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History of the Pancake and Christmas House
Founded in 1949 as the Pinecrest, offering drive-up service and renamed the Pancake House in the late 1950's. It has been a fixture in McCall as long as most of us can remember. The Pancake House operated out of a small building that served as both workplace and home to many of its early owners. By the 1970’s, the living quarters were nixed and the building enlarged to make way for an expanding restaurant. Rain or shine, hundreds of diners flocked to the Pancake House each day. They didn’t mind the long waits to get in the door, or the long waits for food to get cooked or even having to share their table with complete strangers. The pay-off was just “that good.”
Good news travels fast and by the late 1990’s the Pancake House was bursting at the seams. The remodeled old home was literally falling apart. That’s when owners, George and Bonnie Bertram decided to build a new building that could accommodate the growing crowds and operate as a functional restaurant. They broke ground in August of 2001 and the new 11,000 square foot, custom-designed building was completed eight months later (see our photo at the top of the page). The doors opened on April 1, 2002 to eager patrons. The sense of space that one feels as they enter is the complete opposite of the old building. The soaring beams are huge - even the truss factory photographed them in place because they had never built anything quite so big. The booths give the diner a sense of privacy and intimacy that had never been experienced elbow to elbow in the other restaurant. Three days after opening in the new building...there was a waiting list. Shocked, yet pleasantly surprised, the Bertram’s decided to not even entertain the possibility of another addition for at least five years. They dug in their heals and focused on fine-tuning a still rapidly increasing business. It sometimes takes up to an hour to get in the door most weekends in the wintertime and every day in the summertime, but with six fully-staffed grills to accommodate the masses, the food comes out much quicker. Occasionally, people offer to share their table with a stranger, but for the most part, they are equally content enjoying a private meal by themselves.
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