Dave’s Deli is one of the very few places I’ll drop coin at Squaw. Why? Because it’s cheap, it’s good, the variety is ridiculous, it’s close to KT, and the foreign girls that work there are cute. Any questions?
Dave’s is where I’ve put on and taken off my evil pediatric torture chamber devices every day for 8 winters. I love the funkiness and you can’t beat the proximity to KT. Taking a break in Dave’s ain’t much different than stepping outta the KT line for a minute.
Dave’s signature dish is the ever popular “Rad Muffin” or potentially “Eggstreamly Rad Muffin”. This is a hot English muffin with ham an’ cheese for just $2. Add the egg and it’s still only $3. On the funitel yesterday, my buddy John intelligently informed me “Yeah, the Rad Muffin…what else do you need?”
Dave’s crowning achievement? $2 tall-boys of malt liquor and crappy beer. So there you have it! Cheap beer – at a ski resort. Any more questions?
My favorite thing about Dave’s is that it has soul. I don’t think any other ski town has anything like it. You can actually buy good food at a ski resort, 100 feet away from the best ski lift in North America, for almost nothing. If you’re a really poor bastard, you can buy chunks of cheese and salami that are only $1 and that’ll getcha thru the rest of the day.
With food and beer in hand you’ll cruise into one of the oldest, grooviest places at Squaw to eat and drink. Right next to Dave’s is Bar 6 (I just consider it all Dave’s) which is a mosaic of old tables and bench booths where locals hide from the cold on KT mornings and Mighty Mights swarm for hot chocolate. Dave’s is where I call home at Squaw.
Dave’s Deli has been in Squaw since 1976. Dave Mercer, the guy who started Dave’s was a fiery businessman who had his hand in many successful ventures including The Bridgetender in Tahoe City (founded in 1972) which was originally called the Fanny Bridge Inn. Dave married Liz, who continues to run Dave’s Deli, in 1973. Dave worked super hard all his life and unfortunately died of a heart attack at age 37. This is a huge motivating factor for me to never work hard at anything and just ski all the time. Thanks for the deli and the motivation Dave. And thanks to Liz for keeping Dave’s running and keeping it cool.