NEAR DAWSON — The building still looks like an old filling station from the outside, with its painted wood siding and overhang that invites a driver to pull on in.

Look closely at the sign, a sleight of hand that disguises another filling station clue. The “i” in Kim is actually the first line in the “m.” In other words, the sign really says “KM,” the initials of former oil company Kerr- McGee.

The building stands alone beside U.S. Highway 75, surrounded by farm fields and pastures, wooded draws and grassy sloughs, the gentle undulation of far Southeast Nebraska. In its day, drivers low on fuel must have breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the station through their windshields.

But come to think of it, motorists who happen upon the building today may need to replenish a different tank. They’re low on another kind of fuel.

So Kim’s Cafe still fills people up.

At least that’s what it does to the three who work there.

So this isn’t home sweet home … adjust  — sign in Kim’s Cafe

Billy Jarrell must have had pancakes, eggs, a slice of ham and coffee on the mind during the 20-mile drive from his home in Table Rock.

He didn’t need a menu when Kim Pagnano walked to his table with a pad in hand. She wrote his order, tore off the ticket and handed it across the counter to the cook.

Jarrell wrestled off his coat and his eye caught the white board across the room, the one that advertised the day’s special — prime rib sandwich with a side and drink for $5.99.

He muttered something about wishing he would have gotten the special instead. Kim heard him, snuck a look in the kitchen and said it wasn’t too late to change his order. At first he waved her off, but she assured him it was OK, so he switched from breakfast to lunch.

“It’s the best food around here,” he said, explaining why he drives such a distance to eat at Kim’s. “Here you can get a home-cooked meal.”

Propane heat warmed the space on a frigid winter morning. CNN reported the news on the little TV mounted high in a corner, the volume barely audible. The room smelled of freshly brewed coffee, offered for 75 cents a cup.

Kim, 51, grew up in Omaha, where she waited tables for 10 years at Caniglia’s Pizza, a place that has faded from the scene like many family-owned restaurants. She also formerly worked as a licensed practical nurse and perhaps her experience doing both is what makes her the face of the cafe.

Her way with people fits the place. She’s fast without being hurried, makes small talk without sounding trite and she’s personable without being overbearing. She smiles easily. And although she’ll tell you differently, it’s hard to imagine Kim losing her cool, even when the cafe gets slammed with hungry customers.

Her husband, Joe Pagnano, 55, does the cooking. He’s solidly built, with thick salt-and-pepper hair, a gray goatee and forearm tattoos. In the 12-foot-by-10-foot kitchen, he moves purposefully between the prep counter, the stove and the grill. He’s equally efficient with words — he rarely wastes one.

Tim Carman, 29, mostly helps Joe in the kitchen. For lack of a better title, he’s the prep cook, but he also waits tables, washes dishes, answers the phone and does whatever needs to be done. He has the frame of a college tight end — tall and substantial. And he speaks even less than Joe, at least around strangers.

At full capacity, the cafe seats 48. Sometimes, diners must wait outside for a table; other times they can walk right in and sit right down.

The cafe features a menu of sandwiches, steaks, seafood and the typical options for breakfast, which is served anytime. They run specials for lunch and supper, which rotate to keep it interesting for the regulars.

As with any cafe, regulars represent their bread and butter. They try to keep them coming back by using as many fresh foods, and as few processed ones, as possible.

Kim’s is known for steak Philly sandwiches, grilled shrimp and pie. The cafe claims the “best pie on 75” and the cooler often contains up to 25 varieties, including oatmeal walnut, sour cream raisin, black-raspberry rhubarb and strawberry millionaire.

“I have little elves that make my pies,” Kim said with a smile that says that’s all she’s going to say.

A couple from Kearney on their way to Topeka asked if she ever sells an entire pie.

Still smiling, she said, “I’ve been known to.”

I’ve always wanted to be somebody … I should have been more specific  — sign in Kim’s Cafe

Kim and Joe have known each other for decades.

In 1990, they left Omaha and moved down to Verdon, where Joe bought a bar and named it Country Joe’s. The place sold liquor, beer, bar food and Keno.

Their relationship hit a rough stretch in the mid 1990s and Kim moved back to Omaha for a time. But then Joe underwent a spiritual conversion and turned his life over to God, she said.

Before long, Joe quit selling alcohol at the bar, a decision that meshed with his faith but clashed with his livelihood. So he sold the bar and moved back to Omaha, where he took a maintenance job with the Open Door Mission.

During a year at the mission, he met Tim, a mildly developmentally disabled 17-year-old orphan who had no family to care for him. Tim became Joe’s sidekick in the maintenance department and when Joe decided to head back to Richardson County in 1997, he brought Tim with him.

Joe and Kim got married the same year. Now they live in Dawson.

“Tim is kind of like our adopted child,” she said. “Tim has pretty much been a blessing. He’s very easy going.”

Joe approached the owner of the old service station — referred to locally as “Six Mile,” because of its distance from Humboldt — who allowed him to rent the building for the price of utility bills. Initially, he named it Kim’s Sandwich Shop, in honor of his wife. The early menu was limited to hotdogs, cold cuts and chips.

“Me and Tim needed a job so we opened this place here,” Joe said. “The business started taking off and doing so good, we had to pull Kim off of her LPN job.”

I would rather be lost in the woods than found at home — sign in Kim’s Cafe

Some days they serve 135 meals. Other days pass with only 35 people walking through the door.

Things get hectic when it’s busy. With such a tight space to work in, sometimes the mood gets tense between Kim, Joe and Tim.

“But the nice thing is once we close the doors and 10 minutes later, everybody likes everybody again,” she said. “Nobody stays angry.”

Unlike other restaurants, they are closed on weekends. During the week, they’re open from about 10 a.m. to about 8 p.m.

Sure, they could make more money with more hours. But they worry the quality would fall off if they turned the cafe over to others on the weekends.

Plus, they need time away from the old filling station.

Time for church on Sunday.

Time for Tim to ride his all-terrain vehicle.

And for Joe to roll down the road on his Harley Davidson.

And for Kim to work on her koi pond.

As for the money, they have adjusted to living with less.

“You find out what’s important and you live accordingly,” she said. “God does provide. He provides you what you need.”

Joy to all who enter here — sign in Kim’s Cafe

The cafe reportedly sits 78 miles south of Omaha and 78 miles north of Topeka. So Kim’s is a nice stop for people traveling in between.

Sometimes the highway brings in what the Pagnanos refer to as a traveler. Always a single man who is maybe down on his luck and out of cash.

When a traveler walks into Kim’s, he walks out well fed, regardless of ability to pay.

He gets back to his travels with a full tank.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.