Uncle Bill's final location on Kingshighway

Another restaurant relative has died: one of the town's favorite uncles, Uncle Bill's Pancake & Dinner House (3427 S. Kingshighway), will close Oct. 8, according to Bill Choi, who has owned the South City restaurant since 1987. (The West County location at 14196 Manchester, also owned by Choi, is operated by Choi's nephew. That location remains open.) Both the Kingshighway restaurant and the real estate are for sale, Choi says. “I really hope there is someone out there who wants to carry on Uncle Bill’s tradition. There’s nothing I could wish for more.”

The legacy

The Kingshighway Restaurant, a strange stucco and black wood building reminiscent of an Alpine cabin, has been a local landmark and ongoing restaurant (albeit under several names) for more than 90 years.

Generations of families can rave about their love for Uncle Bill's more than a dozen types of pancakes, his extra thick cut of bacon and his extra lean ground beef used in the burgers. Anyone who has visited will remember the first entry on the menu: the 2X2X2X2 (two eggs, two pancakes, two strips of bacon and two sausages), which is often ordered with hash browns. Visitors will also likely remember that the plates come stacked three or four on an arm rather than on trays.

Night owls often gravitate toward more restful dishes like Bill's Ham Steak, his version of a slinger (called a slingshot), and the California pancake sandwich (a sausage patty sandwiched between two pancakes topped with egg). Ronnoco coffee was served for years until another hometown beer, Dubuque Coffee, took control of the carafes.

For better or worse, Uncle Bill's has been largely stuck in time, and the interior has remained largely the same since 1973, when a devastating fire necessitated remodeling. Upon entering, guests could see (and occasionally feel) the details and texture of the lobby's wood paneling. The main room featured a two-story gable ceiling surrounded by a fireplace surrounded by hand-painted Dutch tiles. The Formica faux wood tabletops mimicked the real wood wall paneling. And no doubt guests appreciated that the spindle-back chairs were just as big as Uncle Bill's portions.

On the tables, the placemat served as a long menu with a wide selection of breakfast and side dishes, followed by sandwiches, salads and entrees, including a 12-ounce T-bone steak dinner for less than $20.

The porch had a series of cozy sitting areas with morning sunlight streaming through stained glass windows. Two side rooms and a second floor increased the total number of seats to 250.

The backstory

Uncle Bill’s menu says it’s “St. “Louis' first pancake house,” but according to Ron Elz (aka Johnny Rabbit), who also has deep local roots, the story began long before that. Elz was a popular radio DJ on KXOK (where listeners could call in and “prattle it to Rabbitt”) since the '60s, has written several quiz books and is one of the few local restaurant historians.

In that letter, Elz writes that the Uncle Bill's location was originally a spinoff of Olde Cheshire, a restaurant owned by Bill Medart that is credited with one of the city's classic burgers, the Medart Burger.

Uncle Bill's was not named after Medart, but rather after the restaurant's second owner, Bill Ernst. The restaurant went through several changes over the years (Medart's Log Cabin, then DiFranco Restaurant, followed by The Fireplace). When Ernst bought the restaurant in 1961, he called it Uncle Bill's Pancake and Dinner House.

Choi bought it from Ernst in 1987 and has operated it ever since. He bought the building a few years later. Sources close to Choi quoted the 80-year-old restaurateur as saying, “It's just about time.”

SLM asked Choi for more information.