Visiting my Uncle Bill's

Ahh. Sleeping in on the weekend is great! Especially when I get to meet up with a girlfriend for brunch. Or in this case, having breakfast during lunch at Uncle Bill's Pancake House in Manhattan Beach. On Saturday morning, my better half went to work and I headed south to meet up with CLB at her bachelorette pad by the beach.

It's crazy how quickly the last 10 years just zoomed by. That's how long I've known CLB and after all these years, I still remember our first outings to CPK, Islands, and the Old Spaghetti Factory as if they were yesterday. She was one of my first food friends. The type of friend who shared the last bits of food with you, and who'd pick things up as if nothing really changed - even if months or entire years go by. I love those types of friendships, when the conversations just flow and the inside jokes are never lost.

So after several months since our last outing, we decided it was time to do brunch. She chose Uncle Bill's for their wide breakfast selection and great location, and warned me that there's typically a wait there. Lucky for us, we found a meter with time on it - SCORE! We popped in a few more cents worth to give us a full two hours - enough time to wait, enjoy a meal, and have some good conversations. And wait, we did. A list of a half dozen names were written above ours. So we opted to do some window shopping at the stationary boutique store next door while many other folks just putzed around the sidewalk or lounged in the white folding chairs that lined the street in front of the restaurant. Thankfully we weren't starving to eat, and were able to spend most of the time in Christie's. The 10+ year old store had fabulous stationary, albums, and other sundry items including custom made invitations. My curiosity got the best of me, and I noticed the woman at the counter's order and smiled. She had invitations made for a pizza making birthday party. Definitely my kind of party!

As the 30-minute mark came close, we went back to the restaurant and was seated right away in the patio area. Close to 1, the place still had people waiting outside and the house was jam-packed! Our small table for two seemed somewhat cramped, especially with the unopened umbrella by the side of our table. It made things a bit fun, having to move plates around, shift glasses, and figure out how to manuever everything on such a small surface area. Somehow, it reminded me of playing a game of tetris.

Since this was my first pancake house experience beyond the International House of Pancakes, my senses were initially on overload with the variety of choices and didn't know what to order. But after asking CLB and our very busy server for their recommendations, I quickly decided upon a glass of freshly squeezed OJ, the Manhattan Omelet with a side of Strawberry Pancakes with Whipped Cream. The city named omelet was cooked with tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, cheddar and jack cheeses with slices of fresh, smooth avocados. A mild egg dish, it went extremely well with their version of hash browns - little thin strips of fried potatoes, (some of which looked like bits of crispy bacon). With a little bit of s+p and some heinz red sauce, the omelet and hash browns were delicious. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it all... especially when I had an eye-pleasing side of flapjacks with colors of caramel brown, juicy berry red, and fluffy cloud white.

Since I couldn't just go to Uncle Bill's PANCAKE house and NOT have the pancakes, I had to have BOTH an omelet AND some pancakes. And I'm so happy I did. The pancakes were light and airy, not chewy; and came with fresh picked strawberries that were sweet with a dab of whipped cream. I ate almost all of the pancakes with fruit, and killed half of the omelet dish. CLB ended up taking a few bites from my plate, and had a pretty good looking waffle with fresh strawberries too.

I liked the lack of pretention here at Uncle Bill's and the fact that it reminded me of a home cooked meal from the Midwest. Sushi is a no go out in Michigan. But pancakes fresh off the farm? Oh yeah, you better believe it. Not to mention you could pick the berries straight from the plants to your mouth - black raspberries were my favorite. mmm...a little bit of country that got mixed up in this very city girl.

Uncle Bill's Pancake House in Manhattan Beach
Street: 1305 Highland Ave. (Corner of 13th St)
Tel: 310.545.5177

Christie's in Manhattan Beach
Street: 1219 Highland Ave.
Tel: 310.545.1707