The Skinny Pancake, the crêperie that started as a food cart, will open its 11th branch in the spring in Stowe, co-owner Benjy Adler told Seven Days.
The newest Skinny will be at 454 Mountain Road, the former site of McCarthy's Restaurant, which closed in the fall after 45 years in business. "It's pretty cool," Adler said. "They're passing the torch."
The Skinny Pancake purchased the restaurant space and commercial equipment, Adler said. The Stowe restaurant will have a fireplace, a kids' play area, a bar and a seasonal patio. It will serve four meals seven days a week — breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, Adler said.
"We're a modern-day diner," he added.
Skinny's roster includes three seasonal locations: Stowe Mountain Resort, Sugarbush Resort and the University of Vermont. Some former employees of McCarthy's who have joined Skinny's staff are working at the ski resort venue until the Mountain Road restaurant is renovated and opened, according to Adler, who owns the restaurants with his brother, Stowe resident Jonny Adler.
The Skinny Pancake was conceived in a dorm room at Middlebury College, where Benjy Adler majored in music. It launched in the summer of 2003 as a Burlington crêpe cart and opened its first restaurant on that city's waterfront in 2007.
One of the Skinny Pancake's priorities is sourcing its food locally. In October, 74 percent of food purchases at the original Burlington Skinny Pancake were local, according to the company's audit.