Stuffed to the gills at The Original Pancake House in Ankeny

Its hard not to resist several breakfast visits to The Original Pancake House in southwest Ankeny, especially when someone else is picking up the tab. I and my companions enjoyed huge, fluffy, six egg omelettes, a surprisingly unique oven-baked pancake, sides of home fries and sausage, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and an unexpected lagniappe from George Nicholson, formerly the grill cook at Mr. Filet Steakhouse.

Left, an oven baked Dutch Baby pancake. Rather like a browned crêpe, puffy around the sides but thin in the center. Served with sides of whipped butter, lemon, and powdered sugar, right. I found it took only a little of each to accentuate my pancake. Either bananas or berries can be added for an extra charge.

Omelettes are huge affairs! Six eggs go into making one of these puffy delights. An Irish omelette, left, comes studded with tasty flecks of corned beef. I lusted over my dining companion's green chile and Monterey pepper jack omelette, right. Its mildly spicy, so a few drops of Cholula may be in order.

Potato pancakes, left, are lightly crisp and come with sides of applesauce and sour cream. Home fries, right, are well seasoned and browned. I'd gladly enjoy these on a plate with a couple of fried eggs on top.

House-recipe sausage, left, compliments a forkful of pancake quite nicely. Pulpy, fresh squeezed orange, center, and grapefruit juices are a nice start to breakfast. An unexpected non-menu item plate of hand-grated hash browns, right, from George Nicholson was a treat! George's hash browns are one of the things I miss most about Mr. Filet. That and the Greek omelet, and George, …and George too! George Hatzigiannakis that is, Mr. Filet's longtime owner.

Now let's see if we can convince OPH to offer a small Mr. Filet tribute breakfast menu on the side.