Feb. 18, 2026

Daily specials, every-other-week liver and onions, and bread pudding are still some of the favorites at the new restaurant from the former owner of Rosie’s Cafe.

Beckie Mettler opened Rosie’s Farmhouse Cafe in Chester in late May 2025, shortly after closing the staple of the West Sioux neighborhood. She wasn’t able to find a buyer before the cafe closed, but she did a few months later, and Rosie’s Cafe at 2200 W. Madison St. reopened just before Christmas.

Mettler decided to sell the restaurant that had been in her family since 1984 because she and her husband live just a few miles from Chester on Brant Lake. Her commute to cooking six days a week has gone from more than a half-hour to just a few minutes.

The opposite is true for her Sioux Falls fans, but that doesn’t stop them from making the 35-mile drive.

“I do have people from Sioux Falls that come up and see me quite often,” Mettler said. “That’s quite wonderful.”

The daily specials don’t follow a set schedule like before, so she invites customers to call the cafe at 605-489-2242 to check what’s on the menu if they’re interested in driving up for a favorite.

The former Old Farmhouse Cafe space, which the Mettlers basically gutted and rebuilt, has two dining rooms, and there’s a bigger kitchen too than the cafe in Sioux Falls.

“I kind of get lost sometimes,” she joked. “How did we do this before all those years?”

The day begins with a traditional breakfast menu of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, pancakes, toast and French toast.

Regulars stop in for a cup of coffee and conversation.

On weekdays, many customers come for the Active Generations senior breakfast and lunch that’s provided. Mettler cooks those meals from scratch.

At lunchtime, the daily special serves as the senior meal. That’s comfort food like meatloaf, roast beef, baked chicken and hot dishes.

Mettler still makes Rosie’s signature bread pudding and pies like pumpkin and pecan, and apple, rhubarb or berry crisp.

One missing piece of the original cafe is Mettler’s mom, Rosie Warner. She was the first owner of Rosie’s Cafe and was still working a few hours every morning in Sioux Falls before it closed. Because of Warner’s health, she hasn’t been able to come up to Chester to help, Mettler said.

Hours for Rosie’s Farmhouse Cafe are 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays, with breakfast until 10:45 a.m., and 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday, with only items from the breakfast menu.

The cafe is at 304 Fourth St., along the two-block main street in Chester.

“It’s just been wonderful to have have a new experience – kind of an old experience but a new experience,” Mettler said. “The community has been wonderful.”