Breakfast Worshipers: Bow Toward Kirkland

---------------------------- Restaurant review / Kirkland ----------------------------

XX The Original Pancake House, 130 Park Place Center, Kirkland. Breakfast, lunch ($1.50-$7.25), 6:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. No smoking. Major credit cards. No alcohol. Wheelchair access. No reservations on weekends. 425-827-7575.

My husband wakes up conjuring images of Swedish pancakes and Belgian waffles, bacon and eggs and fresh-squeezed orange juice until he just can't stand it anymore, throws off the covers and heads for the kitchen. Unless it's the waffles he's hankering for - those require my expertise and I'm nudged, prodded and pleaded with until I roll out of bed and fire up the waffle iron. I figure it's the least I can do. After all, the guy does my laundry.

When I suggested a trip to The Original Pancake House in Kirkland his eyes went wide. "There's one around here???" he sputtered. Turns out that Mr. Breakfast spent his college years in Champaign, Ill., and spent his eating allowance not in the university cafeteria or the local pizza parlor, but at The Original Pancake House, one of more than 70 in operation today. The Portland-based chain was founded in 1953, but it wasn't till 1995 that Washington got this - its first (and only) outpost.

"Wow! It's exactly the same," says the husband, grinning like a kid in a candy store, remembering back 20 years while settling into a booth, taking in the big, bright, knotty-pine room, the mismatched collectible plates, and the world's most cheerful server who appeared like magic with a coffee pot in hand. "They use fresh cream," he proudly points out, as she sets down a pitcher. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" says he, surveying the familiar menu, ignoring the eggs and deciding among the battered goods: pancakes, waffles and crepes. "I think I'll have the sourdough pancakes. But I really love the bacon cakes. Oh! The sourdough French Toast! You know, they serve lingonberries with the Swedish pancakes!"

Impressed with his enthusiasm, our enthusiastic waitress arrived minutes later with an apple pancake the size of a hubcap, its tart apples and gooey glaze warm atop a custard center. "What's this?" I ask, since we didn't order it. "Smell that cinnamon! Is that un-real?" crowed the happiest guy in the place. "It's a Christmas present," says our server, as if we hadn't already ordered enough to feed a family of six.

DUTCH BABY: I expected a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday to You" as this cake-sized souffle, all custard and powdered sugar, was put before me. Once it deflated, I slathered it with whipped butter, squeezed on fresh lemon juice, took a bite and started singing, "Yes sir, that's my baby, no sir, I don't mean maybe!"

SOURDOUGH FLAPJACKS: The best sourdough cakes you'll ever taste - and the lightest. The sourdough is fermented to a near booze-like state, its flavor so appealing you won't need the maple syrup.

HALF ORDER POTATO PANCAKES: It's Hanukkah. So we celebrated with the traditional holiday fare served here year-round: wonderful, slightly oniony, lacy-thin potato pancakes. Sour cream and applesauce, natch.

BACON: Four thick slices.

DUTCH BABY: $6.25 SOURDOUGH FLAPJACKS: $4.95 HALF ORDER POTATO PANCAKES: $3.75 BACON: $2.95 COFFEE: $1.10 TEA: $1.10

TAX: $1.73 TOTAL: $21.83