It’s National Pancake Day, and we are in the mood for (wait for it) pancakes! Sure, we can go to IHOP and get free pancakes, but we enjoy national chains as much as our semi-annual dental cleaning.

Thumbs Up is a much more local establishment with six locations, all of them in Atlanta. This one is located in a strip shopping center near historic Roswell. Fellow cyclists like to come here after rides on Saturdays to replace lost calories. Today we will add calories that we hopefully burn off in the upcoming cycling season.

It’s cold and nasty, and we both order hot chocolate, even though we are warned that it’s from a mix. It has chocolate syrup and whipped cream, so how bad can it be? The cups of cocoa are a warm shot on this cold day.

In sticking with the spirit of the day, we both order pancakes.

Eve builds her own breakfast with two pancakes, and because she evidently isn’t getting enough carbs, a side of potatoes. The potatoes are crisp and crunchy and an excellent choice. They flash fry them when they come off the grill to get the crunch.

I order the breakfast special, which comes with two eggs and a choice of meats. My choice is a good one, the chicken sausage. It’s got all of the sausage taste with about half the guilt. We could have shared this plate. The light and fluffy pancakes are huge, taking up most of the plate.

One pancake comes home, which we eat the next day for breakfast. Everyone is friendly here and they thank us for celebrating Pancake Day with them instead of the free IHOP down the street. If you are hungry and you need a breakfast fix, we give a thumbs up to the Thumbs Up Diner.