The Pancake Shop

The Pancake Shop
4838 Summer Ave
(901) 767-0206

The Pancake Shop is open 24 hours a day and until recently, I had only been there in the wee hours of the night.) Warren and I had breakfast there on Father’s Day, and I have wanted to take the monkeys (Satchel, 5, and Jiro, 3) ever since. I can’t resist an opportunity to dine on Summer Avenue. I was thinking we’d do a “breakfast for dinner” night, but we actually ended up doing a breakfast for lunch on a Saturday afternoon.

At 1:30pm, the place was pretty packed, but we got a seat in the back non-smoking room right next to the bathrooms. (Usually I would have asked for a different table, but knowing the monkeys and their needs, I figured this might be the best possible place for us to be.) It took a little longer than I liked for us to get menus. It seemed as though the waitresses were having a standoff in terms of who was going to have to wait on us. (I tried not to take this personally.)

The table was covered with various little packages of jelly, butter, creamer, and whatnot. The monkeys thought they were at a buffet and immediately started opening butter packets and dipping their fingers in.

Ew.

Once the waitresses worked out their power struggle we got our menus and drinks right away. It was at this point that Warren and I realized that the Pancake Shop was cash only and we had $20. Granted, there’s an ATM next to the check out, but we are anti-exorbitant fee. I didn’t start doing any math in my head or anything. I just assumed that the four of us could eat breakfast for less than $20 without skimping.

We ordered the kids an “Everyday Special” to share with scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and toast. I was torn as to what to get, but went with the bacon pancakes. I just had to see what that was. Warren decided he didn’t actually want breakfast and ordered a hamburger. Then, concerned that the monkeys wouldn’t get the full Pancake Shop experience, I compulsively ordered a strawberry Belgian waffle.

The monkeys continued to explore the condiments on the table, their silverware, etc. until the food arrived just a few short minutes later. I thought for sure that the monkeys would be excited by the giant waffle with whipped cream on it, but they seemed nonplussed. Once I divided up their Everyday Special, Satchel set about eating all of his eggs, then his hashbrowns, and then his bacon. Jiro focused mainly on buttering his toast. Warren offered me a bite of his burger, which he compared to a “Shirley burger” at the Lamplighter, but I declined in favor of a crispy, hot crinkle fry.

My bacon pancakes were somewhat disappointing. They were just pancakes with bacon crumbled on top. I had expected the bacon to be mixed in the batter (despite ordering blueberry pancakes on Father’s Day and having them come with blueberry preserves on top). And despite the menu’s promise that the bacon & syrup combine for a pleasing flavor, I had to disagree. I ate about half of them, a fourth of the Belgian waffle, and a few more fries.

Warren finished off his burger, and then finished off the Belgian waffle. Neither one of us could convince either monkey to even take a bite. I’m assuming the strawberry preserves were the cause. Satchel’s plate was clean, but Jiro had quite a bit left.

“I need to go potty,” he announced.

I accompanied him and much to my dismay found that the bathrooms were also reminiscent of the Lamplighter. Thankfully, he just needed to pee and we were back at the table in no time. Jiro immediately set about polishing off the rest of his breakfast. Warren was looking around the table, so I offered him the rest of my pancakes. Somehow he managed to eat a good bit of them before declaring himself stuffed.

We had a little bit of wait getting our check. Satchel busied himself feeling our muscles and comparing them to his own. He then showed us how he could stand on one leg. Seeing that he was out of his seat, Jiro dismounted, and started crawling around on the floor. I scooped him up just as our waitress brought the final bill: $19.50. Warren had a few ones in his wallet, so we were golden. At the register each monkey scored a piece of candy and we all left full and happy.