Original Pancake House, Las Vegas

For its more than 20 types of golden-brown pancakes and plentiful selection of omelets, waffles, crepes, and other hearty American breakfast dishes, The Original Pancake House has gleaned accolades ranging from a Zagat rating and a feature on The Food Channel to being named one of the nation's top 200 franchises in 2009 by Franchise Times as well as a James Beard Award. It's no wonder why. Since 1953, every one of the family business’s morning specialties have been prepared from scratch daily with a commitment to quality and using real ingredients such as pure whipping cream, hard-wheat unbleached flour, and butter made from fresh sweet cream. Meanwhile, the batter they use in everything from pancakes to waffles is prepared from scratch unlike the pre-mixed batters used at other breakfast restaurants.

Powdered sugar lines the soufflé-styled rims of oven-baked German pancakes, which The Food Channel lauds for their "ever so-slightly crispy" edges and calls "just the right balance between a crepe and a pancake." Apple pancakes—with granny-smith apples in the batter and sinkiang cinnamon glaze on top—are another favorite, and those tart apples also share the menu with fresh blueberries and toasted Georgia pecans for a turn to simmer in Belgian-waffle circles like actual grannies in syrup-filled jacuzzis. Unique ingredients add distinction to house specialties such as oven-baked mushroom-sherry-sauce-topped omelets and gourmet fruit-filled crepes garnished with sweet cherry-wine sauce. To accentuate the flavors of each meal, The Original Pancake House provides fresh-squeezed orange juice made daily.