New owners reopen Tampico landmark restaurant

TAMPICO — A restaurant known area wide for its delicious pies and good food is now open again to the public.

Rita and Butch McNinch reopened the former Dutch Diner in downtown Tampico this week under the name of R & B’s Dutch Diner after the restaurant’s former owner had closed its doors for almost two years.

The McNinches are the third set of owners for the restaurant that was first opened in 1981 in the village known as the birthplace of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States. It was named Dutch Diner because Reagan’s nickname growing up in the area was “Dutch,”, said Butch.

“This will be another journey in our lives,” said Rita. “All of our kids are grown up and married. Our youngest daughter will be working with us. Our son-in-laws like to cook and want to help us. We have six grandchildren, and they want to bus tables and help us.”

It has been a dream of Butch McNinch for many years to open a restaurant. He and his wife, Rita, decided to buy the closed Dutch Diner in September after Butch had been laid off from his job in March of this year.

“After that, we said let’s do it,” he said. “People like the Dutch Diner because it was known for its pies and Chicken Dutch. We are going to have some of the original women who baked pies come back to work for us. We are also going to have new sandwiches and want it to be a family restaurant in town.”

Butch said he has always liked working with the public and had been a cook for many years at a church camp. They catered at weddings and liked to cook.

“We want it to be a family restaurant where no alcohol will be served,” he said. “It won’t be a high end restaurant, but we will have finer dining in the evening after 5 p.m. We will put tablecloths on and have cloth napkins in the evenings.”

After completely remodeling the restaurant’s interior, the couple want to put up Ronald Reagan movie posters on the walls to decorate the now barren white walls