We Opened for the Dam Crews. They Left. We Didn't.

We opened in 1933 as the Owyhee Grocery — a service station for the crews building the Owyhee Dam, and a stop for anyone travelling between Nyssa, Adrian and the dam site. The façade went up in petrified wood and volcanic rock pulled from this country, set by hand, and it's still the first thing people notice.

The dam got finished around us. For most of the run since, this was what it sounds like — a store on a corner serving ranch families who weren't about to drive to Ontario for a loaf of bread. Groceries, fuel, and whatever else people needed between here and nowhere.

Three generations of owners have run it. The Simpson and Sweets family has had it for close to forty years now, and what's changed in that time is that the Owyhee got discovered. Boaters, rockhounds, hunters, side-by-side crews and anybody chasing Leslie Gulch started coming through, and they were hungry. So we put in a kitchen. Then a tap house, because people wanted to stay. Then a patio and a yard behind it, because the bands needed somewhere to play.

The burgers come out upside down. That's not a mistake — it's how we've always built them, and it's the thing people drive back for. Alongside them, a craft beer list we actually curate instead of just filling taps.

We're a family business and we run it like one. We buy regional meat and regional produce. We hire out of Nyssa and Adrian. You get looked after here, and we'd rather you leave feeling like family than like a transaction. The people pouring your beer on Saturday are the people you'll see at the ball field on Tuesday.

Ninety-odd years in, the goal hasn't gotten complicated: hold onto what this place has always been, and be the stop worth planning around rather than the one you settle for.

On the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Park Service added the Owyhee Grocery to the register in May 2025 — the petrified wood and volcanic rock façade, the parapeted gable, and ninety-odd years of being the stop between Nyssa, Adrian and the dam.

Buy Close to Home

USDA-certified meat, fresh produce, and partnerships with regional producers and breweries. If we can get it from a neighbor, we do.

Cook It Right

Nothing sits under a lamp. Head Chef Jordan runs the board, Cameron makes the house items from scratch, and the specials actually change.

Treat People Like Family

A real conversation at the counter, not a script. Whether you've been coming for thirty years or you pulled in by accident, you get looked after the same.

Join the Team.

Front team, beertender, server, prep cook, swing cook, buyer, manager. We train, we schedule in advance, and we promote from inside.