Unfiltered.

At The Original Pancake House, The Waiting Is Not So Hard.

Welcome to Unfiltered, our weekly feature that explores the Dallas coffee scene — and how it often manages to thrive in the most unusual places. Given that we live in a time when Starbucks locations are about as prevalent as the golden McDonald's arches, when new coffee shops seem to open every other week and when almost everyone uses a ChemEx to brew their coffee, we're here to show you some alternatives — for when your coffee shop routine becomes monotonous or when you're just looking for something different in your caffeine endeavors.

The Original Pancake House.
5220 Beltline Road.
Addison.

For any breakfast-centric restaurant, coffee is a ubiquitous part of the business. But while most chains typically feature some sort of blend of often indeterminate sources, The Original Pancake House decided to take its cues from the craft coffee scene.

“When the Addison location became available, we realized it was a much larger space than we needed,” says OPH partner Jonathan Seyoum. “The idea then came about having a larger lounge area with coffee service as a way to generate additional sales, while also offering our weekend crowds a more pleasant, perhaps less unpleasant waiting time.”

The coffee bar stands as a focal point of the restaurant, enticing customers towards the classic espresso offerings prior to being seated. But like most diners of its kind, drip coffee remains king, and thus the coffee program was adapted as such. Instead of your standard auto drip, though, OPH serves French-pressed, single origin beans from Eiland Coffee Roasters.

The selection is seasonal, with current offerings from Brazil, Ethiopia and Kenya. Each coffee represents a different flavor profile, from smoky and bold with hints of sweet tobacco or red wine, to acidic and sweet. One thing they all have in common is a fuller body, a quality that is sought after in many breakfast coffees.

Despite multiple locations throughout the Metroplex, the specialty coffee program is unique to only the Addison and Irving stores. However, upon realizing the worth of the industry, we can expect to see more coffee bars at future OPH outposts.

“Our next location in Fort Worth, near Hulen Mall, will also have a coffee bar with a larger counter service,” Seyoum says. “It is also likely that our Houston location will have the artisan coffee bar. At this time, we have in mind for all our future footprints to include a specialty coffee bar.”