Going Strong
After 67 Years Bill and Babes Is Still Serving the Hits
Writer / Lois Tomaszewski
Photography / Provided
Community has made the difference in the success of Bill and Babes Riverside Inn restaurant. It started in 1954 when Bill and Phyllis Babe Reutebuch opened their doors to the restaurant and bar overlooking the Tippecanoe River.
When my father told his father that he bought the restaurant, my grandfather said my father would be broke in six months, Bill and Phylliss youngest child, Daniel Reutebuch, says. Well, 67 years later, its still going strong.
Daniel and his wife Leslie are now the owners of the restaurant his parents established. He began the process of buying the restaurant in 2002, after his father passed away and his mother faced the difficult decision of keeping the restaurant or selling it.
Most of the employees in the restaurant are family. This was true in the early days as well: Bill and Phylliss four children worked at the restaurant and pitched in after Bill passed. The children, including Daniel were responsible for expanding the restaurant side of the establishment, as Phyllis noted in an earlier newspaper profile in 2002.
The restaurants menu today has several items that have earned it recognition from its diners. In addition to the usual best seller, burgers, other favorites include broasted that is, fried in oil pork chops, broasted chicken, steaks, frog legs and regional favorite fish such as walleye, yellow lake perch, smelt, and all-you-can-eat blue gill. It serves sandwiches, pizza and seafood, among other options.
This menu was expanded, in part by the pandemic, when Reutebuch began flying in fresh seafood weekly from Boston. That decision has led to Bill and Babes offering entrees such as lobster rolls, clam strips, haddock, oysters, whole belly clams, cod, shrimp and other seafood dishes.
The seafood dishes have continued to take off, he says. It varies weekly. Crab stuffed shrimp, scallops, lobster and New England seafood are available all the time.
That decision not only revitalized the menu during the pandemic but is filling a niche in the Indiana dining experience.
We are focusing in on the fresh seafood, Reutebuch says. We want fresh seafood because it’s hard to find anywhere in Indiana.
Customers, he says, are driving an hour or more just for the seafood. Bill and Babes offers the option of dining in or carryout and is open seven days a week.
Standard menu items include steaks, chicken strips, and chicken ranch or fiery shrimp wraps, and catfish. Sandwich offerings beside the hamburgers are tenderloins, fried bologna and a new BLT. There is a selection of sides available.
On the pizza menu are the house favorites, such as baked potato, which features potato, bacon, sour cream and cheese, the chicken bacon ranch, the meat galore, Tippy Topper and the Deluxe. Crust choices are thin or medium and other toppings are available.
Reutebuch shares whats on the menu for the day or the weekend via the restaurants social media page. Many of the photos highlight the freshness of the meat, whether it is the octopus or the calamari, scallops, or haddock. Other photos highlight the completed dishes.
The restaurants customers were supportive in keeping the restaurant open during the last year as communities battled COVID-19.
Community response was outstanding during the pandemic, he says. We had people driving 50 miles to still get carry outs. We started offering take and bake casseroles also.
Reutebuch says the restaurant building has not changed much since the days his father and mother were in charge. If there was one good thing to come from 2020, it was the opportunity to make some upgrades.
During the pandemic we were able to remodel both our restrooms and the 100-year-old bar my dad purchased in 1954 from Calumet City, he says.
It was his mother who originated the holiday lights at Christmas, which has become a tradition in Winamac. The Christmas lights are still part of what Bill and Babes does, Reutebuch said. They go up at Thanksgiving and stay lit until New Years. It was started in 1989 when Pulaski County turned 150 years old. Bill and Babes hosts fundraisers each year to raise money for Pulaskis holiday tradition.
Reutebuch is proud of the reputation his parents earned through the years.
My parents were great at helping out anyone that needed it, he says.
Bill and Babes is located at 5656 S. Main St., Winamac. For more information or hours, call 574-595-0536 or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/billandbabespulaski.
