Another restaurant relative is passing away: One of the city’s favorite uncles, Uncle Bill’s Pancake & Dinner House (3427 S. Kingshighway), will shut its doors on October 8, according to Bill Choi, who’s owned the South City restaurant since 1987. (The West County location, at 14196 Manchester and also owned by Choi, is operated by Choi’s nephew. That location will remain open.). The news was first reported by KMOV.
Both the Kingshighway restaurant and real estate are for sale, Choi tells SLM. “I really hope there is someone out there who wants to carry on the Uncle Bill’s tradition. There is nothing I would want more. It was my dream and hope it will become someone else’s dream.”
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The Legacy
The South Kingshighway restaurant, a curious stucco and black wood edifice resembling an Alpine chalet, has been a local landmark and a continuous dining establishment (albeit under several names) for more than 90 years.
Generations of families can wax poetic about their love of Uncle Bill’s dozen-plus pancake varieties, its special thick cut of bacon, and its extra lean ground beef used in the burgers. Anyone who’s visited will remember the first item listed on the menu: the 2X2X2X2 (two eggs, two pancakes, two strips of bacon, and two sausage links), which frequently gets ordered with hash browns. Visitors will also likely remember that plates are delivered stacked three or four to an arm, rather than on trays.
Late-night revelers would often gravitate to more restorative fare, such as Bill’s Ham Steak, its version of a slinger (called the Slingshot) and the California Pancake Sandwich (a sausage patty sandwiched between two pancakes topped with an egg). For years, Ronnoco coffee was served until another hometown brew, Dubuque Coffee, assumed control of the carafes.
For better or worse, Uncle Bill’s was largely stuck in time, its interior remaining pretty much the same since 1973, when a devastating fire prompted a remodel. Upon entry, guests would see (and occasionally feel) the detail and texture of the wood paneling in the lobby. The main room boasted a two-story gabled ceiling anchored by a fireplace surrounded by hand-painted Dutch tiles. Faux wood Formica table tops mimicked the true wood wall paneling. And no doubt, guests appreciated that the spindle-backed chairs were as substantial as Uncle Bill’s portions.
On the tables, the placemat served as the menu, a lengthy one, with an ample array of breakfast and side items giving way to sandwiches, salads, and entrées, including a 12-ounce T-bone steak dinner for under $20.
A porch addition featured a row of comfy booths, where morning sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows. Two ancillary rooms and a second floor brought the total number of seats to 250.
The Backstory
Uncle Bill’s menu states that it is “St. Louis’ first pancake house,” but the story began long before that, according to Ron Elz (a.k.a. Johnny Rabbit), who has some deep local roots as well. A popular radio DJ beginning in the ’60s at KXOK (where listeners could call in and “blab it to the Rabbitt”), Elz has authored several trivia books and is one of few local restaurant historians.
In this missive, Elz writes that the Uncle Bill’s location was originally a spinoff of the Olde Cheshire, a restaurant owned by Bill Medart, who’s credited with one of the city’s classic burgers, the Medart Burger.
Uncle Bill’s was not named after Medart but rather for the restaurant’s second owner, Bill Ernst. The restaurant had experienced a number of iterations over the years (Medart’s Log Cabin, then DiFranco Restaurant, followed by The Fireplace). When Ernst bought the restaurant in 1961, he named it Uncle Bill’s Pancake and Dinner House.
Choi bought it from Ernst in 1987 for $800,000 and has operated it since. Ten years later, Choi paid $1 million for the building.
Reached via telephone, Choi tells SLM that prior to the pandemic, Uncle Bill’s Kingshighway location was “an absolute gold mine” and that after the pandemic, the late-night business—and, to a large extent, its dinner business—slowed dramatically, causing a gradual reduction in profitable open hours. Uncle Bill’s went from being open around the clock to a 7 a.m.–3 p.m. schedule. “It’s just time,” he told a source close to him.
Choi tells SLM that he plans to sell the business and the building, but he would consider the former without the latter. He says that after closing day, which is payday, he and his real estate agent, Jeff Eisenberg & Associates, will begin the process of locating a suitable buyer.
“I feel bad for my employees,” Choi says, adding that he hopes that they “will feel equally at home with a new owner.”
For his part, Elz tells SLM that, ironically, he was listening to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” when he heard that Uncle Bill’s would be closing. “That place is a legend,” Elz says. “It’s like losing a friend who’s stood by you through thick and thin. Hopefully, someone will pick up the Uncle Bill’s mantle and carry on the storied tradition in some manner.”
