New Yorkers become SW Missourians

Diamond Cafe is a much sought-after area eatery

There’s a little gem of a place located in downtown Diamond.

Inside the Diamond Café, you’ll find everything you could possibly want from a home-cooked, Midwest-like, “Grandma-used-to-make” eatery. The portions on the plate tend to overflow. A glass of iced tea or water never sits empty on the table. Used napkins are quickly replaced with fresh ones. If a fork is whisked away with an empty plate, it’s replaced within seconds.

In light of this, it would be easy to think a life-long Missouri couple operates the cafe. And upon meeting John and Alyson Hagianis, you’d likely think the same.
Until you hear their New York accents, that is.

“(People) don’t know what to expect when they come in here, other than it’s a really nice place to go and eat and (it’s owned) by people from New York… who are very nice,” Alyson said with a laugh, poking fun at the infamous New York “crabbiness.”

How the New York born and raised couple left behind 8.3-million populated New York City for 807 populated Diamond began with a Forbes’s magazine article and ended with an eBay search.
John and Alyson Hagianis were sick of New York City and the surrounding area. They hated the traffic. They hated the rushed nature of life there. They hated the crime. Their son, Stefan, was about to enter a high school with 3,500 students. Annual taxes paid to operate their Pleasant Valley, N.Y. restaurant — an 1820-era house converted into an intimate 20-seat café — easily exceeded $10,000.

“Everybody’s always in a rush,” Alyson said. “We just got to the point where we working way too many hours to pay our bills, and we were just getting burnt out, working 70-80 hours a week, lunch and dinner, Tuesdays through Saturdays non-stop. And it just got to the point where we were saying, ‘there’s got to be a better way.’”

The Forbe’s magazine the couple read trumped the Midwest as a small business paradise.
“As we read, we said, ‘Wow, that’s everything that New York wasn’t,’” she said. “Both the eastern and western seaboards are not small business friendly, with their hands always in pockets.”

Since the Hagianis’ didn’t have a real estate agent at the time, they decided to take a look on eBay for available properties. They found one in Kansas that prompted John to fly west to America’s heartland. He loved the building located in Hill City, Kansas. Unfortunately, the city was isolated — the closest Wal-Mart was 50 miles away. They briefly checked out Acapulco, but the building looked nothing like the eBay picture.

Then they stumbled across Diamond, Mo.

“We just really liked the sound of the town,” John said.

After e-mailing the previous owners, they flew to Southwest Missouri for a visit in the summer of 2005. The beauty of the Ozarks and the friendliness of Southwest Missouri residents immediately charmed them. They were invited to stay with the restaurant’s owners in Diamond.

“They were so nice, to host us like that. Being from New York, we went into some kind of shock. ‘You want us to stay in your house — you don’t even know us.’ But it was a wonderful experience.”

The couple took trips to nearby Carthage and Neosho. They made scouting missions to area restaurants. They were impressed with the Diamond School District. But most of all, they loved the two-story building. Located at 101 Market Street and built in 1929, the structure possessed a brick exterior and green awnings on the outside; a sunset-splashed wall and lofted tin roof inside.

“Within three days, we were walking around with a tape measure,” Alyson said. When they went back to New York, “we told our lawyer to make it happen as fast as possible.”

On Sept. 8, 2005, the three loaded up a Penske truck with everything they owned — including a pet aquatic turtle — and headed west. They made the 1,300-mile trip in two days, rolling into Diamond at dusk.

The rest, as they say, is history.

“It’s been a breath of fresh air,” John said. He spent 12 years in the pizza business before establishing his own Apollo restaurants. “I’m just so happy to come here and be able to make… meat and potatoes. You know, nothing pretentious, nothing exotic, just good food.”

The couple’s restaurant philosophy is rather simple, John said.

“We’ve structured the restaurant in such an efficient way that we’re able to offer our guests a very good meal, a great portion of good for a very low price.”

Added Alyson, “We offer a lot of pizzazz with comfort food and good home cooking that people in the area really crave. If we’re going to charge x-amount of money in my restaurant, you’re not going to leave here hungry.”

Chairs are big and comfortable, and tables are spaced far enough so there won’t be a fear of colliding with somebody behind you. Servers ask their guests if it’s OK to take away a plate.

“You just never grab a plate from somebody, because if there’s a piece of lettuce or one piece of potato, they may want that. You only get one chance to make a first impression.”

Guests are allowed to stay as long as they deem necessary. Nobody will be kindly “urged” to leave a table.

The Diamond Café is not “a revolving door operation, where you sit down and you’re halfway through your dinner and someone drops a check on the table,” John said. “That doesn’t make you feel very welcome to stay and finish your meal or have some coffee or dessert afterwards.”

Reservations are accepted. Meals — including a salad, two sides and homemade bread — range from spaghetti western and pasta Alfredo to four-star meatloaf, grilled pork chops. The house favorite, one of two specials, is a 16-ounce rib-eye steak and sides for just $12.95.

Hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and dinner from 4-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“The people out here, without a doubt, are some of the warmest, most wonderful, most respectful people,” Alyson said.

To make a reservation, call (417) 325-7166.