Michigan’s Best Local Eats: ‘More than just pancakes’ at Uncle Ernie’s Pancake House
KALAMAZOO, MI — “Anytime is pancake time, but we’re far more than just a pancake household.”
So states the motto of Uncle Ernie’s Pancake Home, which has experienced a constant existence in Kalamazoo’s Milwood community given that 1959.
For numerous, Uncle Ernie’s, found at 4005 Portage Rd., is a area to get clean hash, topped with Ernie’s popular zesty cheese and served with toast or junior pancakes on the side, owner Ryan Romensky reported.
“The hashes are fairly phenomenal here,” he reported. “People love the massive portion measurements, the awesome twist of meats cooked jointly among the potatoes and the seasonings.”
Main the way is the Farmers Hash with its diced ham, sausage, green pepper, onion, mushrooms tomatoes and hash browns. As very well as the Dutch Hash, which is comprised of eco-friendly peppers, onion and hash browns grilled jointly and topped with two eggs cooked to one’s liking.
But of course, there is no question that the pancakes are the headliners.
And while regular pancakes, chocolate chip delight, fruit topped and banana nut pancakes major the menu is products like Ernie’s Potato Cakes stuffed with shredded potatoes and onions, smothered with Ernie’s renowned pancake batter and served with apple sauce or bitter cream, that make Uncle Ernie’s one of a kind.
And then there’s the specific pancakes, Romensky stated.
At any given time, people could be Reese’s pancakes, Smores pancakes topped with graham cracker crumbs and stuffed with marshmallow, or even Woman Scout Cookie Pancakes.
All cakes occur in selections of traditional batter, or for a bit excess buckwheat or total wheat batter. And of study course, there’s the size choices — junior stacks, brief stacks and full. The limited stacks, intellect you, are two complete-plate-sized pancakes.
Whilst the meals is what draws folks in, it is the staff that has drawn them back for the earlier 63 years, reported Romensky, who bought the small business from the Mithaler family members in 2011. The Mithaler relatives, the next of three households to run Uncle Ernie’s, procured the enterprise from the original house owners, the De Vries, in the 1970s, he reported.
“It’s the 18 personnel customers who are producing the food, tending to their tables with their smiling faces. How numerous of them know their names, and their children’s names and are possessing comprehensive conversations with them on their way to the tables. Which is what keeps them coming again,” Romensky mentioned. “I’ve hired perhaps eight persons the entire 11 several years we have owned it, most of which have been both dishwashers or hosts.
“We have employees that was listed here ahead of then and we did not lose anyone throughout the pandemic.”
In addition to faithful employees and regional attendees, Romensky and his loved ones are significant on doing the job with community purveyors any time possible, partnering with neighborhood farms for eggs, generate, fruits and vegetables.
Retaining menu prices inexpensive and portions large with food items fees likely up is not effortless, he said, but it is significant.
“We serve community listed here,” he claimed.
Not just a put for breakfast, Uncle Ernie’s also serves a each day lunch menu.
The New York Reuben with sluggish-roasted, selfmade corned beef is a admirer favored and patrons can get all the things from burgers to perch sandwiches to buffalo chicken wraps to Ernie’s triple-decker club sandwich, layered with turkey, ham, bacon, American cheese, lettuce and tomato.
On the weekends friends can assume a quick wait of about 15-20 minutes for a desk. No reservations are authorized. Uncle Ernie’s is open from 6 a.m. – 1 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Sundays. For extra details, pay a visit to uncleerniespancakehouse.com/ or call 269-349-4170.
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