Dierk’s Parkside Cafe, Santa Rosa breakfast institution

Dierk's Parkside in Santa Rosa/ Charlie Gesell

There’s literally no room for pretension at Dierk’s Parkside Cafe, a cozy neighborhood restaurant where regulars sip coffee at the bar and chat up the lone waitress buzzing from table to table.

Located just across Santa Rosa Avenue from the Greyhound bus drop-off, it’s a surprising place to find one of Wine Country’s favorite toques, Mark Dierkhising. But in just six years, he’s created a morning institution popular with  bed-headed kids, apres-bike groups and in-the-know Wine Country visitors hunched over Chicken Fried Steak, Huevos Rancheros and quite possibly the world’s best hangover cure –the Country Benedict whose magical powers include a warm baguette, scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, oven-dried tomatoes, spinach, hash browns and Hollandaise sauce.

Dierk's Parkside/Charlie Gesell

“This is just stuff I grew up with,” says the Minnesota native, as he dishes up plates in rapid succession. Don’t miss the homemade pull-apart fried bread from his grandma’s recipe book and come early, because there’s almost always a line weaving out the door and into the parking lot on weekends. 404 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, (707) 573-5955.

For lunch, Dierkhising and his crew serve up a mean fried chicken sandwich, burger, fish tacos, tuna burger or hot pastrami with fries. Wonderful fries.

Dierk’s Parkside Cafe, 404 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, 707.573.5955