RIDGWAY – The True Grit Café is under contract for sale to a new owner. On May 22, Zach and Chelsey Choate will take ownership of the iconic Ridgway restaurant, located at 123 N. Lena.

Soon-to-be owner Zach Choate said that he and wife Chelsey plan to keep the restaurant the same, with only minor changes. “There might be a couple of little menu item changes, and we’re thinking of implementing something to help the community toward raising funds for the gym and music room,” Choate said.

A resident of Ouray County for over eight years, Choate graduated from Ouray High School. Chelsey has lived in Ouray County for nine years and graduated from Ridgway High School. The two were married in January 2007 and have a 9-month-old son, Caden.

Choate has experience in the restaurant industry, having worked at The Outlaw in Ouray for two years, doing “whatever was needed,” he said. He also worked at a five-star restaurant in Missouri where he went to college.

Choate isn’t the only one in his family to get into the restaurant business. Brother Paul Choate and partner Roger Schafer will soon open the doors to Ridgway’s Switchback Tavern in the new Silver San Juan Building at 630 Sherman Street.

Current owners of the True Grit, Dale and Tammee Tuttle, have operated the restaurant for 12 years. At the end of the summer, they will relocate to Missouri, near Dale’s family in Oklahoma.

“We’re excited and scared all at the same time,” Tammee said. She will remain at the restaurant through the third week of June to assist the Choates with the transition.

Choate is currently training at the restaurant in order to assume management as soon as the transaction has closed. He invited the public to come by and meet him or Chelsey. The restaurant will close for a day on May 22 in order to make the changeover, reopening under new management on May 23.