10 Best Restaurants in The Southern Sierra, California

Warm up by a crackling fire in the stone fireplace while fueling up on healthy, made-from-scratch breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes at this ski-lodge-style eatery. The flexible menu allows for lots of choice, including a DIY breakfast with more than 20 mix-and-match items, five types of hash, keto selections, grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, burgers, and soups. Come for bingo on the third Tuesday of every month.

Start your day the way scores of locals do—with a stop at the slick Black Velvet espresso bar for Belgian waffles, baked treats, and coffee drinks made from small batches of beans roasted on-site. Then return in the afternoon to hang out in the upstairs wine bar (open 3 to 6) where tastings are offered Thursday–Sunday ($25). It's also a great place to come for a steamy cup of organic tea or to grab a craft beer and log onto the free Wi-Fi.

Come hungry to this bustling restaurant, which is known, appropriately enough, for its burgers as well as its mountainous portions. Grab a table on the diner-esque ground floor, or head upstairs to the modern dining room with a full bar. At lunch try the sourdough patty melt, at dinner the pork ribs; salads are great all day. The seasoned French fries are delicious.

With elaborate chandeliers sculpted from deer antlers, the lodge-style restaurant at Ducey's attracts boaters, locals, and tourists with its lake views and standard lamb, beef, seafood, and pasta dishes. It's also open for breakfast: try the lobster-crab cake eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros, or the Rice Krispies–crusted French toast.

Hungry travelers and locals feast on fresh, healthy, cooked-to-order comfort food at this casual café at Lakeview Lodge, near the Tioga Road and Highway 395 junction. The menu changes daily, but you can count on items like waffles and frittatas for breakfast; paninis, sandwiches, salads, rice bowls, and soups for lunch; and three special dinner entrées, perhaps locally caught fish, chicken potpie, or braised short ribs.

Brewing since 1995, this Village operation lures hungry patrons with 14 craft beers on tap, elevated grub from the on-site restaurant, tasting flights, a contemporary vibe at two spacious bar areas, and a beer garden. The dining menu changes constantly, but reflects a locals' twist on pub food with pork belly tacos, black-currant-and-goat-cheese flatbread, or house-made sweet-potato tots. The burgers, topped with smoked gouda and kale, keep those lines long during ski season, but it’s worth the wait. You can pass the time in the game room on the bottom floor, or watch a match on the top level framed with big-screen TVs.

Get soft-serve ice cream, burgers, and fries at this hopping shack in the middle of Lee Vining, but be prepared to wait in line. There's some indoor seating, but unless the clouds are leaking, take your food to nearby (and quiet) Hess Park, whose views of Mono Lake make it one of the best picnic spots in eastern California. The park has a playground and tennis court, too.

This well-run sandwich joint satisfies carnivores and vegetarians alike with crispy-fresh ingredients prepared with panache. Depending on your preference, the centerpiece of the Bull's Eye sandwich, for instance, will be roast beef or a portobello mushroom; whichever you choose, the accompanying flavors—of ciabatta bread, horseradish-and-garlic mayonnaise, roasted red peppers, Havarti cheese, and spinach—will delight your palate.

Come here for straightforward steaks—top sirloin, New York, filet mignon, prime rib, and T-bone. The only catch is that the waiters cook them, and the results vary depending on their skill level; but generally things go well, and kids love the experience. Expect typical steakhouse sides like soup, salad, and rice pilaf. Vegetarians might want to look elsewhere. 

A passionate baseball fan, chef Matt Toomey designed this casual space near the Village Gondola to resemble a dugout, and decorated it with baseball memorabilia. Swing by pre–outdoor adventure for coconut mascarpone pancakes or soft bagels topped with smoked trout and chipotle cream cheese. Later in the day, fill up on buffalo meat loaf, seafood jambalaya, or a New Zealand elk rack chop. You can also get a taste of Toomey’s at home: its signature seasoning is sold online.