Right on Main Street in Lander, Wyoming, sits a breakfast spot that’s been named the single best egg dish destination in the entire state. 🍳
The Middle Fork opened in May 2012, founded by a group of chefs and food lovers named Jes, Hal, Sam, and Jenna.
What started as a revitalization project inside a historic building has grown into one of Wyoming’s most celebrated breakfast institutions.
How The Middle Fork won Lander’s hearts
The Middle Fork’s founders opened their doors at 351 Main Street in May 2012, taking over a space that had historically been a restaurant and giving it new life.
Rather than gutting the building, the team chose to unearth and restore its original pine floors and stamped tin ceiling, giving the café a genuinely historic, lived-in feel from day one.
Jes, Hal, Sam, and Jenna worked together for years before Jenna eventually sold her share to the remaining three owners in the summer of 2023, keeping the restaurant a true collaborative effort.
From the beginning, the restaurant built its menu around a firm commitment to local, sustainable Wyoming ingredients, sourcing meat specifically from Wyoming Custom Meats in Hudson and Lost Wells Cattle Company in Riverton.
That farm-forward approach paid off in a big way, and the restaurant’s Chili Huevos eventually earned recognition as the single best egg dish in the entire state of Wyoming from national food writers.
The café has stayed intentionally small and unassuming from the outside, the kind of place easy to drive past without realizing what’s inside, which is exactly what makes it feel like a genuine hole-in-the-wall discovery.
More than a decade after its modest beginning, this Lander restaurant remains one of Wyoming’s most reliably recommended breakfast spots, proof that a genuine commitment to local ingredients and a historic building can outlast any trend.
Food Highlights
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Crab Benedict: A house-made crab cake topped with sautéed spinach, grilled tomato, poached eggs, and tarragon béarnaise sauce, served with potatoes. 🦀
- Eggs Benedict: Local cottage bacon, sautéed spinach, and grilled tomato topped with poached eggs on an English muffin and tarragon béarnaise sauce, served with potatoes.
- Chili Huevos: A crispy tostada filled with refried beans and local chorizo, served over potatoes with two eggs to order, chili rojo, jack cheese, salsa, avocado, and fried jalapeños. 🌶️
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Strawberry Cream Cheese Cinnamon Roll: A house-baked cinnamon roll filled with sweet strawberry and finished with a rich cream cheese glaze. 🍓
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Banana Bread French Toast: A signature brunch favorite built on the café’s own banana bread. 🍌
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Veggie Omelette: A two-egg omelette laced with fresh herbs and filled with sautéed local mushrooms, roasted zucchini, garlic, and feta, served with potatoes. 🥚
- Pancake Breakfast: Two house sourdough pancakes served with two eggs to order and two strips of local bacon.
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Shakshuka: Two poached eggs simmered in a zesty red pepper and tomato sauce, topped with feta and green onion, served with toasted local sourdough.
Atmosphere
The Middle Fork keeps its historic bones on full display, with original pine floors and a stamped tin ceiling giving the space real character. 🏔️
A quiet brook runs alongside the outdoor patio, making it a favorite spot to linger over coffee on a sunny morning.
The vibe stays warm and unpretentious, the kind of café where regulars know the staff by name and first-timers immediately feel at home.
It’s a true hole-in-the-wall, easy to overlook from the outside but worth every bit of the discovery. ☕
Bottom Line
Visit for a Chili Huevos dish recognized as the best egg plate in Wyoming, a genuine commitment to local ranchers and farms, a historic Main Street building with real character, a peaceful patio next to a running brook, and proof that this hole-in-the-wall café earns every bit of its reputation. 🍳
Address:
351 Main Street, Lander, WY 82520
📞 (307) 335-5035
🕔 Open daily, 7 AM–2 PM