By Nick Gonnella
NKyTribune contributor
Rima David, the owner of Rima’s Diner in Covington, has always honored her late father, Basheer David, and appreciated his support throughout her life.
Basheer, one of four brothers who co-founded Gold Star Chili, had hoped that his daughter would open up a Gold Star of her own and David never took Basheer’s love or encouragement for granted.
However, the path she chose to take differed from her father’s.
“My father always wanted me to follow in his footsteps and open up a Gold Star, but I’ve liked cooking since I was a little girl,” said Rima, the youngest of three. “I’m just one woman who’s wanted to cook since I was a child. I always love to entertain at home and love to cook, and people to love my cooking, so I just did my own thing and my father was very proud of me.”
Basheer David, whom Rima called her best friend, died in 2008.
“He was my best supporter and I miss him terribly,” David said. “He just always cheered me on.”
David, who grew up in the Fort Mitchell area and attended Dixie Heights High School, opened Rima’s Diner in Crescent Springs in 2004. She then opened the Covington location for the first time more than eight years ago.
The decline in her father’s health and his subsequent death took a toll on her – and the Covington restaurant – which she closed in 2009.
“The business had been hurt so badly by my staff, because I couldn’t be here – and that’s a shame, because it was such a great little business,” David said. “I’ve been here for a long time, and the first time I was here, the business was great. After my father passed, and I came back, it was a matter of ‘can I bring this back and ignore Crescent Springs’? So I just closed it up.”
The Covington location sat empty for four years, but has now been open again, at the corner of Madison Avenue and West Seventh Street for nearly two years. David closed the Crescent Springs restaurant in April, 2014.
“Crescent Springs was a great place to work and the customers were great,” David said. “Selling Crescent Springs was like selling one of my babies.”
What encouraged David the most to reopen in Covington was the growth and potential she saw in the area, notably Hotel Covington, set to open across the street from Rima’s Diner next summer, luxury apartments, Braxton Brewery, and Gateway Community and Technical College’s new Urban Campus.
“I’m very excited for Covington,” she said. “We’re in a great location, right in the middle of everything. Once the hotel comes in, it’s going to make a big difference (and) it’s going to really dress up the place. Covington’s really starting to grow.”
Along with her own recipes and home-cooked meals, Rima’s guests will notice the 1950s-themed décor, with photos of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and other celebrities adorning the walls.
“I love the 50’s era, and Frank Sinatra,” she said. “I just love the comfortable feel. When you come here, I want to you feel at home.”
Rima’s Diner (also known as Rima D’s) is a spin-off of The Porch restaurant in Russell Springs,located in the Lake Cumberland area. Rima moved from Northern Kentucky to Russell Springs in 1992 and opened The Porch in 1995.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to Rima’s home-cooked food, homemade desserts, service, prices, and atmosphere, she decided to bring the same home-style dining to Crescent Springs.
Rima’s best friend, Connie Miller, of Jamestown, manages The Porch Restaurant.
“We have a home-cooked buffet,” she said. “All the holidays are a busy day at Rima’s.”
Rima touted the diner’s wide variety of choices for different tastes and dietary needs, including ‘stick-to-your-ribs’ food, black beans and rice, grilled chicken, vegetarian, healthy and low-fat options
“We try to cater to everyone’s diet,” she said.
The mashed potatoes are made from scratch and the desserts are too. The country fried steak is breaded in Rima’s own homemade breading.
The Covington bill of fare is a bit different from the Crescent Springs menu.
Undated photo of Madison Avenue in Covington. Rima’s Diner is located in the space once occupied by the Kroger grocery store (photo provided by Rima David).
“We have played around with different specials and different menu items from Crescent Springs to here,” she said. “In Crescent Springs, we didn’t really offer gluten free, and so forth. Now that I know that the public is more self-conscious about this, even myself, I try to offer whatever I would like if I went into a restaurant. I can guarantee you, everything that I make here, I will eat, I have made and I have eaten, or I have served it to my family growing up.”
Rima’s Diner offers an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet for $9.99 on Sundays The restaurant is open on Thanksgiving and Christmas and serves a Holiday Buffet for $15.99, which includes an expanded menu.
“I’ve been in this business for almost 12 years, and the price has never changed. It’s ridiculously low,” she said with a laugh. “It’s a great buffet. With a mixture of breakfast and lunch foods, plus an omelet station.”
Sergio Espinosa, the diner’s cook, offers Mexican Mondays with taco salad and chicken quesadillas. He has worked with Rima for nine years and moved with her from the Crescent Springs location, David said she is proud of her staff for helping her make the diner a go-to place in Northern Kentucky.
“We’re all working hard,” she said. “We have a small family here that’s working hard to make Rima’s successful like it was in Crescent Springs.”
David admits that after the first experience in Covington, she has had to work hard to earn the trust of her customers again.
“We’ve had some misfortunes here, but I can assure you – it’s the same food,” David said. “They’re all my recipes, and I’m trying to make sure that the service is good, the atmosphere is good. We have the same music, the same everything that was in Crescent Springs.”
David has listed the restaurant for sale to gauge interest and because she recently adopted her granddaughter, whom she has raised since birth. The challenges associated with operating a restaurant, which often operates on thin margins in the best of times, and raising a child are daunting, but she perseveres.
She said, however, she remains dedicated to the business and to downtown Covington.
“I was and still am very excited about my diner in Covington and I always have been when it comes to any kind of restaurant business. That has been my passion all my life, ” David said. “I’m very grateful for (my loyal customers) and I hope to see Covington flourish and me with them.”
David is steadfast in her dream of seeing Covington transform into a magical community.
“I’m glad Covington is doing something to spruce up, because there is so much historical beauty,” she said. “I’ve always envisioned how beautiful the street can be. It can, and that’s what it’s leading to.”
She is excited for the diner to be a part of that renaissance.
“I think it’ll do great. Right now, the customers that we have – whether they’re first-timers, my old customers from Crescent Springs, or people who used to come in when I was open (in Covington) – they’re loving the food and they’re loving the service now. I get to see some of my old customers now, and it’s great.”
Rima’s Diner is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The diner closes at 3 p.m. when groups book private events and holiday parties.