Charlie Parker's

700 North St., Springfield, IL - (217) 241-2104

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Posted By Michael Stern on 3/5/2009 1:01:00 PM

No one ever has been able to eat a four giant stack at Charlie Parker's, which is a shame, because if you do, it's on the house. Otherwise, you pay $8. Actually, that is a huge bargain considering that the four pancakes that comprise a giant stack are enough food for eight people, easily. Non-competitive customers order a single giant for a mere $3.50, and to finish that is a significant accomplishment. It fully covers an 18-inch diameter pizza pan and is nearly a half-inch thick. (It is flipped on the griddle using a pizza peel.)

Surprise, the giant pancake also is really good, made from a batter we want to call brut – not sweet at all, but fresh and farmy with a lot of good crunch to the edge. It arrives topped with a quartet of blister packs of Land O' Lakes Fresh Buttery Taste™ Spread and a pitcher of corn syrup. All the spread and the whole pitcher of syrup barely stretch to cover the pancake, which expands to even greater size as it absorbs them both. A small portion of one of these mighty flapjacks is a terrific hors d'oeuvre before plowing into one of Charlie Parker's fine breakfast horseshoes.

The shoes are a Springfield paradigm: big oval plates with a foundation of white bread topped by eggs, breakfast meats, hash browns and cream gravy and/or hot cheese sauce. About as hard to polish off as a four giant stack, the breakfast horseshoe makes a fine meal for two. Of course, the more typical lunch horseshoe is available, made with turkey and/or ham.

Charlie's is an out-of-the-way Quonset hut diner that goes back decades but has only recently been given a spiffy-kitschy 1950s interior makeover that includes plenty of glass bricks, neon, and chrome-banded stools at the counter.

Scorecard

Overall: Excellent - Worth a Detour

Horseshoe	Pancake

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"Crystal the waitress totes a breakfast shoe and a giant pancake."
Michael Stern

"I was pretty filled up after making an insignificant dent in one of Charlie Parker's pancakes, presented to diners on a pizza pan. If you eat four of them, the quartet is free."
Michael Stern

"This mega-calorie breakfast shoe is topped with hash browns and cushioned with cream gravy. In between are eggs, breakfast meats, and cheese."
Michael Stern

"The counter seats allow for a great view of the neon sign, as all the great looking food gets passed through from the kitchen. Note the saying on the back of the waitresses' t-shirts: "Eat It and Beat It.""
Cliff Strutz

"Saturday morning at Charlie Parker's: every seat is filled and a line snakes out the door!"
Cliff Strutz

"Charlie Parker's is nearly impossible to find. My GPS was close to useless. But devotees have been coming for decades."
Michael Stern