Stacks'

Comfortable Food*



http://www.stacksrestaurant.com/


Stacks'** as the name implies is an old-fashioned, pancake-house style restaurant. However, don't be fooled by the simplicity of the name, as this ain't exactly your mama's IHOP®. Stacks' has three locations in the Bay Area: Burlingame (which I think is the original restaurant), Menlo Park, and San Francisco; as well as two sister locations (separately owned, in Redwood City and Campbell). I went to the one in Hayes Valley this morning. I have been to the one in downtown Burlingame several times, too, as friends of mine used to live nearby ("Hi, Amy, Luke, and Zaria!" ~ see, I said "Hi!" to everyone from "A-Z".) Normally, if you get to the San Francisco restaurant after 9:30am on most weekends, you can expect a line out the door and a wait of at least 30-45 minutes. Today was a little overcast and scared away most of the posers, and I got there very early, so I had no problem getting seated immediately. There were even a few people occupying the outside tables (of which there are about 6-8 on the sidewalk).

There really aren't as many pancake dishes offered on the menu as you would think by the restaurant's moniker. They have a few different types of pancakes, Belgian waffles, and crepes; but they do also offer an entire array of frittatas*** (unfortunately which they have “mispeled” on their menu as "Fritattas"), Eggs Benedict-style dishes, as well as omelettes (which they have on the menu as the completely acceptable alternative spelling of "Omelets"), and some very good "Skillets" (not misspelled as "Skiletts" nor "Skillettes", I was glad to see).

I am not normally a pancakes kind of guy (although I do enjoy the occasional excellent "Lost Bread" now and then ~ see Baker Street Bistro and B ★ Star Bar entries); but I figured, when in Rome, do as the Etruscans do, so I had the Lumberjack Pancakes ~ Blueberries, Bananas, Raisin-Walnut, and Wheat germ. I got the "Short Stack" (2 HUGE pancakes ~ which I could not even finish; their "Full Stack" is 3 pancakes. They also offer a "Single" pancake, which is what I shoulda gotten.) This comes with a cup of blueberry compote/syrup. The pancakes were chock full o' (raisin-wal)nuts, blueberries, and bananas (and wheat germ, too, I suppose).

To me, it just ain't breakfast unless there is some kinda side o' potatoes; so I also ordered their "Potatoes". This was not your standard, chunky Home Fries or shoestring Hash Browns variety; these were more like a sliced/shredded style (perhaps prepared à la mandoline?) ~ with onions in the mix. When I quizzed my server, Francisco, on what you would call the exact style, he agreed with my "sliced/shredded" wording.

I finished the meal off with a cuppa coffee. This turned out to be a very good, strong coffee ~ actually it was a carafe that they leave at your table (which is nice); sorta like an upscale IHOP®, but just with much better coffee and actually at a lower price. Again I pestered… er, queried Francisco as to what kind of coffee they brew. He not only informed me that it was Peerless Coffee & Tea®, but he went back into the kitchen and brought out a bag of the coffee to show me.

http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/



I did find it a little odd that you have to order as an additional item some Brown Family Farm Pure New England Maple Syrup (from Brattleboro, VT) for $1.69/each. It's not really about the money, though; if you can't afford to eat out, don't (but Free Stuff is always the best.) This did not stop me in any way from ordering it. After all, what is more 'merican than Maple syrup and blueberries? Add some pun'kin to the batter and you have the perfect true all-'merican classic breakfast. The Maple syrup came in a cute little 1.35 oz. bottle that was more than enough for my two pancakes and I ended up sharing it with the couple at the next table over (they had some Belgian waffles). I did save the mini-bottle as a cool souvenir.



They only have available on the tables bottles of Tabasco® ~ the standard Red and Jalapeño versions; but Francisco was on the ball (yet again) and brought me out a bottle of The Pepper Plant® Original California Style Hot Pepper Sauce (from Gilroy ~ "the Garlic Capital of the Universe"), which went very well on the "shredded potatoes", Betty.

I don't normally comment here on the service/servers (unless the waitress happens to be very hot); but Francisco was exceptional ~ he went "far above and beyond the call of duty" and answered several of my innocuous questions; he also brought out the additional hot sauce for me upon request and the bag of coffee to show me (it smelled great!). For this, I made sure to "reverse complain" to the Manager, who also turned out to be one of the owners, about the great service provided by Francisco. I generally tip at least 20%, but today I made sure to tip 30% ~ heck the extra 10% only turned out to be around the same price as the 100% Pure New England Maple Syrup, anyway.

I did have one major complaint though (and for which I hope Francisco does not get canned): no one ever informed me of the "Mickey Mouse" pancakes available on the kids menu…

"I'm a Lumberjack and I'm okaaaaaay!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zey8567bcg


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Lumberjack Pancakes ~ 7.0; Potatoes ~ 6.8; Peerless Coffee & Tea ~ 6.7; Service ~ 8.0


*(This is their actual slogan. I would have probably come up with something a lot more corn-bally, like: "Food for People".)

**(Their website and business card state "Stacks"; however, their menu and the Burlingame restaurant's awning/sign state "Stacks'". As I like the idea of it being plural and possessive, I went with this spelling.)

***(Stupid Cunning Linguist pointer of the day: This is the correct Italiano spelling of the word and I am sticking by it. The word comes from the Italiano word "fritto" which is the past participle of "friggere" "to fry" ~ even though it is generally more of a baked dish.)