08/16/2026
A couple of days ago, Travis and I met this wonderful woman. She is so excited about Callens, so curious and so wonderfully enthusiastic about the reopening and the story behind our cute little diner. She sent me a story she wrote about Callens… honestly every time I read it, I tear up. I asked her if I could share it and she said she would be honored. As it turns out, we are honored that she took the time to write something so heartfelt and meaningful. Hopefully we will get many more incredible stories written by her!
CALLEN’S ❤️
A Little Restaurant With a Big Story
A few things we know, a few things we’re still trying to find out, and a whole lot of reasons Union Grove remembers this place.
Once Upon a Main Street
Before Callen’s became Callen’s, the building at 1027 Main Street was already getting on with the business of being old.
The building itself dates to around 1900.
That means it was standing there before television, before the interstate, before most of us had ever heard the words “Wi-Fi problem.”
And somewhere along the way, it became a restaurant.
Not a fancy restaurant.
Not the sort of place where anybody worried about which fork to use.
A small-town restaurant.
The kind of place where people came in hungry, sat down, ordered something familiar, and probably stayed longer than they intended because they ran into somebody they knew.
That, as it turns out, is a pretty good recipe for a restaurant to become part of a town.
The Callen’s Story Gets Interesting
Callen’s is generally remembered as a restaurant dating back to the 1940s. It eventually became one of those familiar Union Grove places that people remembered not just for what they ate, but for who they were with.
And then came Earl H. Bruinsma.
Earl was a Union Grove man through and through. He was born in Burlington in 1934, attended Union Grove schools, served in the Wisconsin National Guard, and eventually became part of the story of Callen’s in a very big way.
According to his obituary, Earl purchased Callen’s in 1957.
He didn't just run a restaurant.
He apparently believed in doing things the old-fashioned way.
His obituary specifically remembers him for his homemade pies, chili, and making things from scratch.
Which raises several very important questions:
Who had the pie recipe?
Was there ever such a thing as one more piece?
And how many people in Union Grove have a Callen’s pie story that has never been written down?
We may need to investigate.
Earl Had Other Things Going On, Too
This is one of the things that makes the old story so much better.
Earl wasn't simply “the restaurant guy.”
He was also involved in his community.
He served for more than 20 years with the Union Grove Rescue Squad and Fire Department.
And when he wasn't doing that, he liked antique shows and tractor shows.
He was also an avid collector of Minnesota-Moline toy tractors, implements and memorabilia.
So somewhere in the universe there is a very good story involving:
Callen's + Earl Bruinsma + pie + a fire truck + antique tractors.
We just haven't found it yet.
And that is exactly the kind of thing this little book should leave room for.
Then There Was Charlotte
In 1970, Earl married Charlotte Schattner.
Together, Earl and Charlotte operated Callen’s.
And this is where the restaurant becomes more than a business on a street.
Because restaurants like Callen’s don't survive for decades because somebody owns a building.
They survive because people keep walking through the door.
A grandmother brings her grandchildren.
A teenager grabs a burger after school.
Somebody comes in for coffee.
Somebody else has been sitting in the same place so long that the waitress probably knows what they're ordering before they say it.
And eventually those ordinary moments become memories.
The Things People Remember
Callen’s has been described as a classic, old-fashioned American restaurant.
And people who grew up around it remember it in wonderfully ordinary ways.
Burgers after school.
Visits with grandparents.
Coffee.
Food that wasn't trying to impress anybody.
It was simply trying to feed you.
And maybe give you a reason to stay awhile.
That might be the real magic of an old restaurant.
Nobody realizes they're making history while they're sitting there eating lunch.
They're just having lunch.
The Stuff They Left Behind
When Callen’s closed in 2010, it didn't exactly disappear.
It just went quiet.
And when Andrea Rafel and her husband, Travis Cadd, purchased the restaurant in late 2025, they found something remarkable.
The place had been left remarkably intact.
The pick tickets were still there.
The plates were still there.
The glassware was still there.
And, according to Andrea, even the grease was still there.
