BEAN BLOSSOM — Ed Brown walks into his Brownie’s Bean Blossom Family Restaurant just after 10 a.m. Waitress Misty Ladigo pours him a cup of coffee and he makes his way to one of the tables near the pie case.
About 16 years ago, Ed and his late wife, Shirley, bought this place, and over the years, they transformed it into the landmark restaurant it is now.
“I bought it because I wanted a place to drink coffee. I kept it for my wife,” Brown said. “… I kept the restaurant, built the restaurant for her, because I’m supposed to die a hell of lot sooner than she did.”
Shirley passed away two years ago.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]On Oct. 31, the restaurant will be gone, too.
It’s been having persistent septic system problems, and Brown chose to close rather than go on pump-and-haul or replace his system again. In Bean Blossom, sewer service isn’t yet an option.
During brunch time Oct. 24, server Charles “Chuck” Wells was refilling coffee cups and serving plates of breakfast food to several tables of regulars. He looked at the calendar and then the clock when asked how long he’d been working at Brownie’s: “Eight years, four months, 23 days, three hours and 56 minutes.”
Wells even has a special named after him. The “Chuck Special” is country fried steak, fried potatoes, a biscuit with sausage gravy with two eggs on top for $8.99.
Wells and Ladigo were both at a loss of words when they learned a few days earlier that the restaurant was closing.
“It’s a life changing experience for us,” Ladigo said.
She has been working there for about a year and is unsure where she will work next. Wells was trying to get hired at Big Woods Hard Truth Hills.
He’s been working at Brownie’s for all of these years because of the tip money and the customers, including regulars who dine there weekly, even daily.
“They become friends,” Ladigo added.
“I know what they eat. I know what they drink. I know where they live. I know what they do,” Wells said.
“I’ve been waiting on tables for 20-something years. I’ve always missed people, but I am going to miss a lot of these people that I see every day. … Anyone else, anywhere else, it’s kind of just, ‘Blah, blah, blah,’ get them in and get them out. But everybody here knows where I live, knows what I do. I get pictures of my dog out and show them.”
Anna Lawson, 82, has been washing dishes at Brownie’s for a little over nine years. After the doors close, she hopes to draw unemployment for as long as possible.
The closing “broke my heart because it helps me pay my bills,” she said.
“… Nobody is going to hire me. Nobody hires 80-year-old people. It was just all of a sudden.”
Why?
The septic system at the restaurant was inspected on Oct. 11 and was found to be in “total failure,” according to a letter from the Brown County Health Department dated Oct. 17. The inspection came at the request of Ben Voils, a certified septic installer and Brown’s grandson by marriage, the letter said.
Brown was given the choice to go on “pump and haul” until a new septic system could be installed, or to close the business until a new system could be installed, the letter said.
Pumping out the waste and hauling it to two different places — one for the sewage and another for the grease — could cost $2,000 a month, said John Kennard, environmental health supervisor for the health department.
Brown chose to close the restaurant, and not replace the system or do pump-and-haul.
Sitting in one of his favorite tables sipping coffee on Oct. 24, Brown said he has the money to put in a new system, but he’s tired of jumping through the health department’s “hoops.”
About five years ago, the septic system at the restaurant failed, and Brown — who is also a certified septic system installer — replaced it with a Presby system.
“I put it in without any labor. I put in a bigger system than what was required. In fact, there are two systems out there. I spent over $17,000 without any labor. I had my own people to help me and my machinery,” he said.
But he said the system began to fail within the first year.
“It has continued to basically fail. I’d buy dirt and I’d build it back up. Every time I fixed it, then within a month or so it was leaking again,” he said.
“I think the soil down here will not accept the water that way. I’ve put in a lot of regular septic systems in the ground and I never had problems with them.”
He said about three-and-a-half weeks ago, the health department came out and wanted him to put in a 1,500-gallon grease tank.
“They said that grease was getting through the grease tank,” he said. Health department employee Ernie Reed also took a sample from the system’s sand, he said.
“I don’t hear nothing for three weeks almost. Then I get a letter last Friday that I am closing Saturday. Nobody comes and tell me anything. I just get a letter that last Friday was going to be the last day.”
Brown went to the health department to ask for an extension.
“‘I’m not going to tear that system out and put in another for $20,000 or $30,000,’” he told them. “I’ve done everything that was supposed to be done. I would like to have two weeks so my employees can get another job.”
Both parties agreed to a closing date of Oct. 31 as long as the system was not actively leaking, according to a follow-up letter dated Oct. 19.
“The reason I decided is because I don’t feel like I like to be railroaded,” Brown said.
The restaurant was not open to receive tourist traffic on Saturday, Oct. 20, prompting speculation from patrons about what had happened. A sign on the door said it was for lack of help; a call to the health department yielded more information.
“It was a very tough decision, but it had to be made,” Kennard said Oct. 23.
Health department staff had known “for a long time” that there were problems with the septic system, he said. “I think it would be fair to say that we’ve exhausted all reasonable financial positions on this issue.”
