MidPoint Café and Gift Shop
and Dennis Purschwitz
Adrian, Texas
Dennis Purschwitz and the MidPoint Café
We pulled into the small community of Adrian and stepped inside the MidPoint Café for a taste of the eatery's famous Ugly Pie and to meet the owner, Dennis Purschwitz, a transplant to Route 66 from Tennessee.
Dennis and his wife, Donna, took a Route 66 journey in May of 2011 from St. Louis, traveling in proper Route 66 style--in a 2009 Ford Mustang GT.
“We kept hearing we had to stop at the MidPoint Café and eat a slice of pie,” Dennis recalled. "So we made sure we stopped there, arriving 10 minutes before it closed on our last day travelling Route 66 before taking I-40 back home to Tennessee. We also heard that the then-owner, who was the inspiration for Flo of Flo's V-8 Café in the movie "Cars," was retiring and selling the restaurant after owning it since the early 90’s. That peaked my interest."
"As a wastewater engineer who had worked on many different landfills around the country, I would go out of my way to eat at mom-and-pop diners. I did this type of work for almost three decades and was interested in doing something else while I was still young enough to enjoy it. I’ve always had a thing for diners and an interest in possibly operating one,” Purschwitz explained. “I also had a thing for Route 66 and the history of the Mother Road. I love getting on the back roads and off the Interstates."
Dennis returned to Adrian in October 2011 and tested himself to see if he was cut out for the restaurant business. He cleaned, bused tables, and served meals at the MidPoint. “I basically job-shadowed for two days,” he said. "After a few more months of negotiating, we closed on the café in March 2012. So now Donna and I were the new owners, and two weeks later we were serving the Ugly Pies."
"I always heard how “world famous” the MidPoint Café was, but one does not really grasp the magnitude of “world” until you are here. Many days we have folks from 15 to 20 countries. In our first year of business in 2012, travelers from 66 countries signed the guest book and that number has increased to over 80 countries since that time."
"As a “fellow roadie” of Route 66, I wanted to improve the experience for those visiting the MidPoint and Route 66. Working with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Adrian Lion’s Club, Oldham County and the County Chamber of Commerce, and a few other businesses in the Panhandle area, we set out to update the “Welcome to the MidPoint” sign across the street from the café. We excavated, backfilled, and installed 4,000 paver stones; installed a camera stand, the platform behind the sign to stand on, new “Welcome” sign, flags of the U.S., Texas, and Route 66, and an old-fashioned windmill. We also painted Route 66 shields and the MidPoint Line across Route 66. Now it is pure fun watching how everyone reacts to these improvements and they spend time getting pictures at the MidPoint, which was the main objective of all this effort."
In addition to all the work in front of the café, Dennis, Donna, and the MidPoint Café family have spent considerable time refreshing the inside of the café, while maintaining its old fashion look. As Dennis tells customers, "the café is old to look refreshed; not new to look old." And except for a handful of new items on the menu, Dennis is continuing the long cuisine tradition of the MidPoint Café. He is constantly adding new Route 66 memorabilia and items from around Oldham County to the café so he can share the history of the area with his guests. The most recent and most prized addition to his Café is having his daughter work by his side every day. She moved from Tennessee to Amarillo in May of 2016.
