Friday, January 17, 2020

[EXCLUSIVE] A Restaurant That James Beard Called One of the "Top 10 in the Country" is Opening in Buckhead

A new location of The Original Pancake House is coming to Atlanta.  The new outpost, potentially it's largest to date, will occupy the former Brio Tuscan Grille at 2964 Peachtree Road at Buckhead Centre in Buckhead.  The restaurant features prime Peachtree visibility and a large patio but has sat vacant since Brio's August 2017 closure.  

The new Buckhead location is being opened by Top H Enterprises, LLC., current franchisees of The Original Pancake House locations at LaVista and Cheshire Bridge Roads near Lindbergh and on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain.  At roughly 9,000 square feet, the new Buckhead restaurant will be larger than the square footage of the Lindbergh and Stone Mountain restaurants combined.  

A job posting for the Buckhead restaurant indicates that it will be "the flagship store not just in our company [TOP H], but nationwide." Sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that Top H has plans to continue to expand the brand locally, and perhaps regionally as well.  
Interior work underway 
Strangely, despite active interior and exterior renovations, there is no permit on file with the City of Atlanta for any work at the site so it's unclear how much the company plans to invest in updating the space.  

Les Highet and Irma Hueneke opened the first The Original Pancake House in Portland, Oregon in 1953.  Over the years ,the company has developed a devoted fan base including Portland native James Beard, who called The Original Pancake House one of the "10 Best Restaurants in the Country" in a 1956 magazine article.  In 1999, The Original Pancake House in Portland received a James Beard Foundation Award as an "American Classic."  
The Original Pancake House on LaVista Road 
The chain now includes some 100 or so restaurants nationwide including additional Georgia outposts in Alpharetta and Savannah.  Another Original House of Pancakes previously operated from a freestanding building in the 4300 block of Peachtree Road in Brookhaven, but it closed over a decade ago to make way for TOWN Brookhaven. 

In addition to the domestic restaurants, there are several locations in both Japan and South Korea.  

The Original Pancake House restaurants are open for breakfast and lunch, but are most known their signature breakfast dishes including the Apple Pancake, Dutch Baby, German Pancake and their over-sized omelets.  

The opening of The Original Pancake House in Buckhead will mark the return of breakfast option to a stretch of Peachtree Road that has lost not one, but two breakfast options over the past several years.  

IHOP closed its restaurant at 3122 Peachtree Road on Christmas Eve 2012 after 19 years in business.  In 2017, J. Christopher's "moved" their Buckhead location from Two Buckhead Plaza (3050 Peachtree Road) to Kings Circle in Peachtree Hills.  

Are you excited for the opening of The Original Pancake House in Buckhead?  If you have been to The Original Pancake House, what is your favorite menu item?  Where would you like to see The Original Pancake House open next?

Please share your thoughts below  

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A great decision for them, especially in this prime location, would be to stay open for dinner and late night. At least on the weekends. Also, a new gluten-free, celiac protocol menu and dedicated area in the kitchen. There's certainly space!

Unknown said...

We have gluten free waffles as well as pancakes.. If that counts towards anything..

Anonymous said...

@1:04
About 2.5 miles south, R Thomas Deluxe Grill offers what you want.

Anonymous said...

what part of pancake house are you not understanding?

Scrappycrow said...

I distinctly remember a restaurant with that type ceiling in Buckhead, way back when I was a young kid in the early '70s. If I recall correctly, that building was originally (or at least at that time) a Morrison's Cafeteria.

Anonymous said...

The Buckhead IHOP was at that location far longer than 19 years! I patronized it in the 1980s (and maybe even during high school years in the 1970s). I remember it burned at some point, and was closed for a while during repairs. It's possible ownership and licensing/permitting changed along the way, which might explain the "shortened history".

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting for scrappy and us to see does anybody know if that is indeed the same building as the cafeteria?

Anonymous said...

That is definitely where Morrison's Cafeteria was located. IHOP was further north at Peachtree and Sardis Way.

Anonymous said...

Oh heck yes.

Alex said...

I remember when I first moved to Atlanta in 1996 that building was an Italian restaurant called Amerigo's.

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