Although Kathy Pulliam and her husband, David, live in Salisbury, it’s not unusual for them to hop in the car and drive all the way to The Original Pancake House in Charlotte to eat one of the restaurant’s gigantic apple pancakes. “It’s so large that I cannot eat the whole thing,” Kathy says, “and it’s filled with delicious, warm, spicy apples that just ooze comfort and delight. It’s like an apple pie, but it’s this tremendous pancake — light and fluffy.”

The franchise, based in Portland, Oregon, and started by Erma Hueneke and Les Highet in 1953, brags about using butter, whipping cream, grade AA eggs, unbleached flour, and sourdough starter. The Charlotte location has been serving pancakes for 17 years.

Kathy is a big fan of the restaurant’s Dutch Baby: “It has German origins like the apple pancake but is completely different. It’s large and kind of hollow in the middle like a souffle.” With bowls filled with powdered sugar, lemon slices, and butter before them, Dutch Baby diners make their treat as rich and as sweet or sour as they want.