This starts with Sturgeon Bay and covers restaurants north that we have been to.
Bakery and restaurant. They have a fine breakfast, excellent coffee cakes (the apple and cherry turnovers seem to have a lot of air) 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
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 Mission Grille, the Waterfront, or the Inn at Kristophers, 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. 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.
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.
The wine list is good and getting better, and I will take some credit -- I helped connect the sales rep from Left Bank, out of Madison, with the supper club and they have picked up some great new wines at moderate prices -- ask Julie for more information.
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. Diane’s vegetable and fruit stand in the parking lot 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 Lane
Nest door to the Third Avenue Playhouse, it is under new ownership. Stick to the basics and don't bother with a Bloody Mary --- theirs are awful.
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. Have been there only once, opening night, so the review is skimpy on detail, but we will be back.
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. Have been there only once, opening night, so the review is skimpy on detail, but we will be back.
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 has replaced Pudgy Seagull, and if the name is a little less enticing, the food is still good. Great for breakfast, 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. 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. it is also relatively quiet so anyone with hearing aids will enjoy being able to hear and converse.
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.
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.
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 wicked Bloody Mary. It has become our favorite place.
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 (the apple and cherry turnovers seem to have a lot of air) 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, 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.
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 an wonderful escargot dish. Excellent lobster tails, and lamb.
Fish Creek
Bayside Tavern has great pizza among its entrees, comfy local pub place open year round.
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.
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 for takeout.
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. Out door 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
From the Wild Tomato folks who plan to attach a second restaurant next year, 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 monastary beers and a good wine list.
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. My brother ate there this summer and said the bread rolls were stale and the wait staff a bit indifferent. We like lunch — great lobster roll sandwiches.
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.
Coyote Roadhouse
On Kangaroo Lake off Hwy. 57. Popular with locals and visitors, great prime rib, very casual, some outdoor tables.
Fish Creek
Bayside Tavern has great pizza among its entrees, comfy local pub place open year round.
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.
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 for takeout.
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. Out door 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
From the Wild Tomato folks who plan to attach a second restaurant next year, 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 monastary beers and a good wine list.
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. My brother ate there this summer and said the bread rolls were stale and the wait staff a bit indifferent. We like lunch — great lobster roll sandwiches.
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.
Coyote Roadhouse
On Kangaroo Lake off Hwy. 57. Popular with locals and visitors, great prime rib, very casual, some outdoor tables.
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