The Matchcover Storyteller

It’s been a fixture in Newport, Minnesota since 1958; the restaurant has morphed a few times, but Tinucci’s is still thriving.

It started when Louis Tinucci and his brother Pat bought a drive-in restaurant in Newport, a Twin Cities east-side suburb.  And the Tinucci story goes back further because the boys grew up working in local St. Paul restaurants until their parents opened one in 1946, Louis’ high school graduation year.  He went to work for them full time, learning the trade.

 The restaurant had a fire in 1974; Tinucci rebuilt it with help from his own sons and they expanded several times before he sold it to them in 1991.  Louis Tinucci died in 2016 at age 87.   The restaurant has become Tinucci’s Catering and Deli. 

 The matchcover is a Universal Cameo (Jewel).   It could wind up with your Italian Restaurants (that’s where mine is headed), or Deli’s, Catering, Minnesota, or Jewels….it’s a versatile cover, and there’s at least one other, a gold 30-strike with a local St. Paul manumark.    Combos?  —  there are both restaurant and wine menus available online,