Dido's

Description

Dido's (pronounced Dee-do's) restaurant owners, Pete and Sue Smirch are community-minded people who have operated the restaurant on CR 519 at Churchill and been good neighbors to area residents for the past 18 years. The casual, welcoming atmosphere of the restaurant is as comfortable during the winter months as it is when relaxing there with a cold drink on a hot summer day. The place seated 30 people when it opened in 1984. Today, it holds well over 300 between the dining area inside and the screened-in porch area outside...both overlooking the San Bernard River. Pete, who is of Jugoslavijan (now Croatian) descent, gave the restaurant it's name because his grandchildren called him "Dido" which in his native language means "grandpa"! He named the place in honor of all grandfathers. It seems that after years of being in the shrimping business, the Smirch's decided that they could not make a living on that alone. In addition to that, there was no place down on the river for the kids to go and eat and get gas for their boats. Pete loves to cook, so opening a restaurant with a dock on the river where he could serve his fresh catch seemed the natural thing to do. Five years after opening, however, it became financially difficult to keep the restaurant open. "We needed to either expand or close up, so we decided to expand!" Pete says laughing, "I like to meet people..." Business increased over the years mostly from "word of mouth" recommendations.

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