Degnan's Kitchen

Degnan's Kitchen is a fast-casual deli and café in Yosemite Village, among the main services in Yosemite Valley. Use it for a convenient meal while you are already in the Village; the appeal is the range and the indoor and outdoor seating, rather than a special-occasion meal. Lines can stretch at busy meal periods, and service can be uneven, so leave a little slack if your day is tightly planned.

The menu spans breakfast favorites, deli sandwiches, salads, artisan pizzas, coffee and espresso, donuts, baked goods and other drinks. The kitchen operates year-round. There are restrooms and Wi-Fi, and wheelchair-accessible paved paths connect the building with Yosemite Village parking and the 30-minute spaces near the Village Store.

The name reaches back to Bridget and John Degnan, who arrived from Ireland in 1884. Bridget's baking fed their family and the Yosemite community for more than 50 years. In 1900 the family added a bakery behind their Valley home. Its large brick Dutch oven could bake more than 100 loaves at a time, and the operation grew into a small grocery as well.

The present A-frame was built in Yosemite Village in 1958 during the Mission 66 redevelopment. The family sold the business in 1974; the costs of building and moving to the new location contributed to the family's bankruptcy. The original bakery and its oven were moved to the Yosemite History Center in Wawona in the 1980s, so that historic building is a separate stop from today's kitchen.