Terry Davinroy is the proud new owner of Ott’s in Millstadt. (Sean McGowan)

Anyone who grew up in or spent a significant amount of time in Millstadt knows Ott’s Tavern is a staple of the town.

For years, people would go there to enjoy fried fish and a cold beer, but hopes of continuing that tradition were momentarily dashed when longtime owner Deedee Speichinger closed its doors in the spring.

Terry Davinroy of Millstadt purchased Ott’s at 20 E. Washington Street shortly thereafter and saw to restoring the community treasure to its former glory. With the help of Speichinger and her family, he brought back the time-honored recipes that once saw scores of people filing in for a taste.

“(Speichinger) has been very helpful,” Davinroy said.

One of those recipes he reintroduced is Issy’s coleslaw — Issy is Deedee’s aunt — thanks to the recipe being kept in the family.

“(Issy’s coleslaw) has been more popular than the other one by like 10-1,” Davinroy said.

Additionally, Speichinger taught Davinroy the recipe for a special barbecue sauce she served as the owner. The sauce can be described as sweet and sugary.

To promote the sauce and the reopening of the business, Ott’s will offer pulled pork sandwiches Sunday during Millstadt’s homecoming. Davinroy is encouraging people to come between 2 and 5 p.m. for a sandwich before the parade begins, rather than the usual fish filet.

“If I’ve got a bunch of fish thawed, and I don’t cook it, I’m going to be throwing stuff away,” Davinroy said, adding he wants to promote another local business — Schubert’s Smokehouse in Millstadt.

Davinroy reopened the fish stand that makes up a part of Ott’s in late July. From there, he began serving Icelandic cod as a hand-cut filet with coleslaw and french fries. Ott’s serves jumbo breaded shrimp every Saturday.

Currently, Ott’s serves a limited selection of alcohol through the fish stand, including beer. Hours of operation are 3 to 11 p.m. Friday, 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 476-3531 or go to facebook.com/OttsTavern.

For now, the tavern part is not open, but Davinroy plans to reopen that section in October. He looks to do extensive renovations beforehand.

“My goal is to make it very old fashioned and charming,” he said. “There’s not a lot of old buildings up and down the main street of Millstadt,” he said.

One of his goals includes using shadow paint to give the exterior of the building a historic feel. Other goals include ADA bathrooms and handicap accessibility.

“It will look substantially different, though — major, major difference,” he said.

Before reopening the fish stand, Davinroy also did a lot of renovations to that, including exterior brick restoration, adding 17 new windows to the upstairs of the old building, repaving and restriping the entire parking lot, and more.

Davinroy was fortunate that some of the labor didn’t have to be done by outside contractors. According to the new owner, brothers, sisters and in-laws brought in a lot of support.

“There’s no way I could do this without my family,” he said.

Now, Davinroy and his family can take in the fruits of that labor, knowing the business’ local flair attracts crowds of people every weekend.

“It’s been overwhelming,” Davinroy said.

In fact, customers file in not only from Millstadt, but everywhere imaginable within the region — Davinroy’s favorite aspect of owning Ott’s.

“I’ve got all these St. Louis people coming over — there are people coming from Eureka and St. Charles — which the old owners had that too, but I didn’t think when we first got started that they were going to come back here,” he said. “It’s really exciting to hear their stories of how their grandma brought them over when they were kids.”

Recognizing the kind of support he receives from the community, Davinroy loves the chance to walk around the outdoor tables and mingle with patrons.

“When I get a chance to walk around in the yard, and you have these people sitting around — I had a guy Tom sitting there, and I thought he’d been waiting a while on his food,” he said. “I told him, ‘Tom, I’m sorry for your wait. I’ll go check on things for you.’

“He said, ‘Oh, no. I’m fine. I’m just sitting her talking and enjoying a drink. I don’t think I’ve even ordered yet.’ I thought, ‘Oh, my lord. They’re just coming here for the atmosphere.’”