The Original Pantry Cafe

Parking: Street Parking Difficult, Street, Metered, Nearby
24 Hours Cozy, Laid Back Casual, Area Classic, Dive Diner 21+

Forget all the fancy-pants highbrow downtown steakhouses that brag about their aged USDA beef and garlic mashed potatoes. The Original Pantry has been the preeminent steakhouse for picky downtown carnivores since 1924. Garlic mashed potatoes aren’t on the menu, but you can order cole slaw in pint, quart or gallon sizes. A gallon serving of coffee is available for serious caffeine fiends. The Pantry’s slightly shabby décor seems frozen in time, a worn slice of the 20^th Century that is both comforting and visually exciting compared with the sleek, modern design of many of downtown’s newest generation of restaurants. Old wooden booths and fluorescent lights define the dining room. The servers, with expressive, lined faces and white coats, look like they’ve been working at the Pantry since 1964. Slide onto a grill-side stool and watch the chef flip cooked-to-order hunks of meat and expertly fry up hash browns. Breakfast is served 24 hours a day at the Pantry, as are the steaks.

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