The Diner on Water Street

A short history, told honestly, of Dave's Place.

There are about 1,500 people in Markesan, Wisconsin, and on any given weekday morning a good number of them are in the same room. You'll find that room at 51 W Water St — a low brick building with a hand-painted sign and a coffee pot that's been on since before the sun was up. It says Dave's Place on the sign. Most people just call it Dave's.

We aren't a chain. We aren't trying to be. We're the kind of place where the cook knows your name and the waitress knows how you take your eggs.

How it started

Dave's has been a diner since before most of our regulars were born. It's been called Dave's since Dave himself took it over — a guy who knew his way around a flattop and didn't see any reason to dress it up. No theme. No gimmick. Just food, cooked the way people in this part of Wisconsin have always cooked it.

He's not behind the grill every day anymore, but his name is still on the sign and his recipes are still on the menu. The meatloaf. The gravy. The hash browns that get thrown on the flattop and pressed down until they're more crust than potato. We're not going to change them. He'd haunt us.

How we cook

Breakfast starts at 6. Eggs are real. Coffee is bottomless. Pancakes come in a stack tall enough that most people take half of it home. Burgers are pressed by hand. Onion rings are battered to order. Nothing comes out of a bag that shouldn't.

This isn't a place you come to for a culinary experience. It's a place you come to because you're hungry, because the food is good, because the bill is fair, and because someone behind the counter is going to remember that you take your eggs over easy.

Who comes in

Our regulars are farmers and truckers, teachers and retirees, guys who come in for coffee at 6:30 and don't leave until the second pot is gone. On Sundays you'll see families in church clothes and hunters in blaze orange at the same time — both welcome, both fed, and usually both ordering the same thing.

The staff has been here a while. That's on purpose. There's a difference between someone who's been trained and someone who's been at the grill for fifteen years and knows exactly when the bacon is done. We try to keep the second kind.

A day, briefly

6:00 AM

The doors open. The first pot is already hot. The regulars start drifting in. Somebody's talking about the Packers, or the weather, or both at the same time.

10:00 AM

The second wave. Sundays bring the post-church crowd. On weekdays, it's the people who skipped breakfast and are ready for an early burger.

12:00 PM

Lunch rush. Half the tables are regulars, half are people passing through on Highway 23. Both get the same menu, the same price, and the same plate.

3:00 PM

Coffee again. Pie, if there's any left. The day winds down slow. The last conversations before the dinner crowd rolls in.

Friday, 5 PM

Fish fry. Beer-battered cod, rye bread, coleslaw, tartar. Get here early — we sell out, and we always do.

What we don't do

We figure it's just as fair to say what we aren't as what we are.

No delivery
No drive-thru
No reservations
No third-party apps
No rewards program
No Wi-Fi (talk to each other)
No social media
No hidden fees

If you want to order ahead, you can — right on this site. Pay at the counter when you come pick it up. That's as complicated as it gets.

Come see us

If you're local and you haven't been in yet, you should. If you're passing through Markesan on Highway 23 and you're hungry, get off the road. We're two minutes from the turn.

Sit at the counter if you want to hear the good stories. Take a booth if you'd rather be left alone. Either way, there's coffee. There's a plate with your name on it. There's a seat.

We'll see you. — Dave's Place

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