For years Walker Bros. Original Pancake House has had a reputation for serving huge plates of rich breakfast goodies at their six locations in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Being a north suburban native, I grew up loving their pancakes — the gooey and super-sweet apple, the slightly chewy 49er’s flapjacks, and the buttermilk with bananas cooked into the batter.
So when my mom told me that Walker Bros. was serving gluten-free pancakes, I was skeptical. I didn’t want to spoil the sweet memories of those gluten-filled breakfast treasures with some run-of-the-mill gluten-free pancakes. I was certain that the gluten-free pancakes would be mediocre with an aftertaste and that I would be forced to eat them while staring at customers all around me chowing down those magical dishes of my past. I was cynical and I was wrong.
The Allergy Sheet at Walker Bros. Original Pancake House
First, though, I learned that you have to communicate with the staff in order to eat gluten-free at Walker Bros. I asked three different people at the Arlington Heights location and finally the manager said, “Oh! Let me give you our allergy sheet.” The “allergy sheet” is actually very comprehensive and lists all of the items that do not contain gluten. I ordered the gluten-free pancakes, of course, which the manager said were made from Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix.
I also spoke to the manager about the preparation of the food and she assured me that the cooking surfaces are carefully wiped down in between every order. This made me nervous, of course. First of all, they would be making my pancakes on the same grill as all of the other food. Second of all, I was really far from my apartment if sickness struck.
Gluten-Free Pancakes at Walker Bros. Original Pancake House
Our food came and my pancakes looked…delicious. Better yet, they tasted delicious. They were fluffy and buttery, and everything I dreamed of in a Walker Bros. buttermilk pancake. They gave me a side of fruit and I added the strawberries to my plate. The manager came over to check on me and told me, after the fact, that I could have ordered the buttermilk pancakes with almost any of the fillings off of the regular menu. I could have re-lived those legendary banana pancakes, or ordered blueberry, chocolate chip, or even bacon pancakes.
I was nervous about the shared cooking surface, but I over-communicated with the staff about how to handle my food and I felt just fine after eating my meal. And the best part was that the food was so darn good – just like I remembered it.
Actually, when you were finding the manager, our waiter had brought out that same allergy sheet–so the waiters know about allergies as well. He just wasn’t as convincing about the knowledge..