DeWese’s Tip Top Café has been on Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio since 1938, making it one of the oldest continuously operating restaurants in the city. The official name is DeWese’s Tip Top Cafe, though it is widely known simply as the Tip Top. It appeared in Season 3, Episode 10 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, “Comfort Food,” which aired June 15, 2008, as a San Antonio comfort food institution serving the kind of scratch-made American diner food that builds 85 years of loyal regulars. Guy Fieri found the chicken fried steak and onion rings he’d been hoping for, executed in the way that makes a restaurant worth filming.
Quick Facts
Restaurant: DeWese’s Tip Top Café
City: San Antonio, Texas
Cuisine: American / Comfort Food
DDD Season: 3
DDD Episode: 10
Episode Title: Comfort Food
Original Air Date: June 15, 2008
Address: 2814 Fredericksburg Rd., San Antonio, TX 78201
Phone: 210-732-0191
Website: https://www.tiptopcafesa.com/
Status: Open
About DeWese’s Tip Top Café
The Tip Top has been a Fredericksburg Road fixture since the late 1930s, serving the same comfort food menu that San Antonio residents have relied on for generations. Chicken fried steak, burgers, onion rings, and the kind of diner food that requires no explanation and delivers every time. The restaurant has a retro diner look that reflects its actual age rather than a manufactured aesthetic, and the regulars who fill the booths on any given weekday morning are a cross section of San Antonio that has changed very little over the decades.
What to Eat at DeWese’s Tip Top Café
The Chicken Fried Steak is the signature, served with cream gravy the way Texas insists on it. The Onion Rings were highlighted during the DDD episode and have their own following. The Burgers are the other staple that regulars return to repeatedly. The breakfast menu, served all day, covers the full diner catalog from eggs and pancakes to biscuits and gravy.
After a Tip Top breakfast, bring the Texas comfort food energy home with Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Ultimate Steak Butter Seasoning for your own chicken fried steak prep.
Plan Your Visit
Check the website for current hours.
Address: 2814 Fredericksburg Rd., San Antonio, TX 78201
Phone: 210-732-0191
Website: https://www.tiptopcafesa.com/
Status: Open
Flavortown Approved
San Antonio has more DDD stops worth mapping out. Find a great hotel base on Booking.com and stream the Comfort Food episode on Amazon.
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DeWese’s Tip Top Café appeared in Season 3, Episode 10 of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, “Comfort Food,” originally aired June 15, 2008. The restaurant has been open since 1938.