Well, well, well. If it isn’t All You Can Eat Pancake time at International House of Pancakes (that’s IHOP for people who like abbreviations. I sure do.) I actually saw this on another blog, but since I just visited IHOP a little while back I thought I’d revisit this breakfast place.

Here are the gory details:

Our award-winning buttermilk pancakes are served with your choice of breakfast favorites – eggs, bacon, pork sausage and hash browns. During this special offer, we will keep the pancakes coming until you say stop.

All You Can Eat Pancakes are available for a limited time only at participating IHOP locations.

I think it costs $4.99 which seems to be a decent deal if you really, really like pancakes. The last time I was there I got some meat-centric (bacon and sausage) meal that came with toast and eggs so I didn’t get to try their pancakes.

[Edit: I just went to IHOP the other day and they seem to have 3 different all you can eat pancake deals, for $5.99, $6.99 and $7.99 which come with different extras depending on the price.]

If I remember correctly from the last time I had them, they’re not the worst in the world, but nothing to drive more than a couple of miles for. And according to their site there are over 1200 IHOPs throughout the U.S. and Canada, so chances are good there’s one in driving distance of you.

One thing I like about IHOP is that the waitresses are actually FRIENDLY. At least at the one we frequent. I don’t know how they can stay so chipper refilling all those truck-driver and late-night partier’s coffee cups. They must have a stress relief ball pinned to the inside pocket of their aprons or something.

Speaking of coffee… that is one area where I’ve got to give them a real big Cheap Eats raspberry. As with most diners, they always ask if you want coffee with your meal. I always figured they’re just being nice. But anyhow, you may want to watch out if you innocently say yes. Because they serve up the coffee (decent tasting, by the way) in a pitcher and let you fill up your own cups. I think it is all you can drink, but they don’t charge by the cup, at least I don’t think so.

I mean, we just said “Yeah, coffee for two please” and when the bill came it was like $3.50 for coffee! Whatever happened to fifteen cents a cup… and even if not, I thought refills were free. I was pretty shocked. I mean that is almost as much as the price of the All You Can Eat Pancakes!

So instead of all you can eat pancakes, I’d like to see them offer all you can drink coffee that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. And because of that, I’m going to have to lower my score on them a goodly amount…

Price: $4.99
Available at: IHOP
Cheap Eats Score: 5/10

I had been meaning to post about this jar of Bertolli Vodka Pasta Sauce awhile back but somehow never got around to it. Well, I finally downloaded the pics so here you go.

I usually don’t make a habit of buying ANY pasta sauce in jars if I can get away with it. The reason is not only does it tend to be quite a bit more expensive than opening a can of crushed tomatoes and making your own sauce, but I tend to think that many of the tomato based pasta sauces in jars are overly sweet. There are a couple exceptions (one is Barilla Pasta Sauce which is super tangy).

I’d never even bought Bertolli Sauce before, though I’d gotten their Extra Virgin Olive Oil on sale before and it was quite reasonable and pretty good for the price. But because this sauce was on clearance for under two bucks (I can’t remember the exact price) and because it was a bit different than the usual straight-up tomato based sauces, I decided to give it a whirl.

I wish I still had the Bertolli bottle so I could rattle off all of the questionable ingredients in it. The thing is, it’s actually made with “fresh cream”, their own Bertolli Olive Oil, tomatoes, and actual vodka. Yeah, I made damn sure that was listed on the label before buying it!

The usual route most people go is dump the pasta sauce in a pot, heat it up, and then pour it over spaghetti, but I decided to instead use it as an ingredient rather than just a sauce. Using about half the jar, I mixed mixed up a quick sauce similar to the usual one I make for Quick Bacon Pasta. The results, which actually look nice for once, are below:

I used Mostaciolli, bacon and a bit of parmesan cheese, as well as cubed zucchini and parsley to make this feel a bit more healthy. Kind of like a Carbonara of sorts.

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