This starts with Sturgeon Bay and covers restaurants north that we have been to.
Door County has some great attractions in food, fun and art. We have been surprised that even people who have been coming to Door County for years don’t know some of the great attractions. So we have put together a list of some of our favorites, just in case you every decided to get away from the cottage and do something.
The county abounds in places that do a wonderful and consistent job of serving the basics -- burgers, steaks, prime rib, fried fish and chicken. Portions are almost uniformly big to huge and if you have any interest in dessert, consider splitting an entree.
Many of these places look pretty unpromising from the outside, and several look much the same inside. Don’t be put off -- the food is great and if they haven’t wasted money on decor, perhaps that has helped hold down the menu prices. Casual to sloppy attire is acceptable everywhere in Door County, although at a few places up north like Lure, (formerly Mission Grille) or the Waterfront, you might feel better in something like khakis rather than ripped painters’ jeans.
The Nightingale Supper Club
The bar opens at 4 and food starts at 5.
The big bar is probably out of the seventies and run by owner Dave and our favorite bartender, Julie, who has been helping to upgrade the wine list which is now very good. Or if your idea of a proper drink is half a pint of ice cream and some liquor, this is the place. We don’t know what they are called and hesitate to guess the calories, but they are popular and one of these days we are going to go for one, probably in place of dinner.
Specials each night -- the crowded parking lot on Thursday is because it is prime rib night, but that means just a dollar off, so don’t hesitate to order it other nights, because the place is known for it. Other great items are fish fry on Fridays (pan fried perch is excellent and available other nights as well) and tenderloin with asparagus. Entrees come with big salads and warm bread.
Consistent high quality — never a disappointing dinner in years of eating there — and reasonable prices keeps it busy year ‘round. If you get there early, book a table — it might be quiet at 5 but very busy by 6.
Papa Murphy's
Up the hill a ways at the Mobil station is Papa Murphy's Pizza. What a great idea -- freshly prepared pizzas you take home and bake for 15 minutes or so. We like the everything from the veggie gourmet to the cowboy with lots of meat. You can call ahead, or just show up. Yeah, we do cook but we love this for busy nights when we need a great dinner without fuss. The vegetable and fruit stand in the parking lot during the simmer is a great place to pick up fresh corn, strawberries and anything else in season -- no need to wait for a farmer’s market.
Brick Lot
Next door to the Third Avenue Playhouse, it is under new ownership. Stick to the basics; we plan to give the place a second try soon after a disappointing visit. Ok, we did a second visit and the food was poor -- overcooked burger, dry BBQ that must have been microwaved. Beers were nice and cold, but we won't be back again for food.
Crate
Formerly 136 on Third Avenue the interior has been redone and the food is superb, especially raw oysters and sushi. Good wine and beer list. They are just getting started but we have been three twice and both times were great. Check the schedule…they were doing lunch a few days a week and dinner on Thursdays through Saturday during the winter.
Del Santos
A lovely Italian place on Third. We enjoyed every time we ate there. They have added a wine bar, so you can have a glass before dinner if you are waiting for friends to join you.
Corner Cafe
Corner Cafe has replaced Pudgy Seagull, and if the name is a little less enticing, the food is still good. Great for breakfast or lunch, closed for dinner, quick service and reasonable prices.
Corner Cafe has replaced Pudgy Seagull, and if the name is a little less enticing, the food is still good. Great for breakfast or lunch, closed for dinner, quick service and reasonable prices.
Inn at Cedar Crossing
We used to love it for breakfast - great hash, eggs, and excellent baked goods along with home-made jam, but our latest visits were misses -- yes, you can screw up eggs and toast. It would be nice to see some jam other than cherry. Weak coffee. They have a pretty varied menu with prices meant to keep the locals coming all year long with sandwiches and inexpensive pasta choices at dinner, along with more sophisticated offerings. Cocktails or dinner are relatively quiet so anyone with hearing aids will enjoy being able to hear and converse. We used to take Keta there for drinks so she could hear us.
Red Room
On Third, just down from the library. This is one of those places that hasn’t changed much since, well probably since it was built. But the burgers are great and under $5 with a beer. Attracts locals including retirees who sit around chatting at length and young women meeting up for a break from the working day. Popular evenings as well.
