Ephraim
The postcard: white clapboard buildings, two historic churches on the hill, and sunset over Eagle Harbor. It was dry (no alcohol sales) until 2016 and still runs quieter than Fish Creek or Sister Bay. Come for Wilson's ice cream, the harbor view, and the calm.
Browse Ephraim
Breakfast & Brunch
5 places
Food & Drink
16 places
Restaurants
9 places
Shopping
4 places
Ephraim guides
The Best Restaurants in Ephraim
The best restaurants in Ephraim come down to two waterfront favorites: the Old Post Office for a traditional fish boil on Eagle Harbor, and Wilson's for a full meal at the striped ice cream parlor that's been there since 1906. Both are seasonal, so call ahead outside the summer months.
All places in Ephraim
Anatolia Cuisine DC
Grilled kebabs are the heart of the menu at this Turkish and Mediterranean kitchen: order the catfish kebab, the house fusion that gives Anatolia its Door County accent. Owner Mukhtar Aghazada, an Azerbaijan native, first came to the peninsula in 2017 as a J-1 exchange student, worked in Fish Creek restaurants, and returned to open his own place in the former Czarnuszka space on Ephraim's Water Street.
Anderson Dock
Widely considered one of the most-photographed sunset spots in the county. The view runs west across Eagle Harbor toward Horseshoe Island. Look for the tradition of visitors signing their names on the warehouse's exterior boards, a decades-old public art ritual that's still going.
Bad Moravian
The name teases Ephraim's pious Moravian founders, in a village that stayed dry until 2016 and still pours beer and wine but no hard liquor. So this is a bar built around Detroit-style pizza, served in an art-cluttered room of vintage furniture and long communal tables. Hours move week to week and get announced only on Instagram (@badmoravian): walk in, no takeout, no call-ahead.
Blue Dolphin House
A gallery in a garden at the north end of Ephraim: follow the perennial path to an 1860s log studio, with work from 100-plus artists in oils, glass, fiber, metal, ceramics, and jewelry. It's been an Ephraim fixture for decades, and the summer "Afternoon with the Artist" events in the gardens are worth timing a visit around.
Chef's Hat Cafe
Get to this small Ephraim cafe in the morning, when the scones are fresh out and the patio has Eagle Harbor and Peninsula State Park in front of it. The apple cinnamon is the one to get. Hours are irregular, so don't count on dinner without checking first.
Door County Confectionery (Ephraim)
A candy and fudge shop that traces back to the original Door County Confectionery, which opened in Fish Creek in 1972. It runs four Door County locations, the fudge and chocolates are made in the county, and s'mores is the treat they put front and center.
Eagle Bakery
Artisan croissants and laminated pastries, baked fresh and sold from the lobby of the Wilder Inn (the former Village Green Lodge) in Ephraim. It's a small seasonal operation with limited quantities and short, shifting hours, so check their Instagram before you go, and go early.
Ephraim Coffee Lab
Coffee is roasted right on site under the shop's own Isely Coffee Roasters label, and the espresso comes off a hand-operated manual lever machine. Single-origin pour-overs, nitro cold brew, and Rishi teas fill out the rest of the board.
Ephraim Historical Foundation
The keeper of historic Ephraim, running several original 19th-century buildings you can walk through — the Anderson Store, a one-room schoolhouse, and the Goodletson cabin among them. Admission is free, and it's an easy add to a stroll through the village.
Fine Line Designs Gallery
Ninety-plus artists under one roof on Highway 42, plus a two-acre sculpture garden you can walk — bronze, stone, metal, and ceramic pieces set among the plantings. Original paintings, photography, glass, jewelry, and custom wood furnishings fill the gallery, and it hosts the long-running Townline Art Fair each summer.
Good Eggs
Breakfast built around the omelet wrap: eggs, potatoes, and cheese folded into a giant tortilla and made to order (the Basic runs about six dollars, the loaded Deluxe about ten). Order at the window, then eat at one of the surfboard tables overlooking Eagle Harbor.
Hardy Gallery
The graffiti is the first thing you notice — generations of sailors and visitors have signed the weathered walls of this 1915 warehouse on Anderson Dock, and the tradition still runs outside. Inside, the nonprofit hangs juried and invitational shows all summer, opening with the Wall-to-Wall exhibit where the public votes People's Choice. Free to walk through, right on Eagle Harbor.
Klaud's Kitchen
Order Klaud's Chicken Salad, made straight from the recipe book the place is named for. This Ephraim eatery and bakery works from scratch (homemade biscuits and gravy, its own noodles in the chicken soup) and pours coffee roasted by Boom Coffee, with breakfast served all day.
La Sirena
Fewer than 30 seats near Eagle Harbor in Ephraim, run by Carlos Salgado, whose Costa Mesa restaurant Taco María held a Michelin star before he relocated to his wife's home county. Dinner is a four-course prix fixe built on tortillas pressed from heirloom corn; order the Lake Michigan whitefish, served as Ensenada-style pescadillas on blue corn.
Leroy's Water Street Coffee
Order the Leroy's Blend, Central American beans from Mexico and Guatemala that get roasted separately to land on chocolate and nuts. This Ephraim log-cabin coffeehouse has poured since 1993 and runs seasonally from May through October, with pastries from the Pink Bakery in Egg Harbor.
Old Post Office Restaurant
The fish boil with the view: the boilover happens with Eagle Harbor glowing behind it. Breakfast is the sleeper hit.
Pearl Wine Cottage
A small, intimate wine bar that Monique and Lars Topelmann opened in a renovated early-1900s Ephraim cottage, run first come, first served, with a patio and no rush to leave. The list leans on small producers from Europe, South America, and beyond, all organic, biodynamic, or sustainably grown, set against a petit food menu of charcuterie and snacks. Order the focaccia.
Peninsula State Park Golf Course
The county's iconic public golf: an 18-hole championship course (plus a 6-hole par-3) laid out inside Peninsula State Park, with Green Bay glinting through the trees on several holes. Book a tee time early in summer — it fills — and grab lunch at the clubhouse after your round.
Prince of Pierogi Restaurant
Order the pierogi. Chef Krzysztof Krol first came from Poland to Door County in 2012 and makes them from his mom's and grandma's recipes, in fillings that run from cheese and potato to Door County cherry.
Red Putter Mini Golf
The classic Ephraim mini-golf course, family-run for 50-plus years right on Water Street — 18 holes, a few bucks to play, and a free game if you ace the right hole. It's the after-dinner tradition half the peninsula grew up on, and there's even an AMA-sanctioned pro tournament here each August.
Sip
An all-day coffee and wine bar in north Ephraim, open 7am to 8pm daily, with a potato waffle bar, a rotating wine and beer list, and an attached home-decor shop worth a browse while you wait on a table.
Summer Kitchen Restaurant
The soup bar is the reason to come: five made-from-scratch soups with bread baked that morning. It anchors a flower-ringed garden restaurant in north Ephraim that's served honest home cooking, cherry pancakes included, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner across decades. Open seasonally, roughly April through October.
Sunset Harbor Grill
A second-floor dining room inside Ephraim Shores Resort with a straight-on view of Eagle Harbor: cherry-stuffed French toast and cherry pancakes for breakfast, fresh whitefish and steak later in the day.
Wilson's Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlor
A sundae here at sunset over Eagle Harbor is the most Door County moment there is. Plan an evening around it.