STACKED Reopens On 95th Street After Pandemic Makeover

OAK LAWN, IL — STACKED Pancake House has reopened after being closed seven months for a pandemic makeover. The popular Oak Lawn eatery has expanded into an adjacent empty storefront and had a soft opening on Tuesday.

The restaurant was instant hit when opened Dec. 1, 2011 at 5273 W. 95th St. It was not unusual to see people lined up outside the restaurant waiting for a table. STACKED had outgrown its space the first week it opened. Since then STACKED opened a second location at 14306 S. Cicero Ave., Crestwood in 2018.

Owners Tom and Cristina Demacopoulos and their staff were applying the finishing touches on the expansive dining room, now twice its original size, placing pumpkins on tables to differentiate social distancing. The Crestwood employees finished their shifts and then went to Oak Lawn to ready the restaurant for its Tuesday opening.

"We have a great core of employees who've been with us for years," Cristina Demacopoulos said. "They all came last night after working Columbus Day in Crestwood, which was slammed. They all came here to help us get ready."

Then the pandemic hit and Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered the state’s restaurants closed to dining-in trade. While the Crestwood location reopened for curbside and Door Dash on Mother’s Day, owner Tom Demacopoulos got busy on the much-needed expansion of the mother ship in Oak Lawn.

“We both decided to do the expansion a year ago,” Demacopoulos said.

“Long before the pandemic came,” Cristina Demacopoulos said, finishing her husband’s sentence.

“It was like peeling an onion,” Demacopoulos said. “You add something here and something there.”

The Oak Lawn location is twice its original size at 5,000 square feet. With Covid rules, restaurants are only able to open 50-percent capacity. The expanded STACKED now seats 140, but is still seating its original capacity of 70. STACKED has also added a video gaming room.

“Restaurants are trying different ways to find revenue streams,” Demacopoulos said. “We’re going to try it and see if works, buy our main focus will still be what we started nine years ago, serving great food, giving great service, and keeping it cleans. If [the gaming room] doesn’t work out we’ll have more storage space.

The gaming room is secluded, so that bells and lights won’t disturb diners, however, the enclosed room may not be the best place to gamble during a pandemic.

Ten years since being forced out of Orland Park during an eminent domain takeover, Demacopoulos re-envisioned his Plaza Cafe into STACKED. Diners will still find the restaurant’s famous omelets, skillets, pancakes, French toast, chops, soups, salads and Angus burgers on the menu, along with red velvet pancakes, banana bread French toast, Irish-style eggs Benedict.

STACKED is also now a family affair. Although still in grammar school when their parents opened on 95th Street in 2011, Demacopoulos’s four kids have all worked school holidays, weekends and summers at the restaurant. His two youngest, Gianna and Giulia, both students at Stagg High School, were bussing and serving on opening day, having the day off for parent-teacher conferences.

“We feel that we have a good loyal following, and we think they’ll come back,” Demacopoulos said. “It’s just that were living in crazy times right now with so much uncertainty, especially in the hospitality industry. We’re making adjustments daily. It’s challenging.”

STACKED, 5273 W. 95th St., Oak Lawn, is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. The restaurant still offers curbside and delivery. Demacopoulos is still hiring; call him at 708-422-5555 to arrange an interview.