Brownsdale siblings offer a community 'hub' at Alamo Annie's
Oct. 8—BROWNSDALE — From an antique and "junk" store to a homestyle diner, Alamo Annie's aims to provide the community with home-cooked food and a place to gather.
When Diane Nyhus decided to take a job in Brownsdale, she was a little worried about feeling like an outsider. She started working at the Langtry Cafe and was pleasantly shocked by how welcoming the community was to her.
"When I came to work at the Langtry Cafe across the street, I didn't live in Brownsdale, I was in Austin," said Nyhus. "Sometimes small little towns aren't always so excited about somebody else, but Brownsdale opened up their arms to me."
When the building across the street was put up for sale in 2011, Nyhus bought it with her husband to turn into an antique and "junk" store of upcycled farm items. She had been living in the apartment above the shop and it just made sense for her to buy the building. She has a strong love for antiquing, thrifting and reselling so it was the perfect store for her for years.
Nyhus has a strong love for vintage and old west-styled items and she always knew she wanted to have a name suiting that theme. At first she thought about names like Calamity Jane's, but a friend suggested using her nickname of Annie to name it Annie's Alamo. Nyrus swapped the words around and from there Alamo Annie's was brought into existence.
In 2021, the pandemic was winding down and life was returning to a new normal. Nyhus decided that she wanted to transition from the junk store to a small diner. She used pieces from her previous store as decoration for the diner. The Langtry Cafe had closed six years prior and the locals lost their place to have coffee and gather with one another.
"I have waited tables for I think 39 years," said Nyhus. "I've waited tables since forever. I've never cooked in a restaurant, but I've waited tables forever and I love it. I love small community restaurants."
Nyhus knew the town needed something to pull business back in and she wanted to give them a spot for the farmers to have a nice meal while chatting with each other.
When deciding to transition into a diner, Nyhus asked her brother Ernie Hix if he wanted to come over and help with the project. The two of them came up with a small menu plan that would suit the space. Hix is the kitchen manager.
"The community all went to eat at the cafe, but when that went away this town went to the gas station as a business," said Hix. "A lot of the local people missed having a place here instead of having to drive to Blooming Prairie or Rochester or Austin. So this gave people a hub, a place to eat, a place to chat, gossip."
Since opening in late November 2021, the diner has been met with positive business despite having a very small menu.
"We decided we were just going to make a very small menu," said Nyhus. "We do not have a fryer, we don't have a grill, we do everything on a convection oven or steam table or a conduction burner. So every day we have a plate special for lunch and then we have two sandwiches. In the winter, it's two soups and in the summer it's one soup and one like pasta salad or something."
The food is completely homemade. Nyhus and Hix want everything to taste like grandma or grandpa made it fresh for dinner.
Even though the menu is limited, Nyhus and Hix try to make sure something is available for anyone who walks in. The egg bakes they prepare do not have a bread base and are gluten-free. Every gravy they serve is also made with cornstarch except for the sausage gravy.
"We use a potato base, and so if you come in here and you're gluten-free, you can at least come get lunch," said Nyrus. "We try to have at least one of the soups that someone could eat gluten-free. We put the chicken salad on a croissant, but it also is just as delicious if you just have it on a bed of lettuce. So we don't have a gluten-free menu or anything specific like that, but we try to be mindful of that."
The restaurant is located right off of Highway 56.
Being on the main road has brought in new customers, too.
"The thing that kind of tripped me up and I hadn't thought about was we always go back and forth in the winter during the storm," said Hix. "Should we be open? Is it cost effective for us to be open? But there were snow plowers and stuff, guys and gals would come in and say 'Oh, thank you for being open because nothing else is.' So, that was kind of like a wake-up call for me."
The people who support Nyhus and Hix are the most important thing to them and they also want to support them in any way they can.
"We have a community that cares about everybody," said Nyhus. "A gal that was just here is taking care of one of our other customers whose husband is in the hospital. We run food down to them. If someone is battling some illness, we run them over food, because it's a community affair."
They also support local fundraising dinners by closing their restaurant for the day. They don't want to compete with the community's events and show support in any way they can. Ultimately, the sibling duo has discovered a way to coincide and help the community they love and are grateful to.
"We're here for them, but we wouldn't be here without them," said Hix.