West Side
Greystone Inn
Another one of those places that looks a bit forbidding on the outside, has been around forever and features great burgers and steak sandwiches at lunch along with a good beer selection. Supposed to have a wonderful prime rib too, but we haven’t made it for dinner. Great game burgers -- elk, venison and buffalo.
Blue Front Cafe
The Blue Front Cafe, in a former shoe store, has an imaginative menu with some Asian-themed dishes and a great selection of moderately priced wines, courtesy of Left Bank. if you are tired of steaks and burgers, or have a vegan in the family, this is the place to go.
Kitty O’Reilly’s
Irish bar with an excellent Left Bank wine list, a big outdoor terrace where you can bring your dog, smoke, and enjoy music on summer nights. The food is excellent. Try the pulled pork if they have it on the menu; the chef is great and the specials are worth trying. The fish and chips is done right there with a great home-made batter and is easily enough for two, and a cod wrap recently was great. They make a huge, excellent Bloody Mary. It has become our favorite place. A cheerful crowd and lovely waitresses -- could there be a connection? Great fish tacos too.
heading up the hill and out of town
Scaturo's Baking and Cafe Company
Bakery and restaurant. They have a fine breakfast, excellent coffee cakes and apple and cherry turnovers, and daily specials. Wednesday is 2 for 1 bread day, but with loaves selling for $7 or so I am not convinced it is a great deal. Still, check it out -- neat combinations of ingredients in their breads. Two doors up is
Marchants
A local version of the meat specialist/grocery store in Brussels, it has home-made brats, steaks, and a few Belgian specialties along with a growing list of prepared items like potato salads and pizzas. Hard to walk out without at least a pound of brats and a steak or two.
Woldt’s Corner
Across the street from Walgreens on the highway, it has excellent steaks, excellent pan-fried perch, and the best Bloody Marys ever, says my wife. Well, maybe matched by Kitty's.
Richard’s
Maplewood on Rt 42 and H. This is a bit of a drive, but if you are hungry coming back from Green Bay, or the next time you drive up to Door County, consider stopping. The pizza is neck and neck with Neighborhood Pub and the old-fashioned bar is a treat. Wonderful specials, mediocre wine selection. When Keli lived in the neighborhood, we were regulars -- not so much now that it is 12 miles away.
North of Sturgeon Bay
The Mill
At the intersection of Highways 42 and 57. If the Nightingale is a throwback to the 70s, this goes back to the 50s. The bar is okay, the food is wonderful. The family style chicken -- all you can eat for two or more people -- is what your imaginary grandmother would have made for you if she really knew how to cook. Tender chicken, excellent gravy, mashed potatoes...Only trouble is, once or twice a week it competes with all you can eat prime rib. What? All you can eat prime rib?
Sounds like a sure money loser and we went to do our best. We didn’t get through one each. But, they said, we heard that one customer has eaten eight. Good thing for the Mill that almost no one else can get close to that record. The prime rib is as good as any we have eaten.
Institute Saloon
On the highway, a local institution. Great pizza -- $22 feeds two people at least twice.
Valmy Happy Hour
Another local favorite, and another spot for great pizza. Hmm, must admit we haven’t had much else there. Time to get back to working on more detail for this guide.
Glidden Lodge
Enjoy a view of Lake Michigan and to the north, the dunes of Whitefish Bay State Park are visible. The Lodge has a nice bar, excellent food salad bar and German specialties on Wednesday. It has a wonderful escargot dish. Excellent lobster tails, and lamb.
Egg Harbor
Harbor View Grill, an addition to the Chocolate Chicken, on the bay side of Shipwrecked. Opened four years ago with a ground floor dining room with a lot of fish on the menu, in 2016 it open an outdoor deck above with fabulous views across Green Bay, and a more limited menu. Go for the whitefish appetizer or tacos or other sandwiches. Great view, simply furnished with contemporary tables and chairs -- this is going to be a very busy place in its first summer -- it opened Memorial Day 2016 -- and deservedly so.
Casey's
The huge sculptured pig out front gives a not so subtle hint -- great place for pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ. Big beer list. Good view of the bay. Right on Hwy. 42.
Egg Harbor
Harbor View Grill, an addition to the Chocolate Chicken, on the bay side of Shipwrecked. Opened four years ago with a ground floor dining room with a lot of fish on the menu, in 2016 it open an outdoor deck above with fabulous views across Green Bay, and a more limited menu. Go for the whitefish appetizer or tacos or other sandwiches. Great view, simply furnished with contemporary tables and chairs -- this is going to be a very busy place in its first summer -- it opened Memorial Day 2016 -- and deservedly so.
