: The buttermilk pancakes, thick-cut bacon, fresh grapefruit juice, “Dutch Baby,” “Joe”

Who’s there: A suburban mix: late-morning AARPers, Cherry Hills wives slumming, a socialite or two with her personal concierge taking the day’s work notes, the hungry – for food – single man.

Apple pancakes are a menu favorite.
 

The Original Pancake House
5900 S. University Blvd., Littleton, 303-795-0573
Cholesterol is damned! Finally, a seriously good breakfast spot worth every calorie, slurp of syrup, yolky egg, and buttery potato. The Dutch Baby, a fluffy, puffy concoction of a pancake with tart apples, is one of life's most delectable pleasures. The steaming hot coffee perks up South Denverities out too late hobnobbing the night before.
 
 

Best Pancakes
The Original Pancake House
5900 S. University Blvd., Littleton
303-795-0573

Although it isn’t the original Original  Pancake House – that one was founded in 1953 in Oregon – Littleton’s Original Pancake House features the same country-cute surroundings and killer hotcakes. This Original turns out eighteen different skillets and all delicious. Choose from Hawaiian, Georgia pecan, coconut, blueberry, lingonberry – you name it. Our favorite is the chocolate chip; with Ghirardelli chips melted inside and all over the pancakes, and real whipped cream on top. Go early or go late, because the place is always packed and doesn’t take reservations. But either way, go hungry.