07/04/2026
DAVE’S REFLECTIONS with a little visitor today
250 YEARS. 10 YEARS.
There’s something pretty incredible about these two celebrations colliding.
America turns 250.
And somehow, Dave’s turns 10.
Obviously, one is a little more historically significant than the other.
But I’ve been thinking about the strange similarities between building a country and building a small business.
Both start with an idea of what you think they’re going to be.
Then reality shows up.
You grow. You struggle. You make good decisions and terrible ones. You have periods of prosperity and periods where simply surviving feels like an accomplishment.
And you change.
For years, I watched other restaurants and chased what they were doing. Then I started noticing something I was different we were still here.
A lot of them came and went.
The ones that survived weren’t always the biggest or the fanciest.
They were the ones willing to evolve.
Dave’s has changed more times in 10 years than I can count. The menu changed. The name changed. The direction changed.
I changed.
Sometimes because we had a great idea. Sometimes because we made a terrible decision. Sometimes because life throws health challenges at you that you never saw coming.
And sometimes because the world changes around you and you have no choice but to change with it.
Maybe that’s not so different from America.
Our country at 250 looks nothing like it did at 10.
It evolved. It struggled. It prospered. It failed. It corrected course.
And it’s still doing all of those things today.
I don’t think change is the problem.
Change is how countries, communities and little businesses survive.
But folks, maybe what feels so different right now is the speed of it.
Everything is changing so damn fast.
Technology. Politics. How we communicate. How we work. How we get our information.
Even how we see each other.
Maybe the world is simply changing faster than we have learned how to process it together.
And when people feel the ground moving beneath them, they grab a side and hold on tight.
I miss the middle.
I miss when disagreement didn’t mean hatred. When discussion wasn’t surrender. When compromise wasn’t weakness.
For a long time, I thought I was supposed to run a restaurant like a restaurant.
Eventually, I realized that’s not really what this place is.
It’s a community.
People walk through these doors who don’t all vote the same, think the same or agree.
And that’s kind of the point.
I’m also past the point of listing who is welcome. Seriously. If we still need that explained, just freaking grow up.
Rant over.
For 10 years, this place has survived because people showed up for each other.
That feels worth celebrating for the rest of the year, not just today.
So if you’d like to celebrate America’s 250th and Dave’s 10th with our family, we’ll be here for lunch and takeout for your parties from 11–3 today.
Maybe earlier if we sell out. Limited supply today. FREE WHOOPIE PIE with 7oz Tourist Revenge Roll
Happy Fourth, Crustacean Nation.
Here’s to 250 years of a complicated country.
10 years of a complicated little business.
Both still here. Both still evolving.
Because moving forward was never about agreeing on everything.
It was about finding a way forward together.
Cheer’s Crustacean Nation