Casey's
The huge sculptured pig out front gives a not so subtle hint -- great place for pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ. Big beer list. Good view of the bay. Right on Hwy. 42.
Fish Creek
Bayside Tavern has great pizza among its entrees, comfy local pub place open year round. Beware microwaved entrees -- ask!
The Cookery
Wine bar, restaurant, an outdoor balcony with a view of the main drag. Open for breakfast once again, I think. Emphasis on local food.
Junipher's Gin Joint (Formerly Coopers Corner)
I don’t think we have eaten anything other than appetizers at the terrace bar which is a lot of fun.
Wild Tomato
Great pizzas and also salmon sandwiches. Dog friendly, outdoor seating, very popular so they opened a second facility in a building around back just for takeout. Check out the latest branch in Sister Bay.
White Gull Inn
Voted best breakfast in the country for their stuffed cherry French toast on one of the morning news shows, a justified honor. Also does fish boils. Expect a wait during the busy season for breakfast especially.
Gibralter Grill
Deservedly popular with excellent sandwiches at lunch and an extensive list of beers and wines. Try the appetizer sampler -- almost enough for lunch with bruschetta, artichoke dip and spicy guacamole -- half price during Monday Happy Hour, we were told. Outdoor seating and a bar area that is under cover and open in good weather but with roll down clear plastic and space heaters. Also permits dogs in the outdoor area.
Heading north toward Ephraim.
English Inn
Good food, excellent service, pricey.
Alexander’s
One of the more imaginative menus in the county.
Sister Bay
Bier Zot
From the Wild Tomato folks who have built a second restaurant there, this is a great addition -- a small place with a great list of Belgian and other beers in front, tacos in back. Try the mussels and fries -- moules frites -- which are excellent, and they have Orval and some Belgian monastery beers and a good wine list. Wild Tomato was still under construction when we drove by in May; we may have to wait until September...the Fish Creek venue is wildly, and deservedly, popular. We faced a 40 minute wait in early May. I assume the Sister Bay spot will be just as popular.
Al Johnson's. I suggested we go on July 3 before it got crowded. We found a three-hour wait. Keli won't let me live it down, after three or four years and counting. Great breakfast of eggs, Swedish pancakes and maybe some bacon or sausage. Still would say I miss the days when it was mostly staffed with Swedish waitresses, but that wouldn't be politically correct. Also, I suspect the Swedish Krona might make a summer working in Door County less attractive than it was then.
Al Johnson's. I suggested we go on July 3 before it got crowded. We found a three-hour wait. Keli won't let me live it down, after three or four years and counting. Great breakfast of eggs, Swedish pancakes and maybe some bacon or sausage. Still would say I miss the days when it was mostly staffed with Swedish waitresses, but that wouldn't be politically correct. Also, I suspect the Swedish Krona might make a summer working in Door County less attractive than it was then.
Baileys Harbor
Fish Market Grille
On the lake with outdoor dining. Step up from a fish boil to a lobster boil, but it will cost you at least $100 for two. We like lunch — great lobster roll sandwiches, nice selection of wines and you can enjoy it all outside with a water bowl for Fido, or in our case, Zola, named after the French author. Pretentious, you accuse?
Chives
New to Door County in 2014, this is a branch of a well regarded restaurant located a few miles west of Green Bay. Best dinner she’s ever had in Door County, said Keli of her chick marsala. Steak Frites was a huge well-marbled steak with thin perfectly cooked frites the first time we went, second time not so great, perhaps it had been thawed in a microwave, Definitely disappointing. They are known for a great wine list, although the Door County has a ways to go in catching up to the mother ship. It’s in the heart of Baileys Harbor on the inland side of Hwy. 57
Pasta Vino
We are delighted that this has moved down from Ellison Bay to the Maxwelton Braes golf course and resort on Hwy. 57 south of Baileys Harbor. Excellent food including, to our surprise, perfectly done mussels. The new locale feels a little crowded -- will check again in 2016.
Coyote Roadhouse
On Kangaroo Lake off Hwy. 57. Popular with locals and visitors, great prime rib, very casual, some outdoor tables.
