YOU SHOULD ALL know by now, if you’ve followed Minnesota Prairie Roots for any amount of time, that I’ll dine at a home-grown restaurant any day over a chain. I appreciate uniqueness and creativity and all those good qualities that typically define independent ownership.
In two days one of those delightful, mostly undiscovered by the general population, rural eateries closes.
The unassuming front of The Historic Highland Store & Cafe.
And that saddens me because I only found The Historic Highland Store & Cafe in October and ate there with my husband for the first, and last, time. (You can read all about that experience, and why this cafe is closing, by clicking here.)
On Sunday, November 18, owner Vicki Starks Hudson and crew will open for the final time in the historic 1894 wood-frame building along Fillmore County Road 10 southeast of Lanesboro in unincorporated Highland. It’s about an 80-mile drive for me, so I won’t be heading back for another meal. Not that I don’t want to do so.
The special of the day will be a roast beef dinner featuring real mashed potatoes, gravy and carrots and a side organic spring mix salad. How enticingly Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house comforting does that sound? And you’ll get all of that home-cooked goodness for only $8.99. Be sure to thank long-time faithful cook Sharyn Taylor, Vicki’s mom.
The breakfast my husband ordered when we dined here in October included two organic eggs, multigrain toast, hashbrowns and kielbasa. I photographed his plate after he broke the egg yolks.
You can also order soup and sandwiches or breakfast all day, hours being from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
A sunny front corner of the restaurant showcasing the vintage tables and chairs.
Not only is the food wholesome and homemade and delicious, but the atmosphere—with its original worn wood floor, wood-plank walls, lunch counter and hodge-podge of 1940s/1950s Formica and chrome tables and vinyl chairs—sets the scene for a relaxed and homey dining experience. Pure retro.
The absolutely fabulous lunch counter.
Now, if you dine there on Sunday and the place charms the bobby socks right off your feet and you are looking for an investment or a business to run, the building is for sale. Or it will be, in the spring after Vicki’s husband finishes some exterior updating.
On a Monday afternoon in October, the Highland Cafe was a popular dining spot.
But before then, you can also do a little shopping in this building which originally housed a general store. Vicki and her family had originally planned on opening a consignment shop upstairs. But they didn’t and now have some merchandise—mostly women’s clothing and home items—to sell.
Sale hours will be from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Black Friday, November 23; 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 25; and 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Monday, November 26.
The Historic Highland Store & Cafe is closed on Saturdays as the building serves as the ministry site for the Seventh Day Adventist Highland Chapel.
FYI: Click here to reach The Historic Highland Store & Cafe website.
© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
What a Cool Place – love the retro dining tables – make it feel so homey! Thanks for sharing – Have a Great One!
The whole place has a retro vibe and great friendly service, too.
Love the furniture in there and I too love a good hometown restaurant.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!!
Thank you, Bernie. And likewise a Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
I think you and I appreciate many of the same things in life. Must be our small town prairie roots, huh?
A beautiful bitter-sweet post!! Hope to get there on Sunday after church. Have been there many times for breakfast since your post. Don’t know what else to say….DH and I are very sad about this (almost “out our backdoor”!!).
If you’re up to it, you should take your camera and post about this. Enjoy your meal. I’d choose the roast beef special for sure.
Have had the roast beef in the past…..one of my faves!!! Will try to remember to use the camera!!!!
Looking forward to your Highland post. But if you choose to leave the camera at home, I understand. Sometimes I intentionally leave my camera in my office and everyone wonders why I am not taking photos. Sometimes I simply need to just enjoy the event.
Precisely! DH gets a bit tense about this once in a while!
My husband is used to me and my camera, me and my camera, almost everywhere.
Getting better on this end!!
Reblogged this on Treadlemusic and commented:
A bittersweet post……..I pray that there is someone ‘out there’ who sees the value, richness and, yes, importance, of this little piece of the heritage of this beautiful area….and, perhaps, catch a snippet of the vision and dream that is the Highland Store and Cafe. We are all poorer for this closing……..(sigh)……
Thanks for reblogging. And I totally agree with your plea.