Normally, the state health department handles septic systems on commercial properties, including restaurants, but because the work done to the system at Brownie’s was considered a repair, the local health department stayed involved, Kennard said. If a new owner were to take over someday, then the septic system would be governed by the state health department, he said.
If a new system were to be put in at the restaurant, Kennard doesn’t think it could go where it currently is because of the saturation of grease in the soil.
“It’s a sad situation,” he added, calling it “one of the best places to eat.” Health department staff dine there probably once a week, he said.
“The service is good; the help is nontraditional. They’re in there giving and taking just like the patrons are, and it doesn’t take you long to fit in; it’s like a big family,” he said. “… It’s a really interesting dynamic. And if you didn’t know anybody before you leave, you’re going to know somebody. … It’s rumor central.”
Regulars react
Rex Fish sat in a booth with a newspaper and three cups, including one to go. Brownie’s is his second home.
Ever since it opened, Fish has been coming to Brownie’s almost every morning for breakfast, coffee and conversation, plus once or twice a week in the evenings.
“I just get bored sitting at home. Then if I sit around home I end up snacking and watching TV. I’ve got a lot of stuff I need to be doing and I just don’t get it done. I just as soon get out and socialize with somebody, or get out and ride around,” he said.
Fish, like so many other regulars, were shocked to hear about the closing. He said there aren’t any other small, family restaurants he wants to frequent in Nashville once Brownie’s closes, so he will try the Brewed Awakenings Cafe in Morgantown.
He’ll miss Brownie’s catfish Fridays and the people the most, including fellow customers and “some” severs, he said with a laugh.
Ladigo walks by at that time. “Aha. I’m his favorite,” she said with a smile.
Fish leaves and local couple Seymorh and Laurelyn Parrish take his table to celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary over breakfast.
“I grew up there. I’ve known every single owner that has been here, and it just breaks your heart,” Lauelyn said. “… It’s hard to imagine because there’s not too many local restaurants you can go to. Most of them are high-end.”
The couple comes to Brownie’s a couple of times a week. ”We know everybody. Most of them I have grown up with. I’ve lived here for 40-something years, almost 50 years, so we know everybody,” Laurelyn said.
“Good food, good people. (It’s) pretty cheap,” Seymorh added.
“It’s friendly. Some places you go and you feel like the outsider. It’s not that way here. It’s not unusual for this place to be crowded, somebody walk in and they don’t have a place to eat, then somebody will move over,” Laurelyn said.
Sue Bunch is one of those regulars, eating breakfast at Brownie’s once a week. She worked as Brown’s cook when he first opened.
“It hurts me to have Brownie hurt. He’s been good to me my whole time here,” she said.
“I think everybody will miss it. It’s good food. It’s good for the locals. That’s where they come in the winter. It carries them through the bad months. … But people come from miles around, too. I have friends in different parts of the state who come over here.”
Bunch said she probably won’t go anywhere else to get breakfast once Brownie’s closes. “If you go into Nashville, their prices are too high. We can’t really afford to do that,” she said. At Brownie’s, “You can afford to take your family out, especially on Sundays.”
Kay Wray, her husband Bud, Tony Sosbe and Bernie Fulton sat next to Bunch.
“It’s just like family,” Bud Wray said.
“Good food and friendship,” Fulton said.
The Wrays also plan to start going to Morgantown for breakfast now at Brewed Awakenings Cafe. Fulton said he may go to Indy’s Family Restaurant in Martinsville more often.
“I suppose I’ll wind up having to cook for myself,” Sosbe said.
For sale?
When asked if he would sell the restaurant, Brown said he would if someone offered $350,000 to $400,000.
He estimated he put in about $200,000 of labor and improvements into the place over the last 15 or so years including expanding and remodeling the dining room and adding on a kitchen, prep area and office.
Brownie’s was originally known as Robbins Drive In, which opened in 1962. Bob Williams bought it from Ed and Carol Robbins and opened the Bean Blossom Inn. When Williams passed away, Brown bought the restaurant.
Ed and Shirley Brown renovated it and reopened it in 2002, later changing the name to Brownie’s Bean Blossom Family Restaurant.
Brownie’s is the second landmark restaurant to close this month. On Oct. 16, the owners of the Nashville House downtown announced they would close that 91-year-old business on Oct. 28.
“It’s like the Nashville House, in a way — a piece of Brown County that I hate to see go away,” Kennard said about Brownie’s.
Brown said fundraising is not necessary to keep the business open.
“I’ve never asked anybody for a dime in my life. … I’ve got enough money; if I wanted to do this, I could do it,” he said.
“If they bring the sewers in, I’ll hook on and open it back up. … That’s kind of where I’m at, kid. I don’t lie to people. I tell them the truth. It’s the only way I can be.”
When asked if he wanted to say anything to the community, Brown said, “I’m sorry.”
“That’s it. I can’t hardly talk right now. I hate it for all of the people,” he said.
“I hate it for my kids. … I call them (employees) all my kids.”
