Walker Bros. is a series of pancake houses in the

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

. They developed as a franchised spin-off of

The Original Pancake House The Original Pancake House (TOPH) is a chain of pancake houses across the United States. They have franchises in Canada that started in 1958 and are still operating. They have recently expanded into both Japan and South Korea. They follow tradi ...

, founded in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, in 1953 by Les Highet and Erma Hueneke; the Walker Bros. version has been in business for over 45 years. Like the original, they are known for their apple pancakes, French toast, and

omelette In cuisine, an omelette (also spelled omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs, fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). It is quite common for the omelette to be folded around fillings such as chives ...

Awards and recognition

The restaurant was recognized by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' as one of the "Top Ten Pancake Restaurants in the Nation."

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

recognized them as Chicago's "best breakfast – bar none" and the "north and Northwest suburban family favorite." ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

'' magazine presented them with the Critic's Choice Award for the "best breakfast" around. The restaurant has also been recognized by AOL Cityguide in 2006 and 2007 for "City's Best Breakfast" (Chicago). They received the "Gold Cup" from Superior Coffee Company, a coveted award of excellence. Chef and food critic

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...

, who grew up in Portland, named The Original Pancake House as one of the top ten "best" in America. In 1999, the Original Pancake House in Portland was designated by the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

as a regional landmark restaurant.

In popular culture

Daryl Hall Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock music, rock, rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music, soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl ...

Hall and Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two w ...

wrote the song "Rich Girl" about Victor Walker, Jr., an heir to Walker Bros. Hall changed the lyrics from "rich guy" to "rich girl" because it sounded better. It was released in 1976. The 1980 feature film ''

Ordinary People ''Ordinary People'' is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of an upp ...

'' features a scene at a Walker Bros. pancake house. Walker Bros. was also mentioned in the 2004 feature film ''

Mean Girls ''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried (in her film debut), Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler a ...

''. In 2010, Dick Portillo, the founder of

Portillo's Restaurants Portillo's Restaurant Group, Inc. is an American fast casual restaurant chain based in the Chicago area that specializes in serving Chicago-style food such as hot dogs, Maxwell Street Polish, and Italian beef. The company was founded by Dick Port ...

in Chicago opened Honey Jam Cafe, a

fast casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conc ...

breakfast restaurant modeled after the ambiance and menu of Walker Bros.

References

External links

* * * Restaurants in Illinois Restaurants in Chicago Restaurants established in 1960 Pancake houses 1960 establishments in Illinois {{Chicago-struct-stub

Awards and recognition

In popular culture

See also

References

External links