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• Original Pancake House: Good enough to "Woo!"

I’ve never celebrated Easter. All I know is that Peeps are only good when eaten one at a time, Easter baskets seem like a glorified, pastel Halloween pail with the added bonus of toys and presents, and Easter is the one day parents will let kids eat candy they found on the ground.

Given the excitingly tasty connotation that is somehow associated with Jesus rising from the dead, it was no surprise that churchgoers came to the Original Pancake House to get their holiday fill, which my first visit to the OPH perfectly coincided with.

By arriving one hour before closing — they’re strictly a breakfast/lunch joint, and are only open until 2:30 p.m. — we had just missed the rush, and were allowed to pass by the ominously empty waiting room that, complete with books and magazines, felt like it had been lived in by many hungry occupants.

Overwhelmed by the pancake varieties on OPH’s cluttered menu, I settled for a veggie omelet with onions and prepared with an egg substitute while my boyfriend opted for quite the opposite — chocolate chip pancakes and breakfast potatoes.

OPH, with its country kitchen kitsch, is the only restaurant where the waitress — who never let us settle for a slightly empty cup of coffee — cheers when she brings food to the table. Yes, the waitress “Woo!”-ed while plopping platters of breakfast foods in front our wide-eyed faces.

The chocolate chip pancakes were fantastic and gooey, and after taking a bite of the buttermilk ones my omelet came with, it was clear that the plain ones were just as good, even if they weren’t as chocolaty. So good in fact, that I didn’t even start on my omelet until I had devoured half of them.

Surprisingly large and fluffy considering it wasn’t even made of real eggs, my omelet would have been perfect if not partially ruined by my favorite ingredient — cheese. A thick, hard, slightly burnt layer of cheese at the bottom was terribly greasy and ruined the healthy aesthetic I was going for, but there was so much food that my $9 meal lasted me through dinner, and my date’s chocolate pancakes were plentiful enough to also be breakfast the next morning.

Sure, IHOP is convenient and open late, but going to OPH insures both quality and quantity. Pass on the all-you-can-eat pancakes and syrup that sits on tables all day long, and get yourself a hearty breakfast.