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Handler and his partners — Elliot Cohen and his son, Andrew — are rooted in the breakfast market. He and the elder Cohen own the North Jersey favorite Wide World of Bagels.
The trio had been scouting out the right location to enter the flapjack field for two years, talking to people about how to create that ideal morning atmosphere and menu.
Look no further than the brunch craze for the universal craving for comfort food.
Stacks’ menu is all comfort, as is the restaurant’s space — a a cozy breakfast nook modernized with exposed brick walls, paintings, sculptural mirrors and retro café tables and chairs.
“We’re not gourmet chefs. We don’t claim to be,” said Andrew Cohen. “But we know breakfast like the back of our hands.”
After masterminding a menu with 22 variations on the traditional pancake, it would be hard not to appreciate breakfast through and through.
There are staples like the Gone Bananas, Blueberry Craze and Silver Dollar Pancakes. Then there are the healthy options like the Whole Grain Delight, whole wheat pancakes with blueberries and strawberries, and the Homestyle Healthy, whole wheat pancakes with raisins and pecans.
But wait. How about the Oreo Cookie, pancakes mixed and topped with crumbled Oreo cookies, or the Peach Cobbler, a warm concoction served with nuts, raisins and peaches?
“We wanted to stand out,” Mr. Cohen said.
Stacks’ secret is in the batter, a recipe developed over a year of experiments. Mr. Cohen declined to share the details, but the menu’s description of the Original describes the house special as “the most outrageous pancake you have ever taken a bite of.”
Other breakfast dishes include Belgian waffles, French toast, omelettes, egg platters, pancake wraps — a kind of breakfast burrito with imaginative combinations — and Momma’s family-size pancake, large enough to satisfy three people.
For those more interested in lunch or dinner fare, Stacks serves double-decker deli sandwiches, grilled specialties and monster-sized salads. From the fruit to the produce to the batter for each pancake, everything in the kitchen is made fresh to order.
But here’s the real beauty of Stacks: While it may be difficult to find a more inviting spot at the beginning of the day, the hotspot also offers a late night menu. with funnel cakes, sliders and wings — and is open 24 hours Thursdays and weekends. And it delivers.
Stacks is located at 506 Washington. Open Sunday to Wednesday 6 am to 9 pm and ’round the clock Thursday to Saturday.
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