The Grand Canyon Cafe in Flagstaff, Arizona, will hold a grand reopening celebration Saturday, Oct. 7, with free pancakes that morning and possibly free meals for a year at the historic Route 66 restaurant.
Starting at 10:30 a.m. next Saturday, guests can score free pancakes in exchange for submitting their email addresses or sharing their online check-in, while supplies last. A ceremonial ribbon-cutting and celebration also will be at that time.
Also, the first 75 people in line for the ribbon-cutting will win their choice of chop suey, chicken-fried steak or special breakfast once a month for a full year in exchange for submitting their email addresses.
The restaurant, under new ownership from a local investors group, reopened earlier this summer and has fine-tund its offerings since that time, according to a news release:
To strike the balance of restoring a local, longtime favorite yet readying it for a whole new generation of diners, the new owners asked longtime regulars to help the meticulously restored restaurant to experiment with the menu over the past two months, revisiting existing recipes and offering suggestions for new additions.
The result is a restored menu with fresh additions –– all served in a historically accurate (as possible) setting.
If you looked at a postcard of the space back in 1942 and then one from today, you’d be hard-pressed to spot any major differences,” said Michael Marquess, who now co-owns the eatery alongside his wife, Marissa, as well as Paul and Laura Moir of SLO Restaurant Concepts and entrepreneur Paul Thomas. “Our approach during the restoration process was, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but if it is – let’s return it to its heyday.” […]
“What we’ve been working on is learning what people love most about the menu, and maintaining its roots while relying on the surrounding community for ingredient-sourcing whenever possible,” Paul Moir said.
The restaurant’s hours are from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, including the breakfast menu all day.
Fred and Tina Wong retired last summer after running the restaurant since 1980. Wong’s family had owned the Flagstaff eatery since 1945.
Save for an expansion after World War II, the restaurant has changed little since opening Dec. 18, 1942.
(Image of the Grand Canyon Cafe courtesy of Ty James Largo)
Beautiful. I’ll even overlook the blasphemous track lighting.