Duck's Diner to Replace Historic Gulf Shores Favorite Hazel's Nook

Hazel’s Nook, a cherished breakfast spot in Gulf Shores, will close its doors next week after 67 years of service. However, the location will not remain vacant for long.

The owners of Duck’s Diner in Orange Beach are set to open a second location in Hazel’s Nook’s space as early as Wednesday, July 17.

Richard Schwartz, the owner of Hazel’s Nook since 1980, confirmed to AL.com on Thursday that the beloved café will serve its final customers on Monday. On that day, Schwartz is scheduled to finalize the sale of the building to Garrett Spence, co-owner of Duck’s Diner.

Spence expressed his readiness to move in and open shortly after the sale. “If we close the deal on Monday and he (Schwartz) gets his stuff out and we get the renovations done on Tuesday, I hope to be open by Wednesday,” Spence said.

The new establishment will be named Duck’s Diner Gulf Shores. Like Hazel’s, it will operate only for breakfast and lunch. Duck’s Diner originally opened in 2003 in Orange Beach, and Spence’s mother, Michelle Deerman, acquired it in 2014. Spence joined as a co-owner shortly after graduating from Troy University.

Spence has been scouting for a second location for Duck’s Diner for nearly two years. Upon learning that Schwartz might close Hazel’s Nook to open another Doc’s Seafood Shack location, Spence reached out to discuss the possibility of purchasing the property. Schwartz agreed to the sale.

“The fact that it’s been a breakfast and lunch place for the last 50, 60 years – that was exactly what we were looking for,” Spence explained. “It’s the exact hours we do and the same business model.”

Despite some changes, including the absence of Hazel’s breakfast buffet and the addition of a 16-foot bar serving mimosas, bloody marys, and Irish coffee, Spence aims to honor the legacy of Hazel’s Nook and its longtime owner.

“I really want to do right by Richard (Schwartz),” Spence said. “So I take that into account with all the decisions we make regarding it.”

“He didn’t want to sell it to just anybody,” Spence added. “I was just able to go over there and get my foot in the door and tell him who I was and what I wanted to do. And he said that I remind him of himself at a younger age.”

Spence will own the building, while he and his mother will co-own the restaurant.

The Duck’s Diner breakfast menu, available all day, will feature omelets, pancakes, country ham, steak and eggs, corned beef hash, and a breakfast burrito, along with their signature banana-stuffed French toast with butter pecan sauce. The lunch menu will include burgers, po’ boys, wraps, chicken tenders, a ribeye steak, a Rueben sandwich, and Gouda cheese grit cakes topped with grilled shrimp, grilled tomatoes, and Creole sauce.