Eighteen red stools, a 30-foot counter, menu items written on construction paper hanging on the walls, two pots of hot coffee always humming, one ancient register, cash only — the Dock Street Diner is a place where time has stood still. This is a good thing. It’s like stopping for a bite in your own kitchen, but way better. You don’t have to cook or clean up, and the food is home cooked the way grandma did, fast, no fuss, and with just the right amount of tough love.

The diner was born in 1975, in a tucked away corner of Edgartown, right on the harbor, both a parking lot and light years away from the Edgartown Yacht Club. It’s not a place for swells, although they are welcome. Rather it’s a place to go to cure a hangover, a cold chill from working on the water, the ache of loneliness, or a nostalgic hunger for the old days. Happiness is a tough customer, but contentment rests just plate of homefries away, all year long, from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. After that, you’re on your own.