Which may not sound romantic.
But honestly?
It is.
Because grease can be cleaned.
Memories are harder to replace.
The Great Scrubbing of Callen’s
Restoring an old restaurant turns out to involve considerably more cleaning than anyone probably dreams about when they buy an old restaurant.
Andrea has been spending roughly six to ten hours a day working on Callen’s restoration.
There have been stools to clean.
Chairs to repair.
Doors and doorknobs to restore.
Floors to deal with.
Ceilings.
Lighting.
And approximately one million little things that probably looked much easier before anybody actually started doing them.
But the goal isn't to make Callen’s look brand new.
That's the whole point.
The goal is to make it feel like Callen’s again.
Don't Throw That Away!
One of the loveliest things about the restoration is what Andrea has chosen to keep.
The original plates may be a little beat up.
The glasses may show their age.
But that's exactly why they're special.
They were there.
They were part of somebody else's breakfast.
Somebody else's birthday.
Somebody else's lunch with Dad.
Somebody else's first date.
Somebody else's ordinary Tuesday.
Andrea's philosophy seems to be:
If it can be saved, save it.
And maybe that is what restoration really means.
Not pretending nothing happened.
Remembering what did.
And Then the Internet Found Callen’s
This is where the story gets a little crazy.
Andrea and Travis started sharing the restoration online.
One video took off.
Then it really took off.
According to Andrea, the video reached around 500,000 views within hours, eventually climbing toward 900,000.
People were watching from places as far away as Sweden and Australia.
Which is a rather impressive audience for a little restaurant on Main Street in Union Grove.
Apparently people everywhere have a weakness for an old diner coming back to life.
Who knew?
Why Callen’s Matters
Andrea grew up in Union Grove.
So this isn't simply a business venture.
She remembers going to Callen’s herself.
She remembers the restaurant as part of growing up.
And she understands something important:
People don't just want the building back.
They want the feeling back.
They want to bring their children somewhere and say:
“This is where Grandma used to take me.”
They want to sit down and remember.
And then they want to make a brand-new memory.
That's the beautiful part.
Because Callen’s doesn't have to live entirely in the past.
It gets to have a future.
The Things We Don't Know Yet
And this may be our favorite part.
There are still stories hiding in Union Grove.
Who actually worked at Callen’s in the earliest years?
Who was the first person to order the thing that became everybody's favorite?
Who sat at the counter every morning?
Who met their future spouse there?
Who got caught skipping school?
Who had their first date there?
Who ate Earl's chili?
Who remembers Charlotte?
Who knows where the old recipes came from?
Who has a photograph in a shoebox?
Who has a menu tucked away somewhere?
Who remembers what the place smelled like when they walked through the door?
History books tend to remember dates.
People remember smells.
They remember voices.
They remember where somebody sat.
They remember what somebody always ordered.
Those are the stories we're still looking for.
And Now...
Callen’s has spent years waiting.
The sign stayed.
The building stayed.
The counter stayed.
The plates stayed.
The stories stayed.
And now somebody has decided to turn the lights back on.
Andrea and Travis aren't starting the story over.
They're picking it up.
Dusty, scratched, slightly greasy and wonderfully imperfect—
exactly where somebody left it.
And that may be the best way to bring an old restaurant back.
Not by pretending it's 1957.
But by remembering what made people love it in the first place.
A Note for Andrea
You bought a restaurant.
But judging by what you've found inside it, you also bought a few decades' worth of memories.
That's a pretty big thing to inherit.
So this little book isn't meant to tell you everything there is to know about Callen’s.
We don't know everything.
Not yet.
It's meant to be a beginning.
A place to collect the stories.
The photographs.
The recipes.
The funny things people remember.
The names.
The faces.
The “you won't believe this, but...” stories.
Because someday, years from now, somebody is going to walk through the door of Callen’s and ask:
“What was this place like before?”
And you'll be able to tell them:
“Oh, you should see the book.”
CALLEN’S
The sign is still there.
The stories are still there.
And now there's another chapter.
