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. In the fall of 1964, Chuck's was opened by Chuck Bach and his father-in-law Heavy Pebley. It was originally called Chuck's Pancake House, and long-time local customers still refer to it as the Pancake House. It was the largest cafe in Placerville, open 24 hours a day, and had every kind of pancake and waffle imaginable. All breakfasts included complimentary coffee. (Ah, the good ol' days!) In a few years, Chuck and his wife Peggy bought out Heavy, and they owned the restaurant until 1979. In 1977, knowing that there would be three more all-night restaurants opening in the area, Chuck made the decision to close his graveyard shift and expand his menu to include Chinese food. He found interested Chinese cooks in Sacramento and hired them to design the wok areas and develop the menu. By the time Chuck sold the restaurant to Diane and Sam Wong in the spring of 1979, it was well-established in Chinese and American cuisine and still a very popular place with the locals. The Wong's kept the restaurant until 1994, when current owners, Michael Tong and his wife Yim, bought it. Chuck's still offers both a full Chinese and American menu. Perhaps an unlikely combination, but it has worked well for the past couple decades. Even more unlikely is that we still serve the proverbial Hangtown Fry, and have for 35 years. It stays on our menu because it's popular with local folks, who make up a high percentage of our clientele. Regarding these many regular customers, long-time waitress Laurie observes:
Older menus that were in storage show that the menu hasn't changed much over the past 20 years. There is still an extensive line of breakfast items, including blueberry, pineapple, wheat honey, buckwheat, and cinnamon-sugar pancakes and almost as many waffles. The archived menus show that the Hangtown Fry is a long-running item at Chuck's. Along with the "Hanger", as it's affectionately known, there was also a "Prospector's Platter", a "Gold Nugget", and a "Miner's Hamburger", which is still available. We'll have more on them soon. |
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