Eat All About It: Breakfast is served at Kennewick’s newest pancake house

Pictures of breakfast have replaced pictures of construction on the Facebook page of Kennewick’s newest breakfast spot.

The first of two planned Original Pancake House locations opened the doors of its Plaza Way location last week, with a simple announcement.

“At long last, breakfast is served this weekend,” the owners posted on Facebook. “We look forward to serving you.”

The roughly 4,500-square-foot restaurant serves all manner of pancakes, all prepared from scratch, as well as waffles, dutch babies, egg dishes, biscuits and gravy and more.

The franchise owners, Ryan Medford and Blake Williams, decided to go into the resturant business after graduating from college.

They spent two years, meeting in Hood River, to develop their plans. Williams, living in Salem, worked as a cook at The Original Pancake House, and Medford held a job at Lamb Weston’s Pasco plant.

They received the bank loan that funded their Puyallup location as the U.S. economy started slipping toward collapse in 2008 and they opened their first restaurant in 2009. They weathered the tough business climate of the latter part of the last decade and the early part of this one. The recession required the company to adopt good business habits that helped it grow as the economy recovered, Medford said.

They eventually added locations in Maple Valley and Tacoma before focusing on the Kennewick location in the Southridge district.

They haven’t announced where their second Tri-Cities location will be.

Prosser food truck rally

Tickets are still available for a food truck rally scheduled for Prosser’s Winemakers Loft.

The loft’s inaugural food truck rally Saturday will feature bacon burgers, kettle corn, doughnuts and more. Cost is $15 in advance or $18 at the door.

Proceeds will benefit Heartlinks Hospice and Palliative Care, which provides comprehensive medical and emotional care for children and adults throughout the lower Yakima Valley and the Tri-Cities.

Madison Sartain, the hospice’s community outreach liaison, said the money helps fill the gap that Medicare doesn’t pay for.

“Twenty percent of the services we provide are funded by events, grants and personal contributions,” she said. “It is generous of the Winemakers Loft to include Heartlinks Hospice as the beneficiary of the Winemakers Loft Food Truck Rally.”

Tickets can be purchased on the hospice’s website, heartlinkshospice.org/events.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Eat All About It: Breakfast is served at Kennewick’s newest pancake house."