A pancake bonanza in Bay Harbor

Aug. 2, 2009

A Pancake Bonanza
in Bay Harbor

By Kristi Kates 8/3/09

Detroiters are well familiar with The Original Pancake House. Founded in Portland, Oregon way back in 1953 by Les Highet and Erma Hueneke, The Original Pancake House’s Detroit locales are legendary, and are regularly voted “Best Breakfast” in newspaper, magazine, and web polls.
With so many Detroiters frequenting the Northern Michigan area, it was only a matter of time before The Original Pancake House found its way Up North; and it’s now one of the most popular spots in Bay Harbor, where it resides on the far end of Main Street.

HOUSE HISTORY
“The Original Pancake House in Bay Harbor was first brought here by Frank Hamilton, who owns three Original Pancake House locations in Detroit,” General manager Terry Barrett explains. “He sold to Bay Harbor Company four years ago, and most recently the restaurant was purchased by Michael Higgins, also from Detroit.”
As a matter of fact, there are over 100 Original Pancake Houses in all, from coast to coast across the U.S.; but they’re usually blended so well into their local environment, it’s often difficult to decipher that they are, in fact, a chain restaurant. The Bay Harbor version - extremely busy especially on weekend mornings - features a locally-evolving menu and a theme that melds perfectly with Bay Harbor’s overall feel.
“Frank Hamilton would be responsible for the look,” Barrett says, “and I believe it was his wife Anika that found a lot of the items that are here. I would have to say it is a modern industrial nautical theme.”
By “modern industrial nautical,” Barrett is attempting to describe The Original Pancake House’s unique look; not overly boat-focused, but not too “city-fied” for Up North folk. the decor blends a smooth tile floor and a few nautical collectibles such as buoys and lights along with super-high ceilings, big windows, and huge air-intake tubes running across the ceiling to add a “renovated-factory” feel, in spite of the fact that the building is newer construction.

TOP INGREDIENTS
That simple but striking setting keeps the surroundings welcoming and the focus on the food - the main reason that The Original Pancake House has been such a success.
“The Original Pancake House is a second and third generation family business, which takes great pride in maintaining high standards,” Barrett says, “Les and Erma drew upon their many years of experience in the culinary field and their extensive working knowledge of pancake recipes to offer our unique and original menu. Our recipes demand only the very finest of ingredients, such as 93 score butter, pure 36 percent whipping creme, fresh grade AA eggs, hard wheat unbleached flour, and our own recipe sourdough starter; our batters and sauces are also made fresh in each restaurant’s kitchen.”
Barrett, who was hired by Frank Hamilton when The Original Pancake House first opened, has been involved in the hospitality industry in Northern Michigan for over 35 years, and feels that what makes The Original Pancake House stand out is the fact that it’s a “gourmet breakfast” restaurant.
“Pancakes are by far our specialty, as we serve authentic national and ethnic pancakes,” he says.

APPLES TO ORANGES
Included in that specialty menu are a wide variety of pancakes indeed, including the popular buttermilk and silver dollar varieties; but perhaps the favorite item on The Original Pancake House’s menu is the Big Apple Pancake, which is so gigantic it’s often shared by two or more people.
“The Big Apple Pancake is like a huge cinnamon roll with sauteed apples, but really light and fluffy, like a pancake should be,” Barrett enthuses, “what is really unique about the Apple pancake is that it’s actually baked in the oven.”
The Original Pancake House serves other gourmet breakfast items as well, of course, including what Barrett calls “unique” omelets.
“For instance, our mushroom omelet is served with a rich mushroom sherry sauce - it’s sauteed and rolled in a skillet, then finished in the oven, to give you a light delicacy. We are also always trying new items on our menu - we just added feta cheese because our guests are always asking for it, so another new feature will be a spinach and feta omelet.”
To accompany your breakfast foods, the Pancake House offers coffee, of course (“specially blended, roasted, and ground for the restaurant,” Barrett says), as well as fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juices and a few new seasonal beverages, too.
“We have added some really cool and refreshing drinks this summer that include Thai iced coffee, Green iced tea, and a strawberry and green tea smoothie, which is fantastic,” Barrett says.

The Original Pancake House is located at 4165 Main Street in downtown Bay Harbor, telephone 231-439-9989; they have just expanded their hours and are now open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week year-round.