Taste: Dayton food and restaurants

McDonald’s unveils new 1/3-lb. burger today

By Mark Fisher | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 03:28 PM

McDonald’s is unveiling its first new burger addition to its permanent menu in eight years today (7-2-09).

The sandwich is called the “Angus Third Pounder,” a 6-ounce burger available in three styles: the Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese, and Mushroom & Swiss.

Check out some of the “new-burger coverage” in Fast Food News and in Chain Leader and in the Chicago Tribune, whose “Cheeseburger bureau chief” tasted the three burgers and proclaimed the mushroom & swiss his favorite.

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Free fish tacos for one day only

By Mark Fisher | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 08:09 AM

Long John Silver’s is offering a “Free Baja Fish Taco Day” on July 14, when the seafood chain will give away samples of its new menu item from open until 2:30 p.m.

There are several LJS’s in southwest and west-central Ohio, and you can use the Long John Silver’s store locator page on the company’s web site to find the restaurant closest to you. The Baja Fish Taco regularly sells for 99 cents.

The chain’s own web promotion acknowledges that the new dish “Sounds weird, tastes delicious” … kind of an odd endorsement, isn’t it?

Check out this Nation’s Restaurant News story for more on the promotion/giveaway.

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New, locally owned steakhouse to open in Troy

By Mark Fisher | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 11:35 AM

It’s been just a little more than a year since we told you about CJ’s HighMarks Restaurant in Troy shutting its doors. Now 44-year-old Kent Wolters of Tipp City has leased the building at 1750 W. Main St. with the intention of opening a fine-dining restaurant there tentatively named Kent’s Steakhouse.

The projected opening date is sometime in September, Wolters said this morning, July 1.

Wolters works as a district manager for Crown Equipment Corp. of New Bremen and also races sprint cars at Eldora.

“I’ve always wanted to be in the restaurant business,” Wolters said. He noticed the “for lease” sign on the former HighMarks facility and worked out a deal.

Wolters said he’s unsure of the restaurant name, since “Kent’s Steakhouse” may be too limiting to describe a menu that is expected to include seafood and pasta dishes in addition to steaks.

“We’ll have premium food at a good value, and a full wine list,” Wolters said. The restaurant will have a full liquor license, he said.

He hopes to hire a general manager in the next few days and will then move forward with renovations.

The president of CJ’s HighMarks chose not to renew the lease last year for the restaurant that opened in 1990.

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National restaurant industry outlook darkened in May

By Mark Fisher | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 02:54 PM

The national outlook for restaurants darkened a bit in May as the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index posted its first decline in five months, according to this National Restaurant Association news release.

An observation and a question: the restaurant association releases these monthly surveys on the last business day of each month, interpreting the results from the previous month’s survey (for example, the June 30 release covers May, not June). So these surveys are by definition at least slightly out of date by the time of their release. No slam against the association, which needs time to gather and interpret a large amount of data, but the timeliness of these releases isn’t the freshest.

And the question: How closely do these national restaurant industry surveys mirror the Dayton-area situation? Are they an accurate barometer of the state of the restaurant industry in the Miami Valley?

Okay, that was two questions.

Here’s a key quote from the restaurant association’s news release:

“With the performance of the current situation indicators holding relatively steady in May, the RPI’s decline was the result of restaurant operators’ dampened outlook for each of the four forward-looking indicators,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of Research and Information Services for the Association. “Although restaurant operators remain relatively optimistic that economic conditions will improve in six months, their outlook for sales growth and capital spending activity softened somewhat.”

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Restaurants plan culinary fireworks for July 4 weekend

By Mark Fisher | Monday, June 29, 2009, 12:00 PM

July 4 falls on a Saturday this year, and restaurants are taking different tacks to celebrate Independence Day.

I’ve heard from two Dayton-area fine-dining establishments that are planning special, and more relaxed, menus and events: Savona in Centerville will be open starting at noon on July 4 and will be serving Margaritas, Sangria and Beer, Keith Taylor, Savona’s chef-owner, said in an email. . “Outside I will be grilling out Steak and Mahi Tacos, and Italian Sausage. We will be serving pepperoni and cheese Pizza inside.”

L’Auberge in Kettering also will be open on the holiday, and is, in fact, promising “fireworks on the grill,” according to the restaurant’s general manager, Brian DeMarke. Chef Romy Jung will step out of the restaurant’s kitchen and man the grills. Entree choices include the L’Auberge Prime Burger, Salmon Burgers, shrimp or chicken kabobs, and Grilled Flat Iron Steak.

And for those of you in the southern climes, or willing to drive a bit, all of the Montgomery Inn restaurants are offering an all-the-ribs-you-can-eat-for-$19.95 special on July 3, 4 and 5 at all of its restaurants, according to Rick Knapp, general manager of the “original” Montgomery Inn location. Last year, customers polished off a staggering 10 tons of ribs during the full weekend promotion. Knapp said the restaurants are “even going to be open for lunch on Saturday to allow more people the opportunity to take advantage” of the deal, which is for in-house dining only and … no sharing.

One restaurant that I know is taking the holiday off: Rue Dumaine.

If you know of a restaurant (or if you’re a restaurant owner/manager) that is having July 4 specials, please share the news with our readers by posting a comment on this entry.

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Chef from The Caroline wins first-ever MVRA Chef Quest Challenge

By Mark Fisher | Monday, June 29, 2009, 05:44 AM

Damian Bumgarner starts to prepare his winning dish

They had no idea what ingredients they’d be working with, they had only five minutes to organize those mystery ingredients, a scant 45 minutes to cook everything and arrange the main dish and sides on a plate, and oh yeah, they were working in a strange kitchen with brand new appliances they’d never before encountered.

Yet all three of the finalists in the Miami Valley Restaurant Association’s “Chef Quest Challenge” — held Saturday, June 27 at the Home Builders Association of Dayton’s Questival event at the Soraya Farms community — came up with creative, attractive and delicious dishes under the intense “Iron Chef”-like conditions.

After several minutes of closed-door deliberations by five judges (I was one of them), the winner was announced: Damian Bumgarner, chef for The Caroline in Troy, captured the first-ever Chef Quest championship for his Sauteed Tilapia Almondine: Oat-Encrusted Tilapia over Lentils with Plantain and Kale Salad.”

Trophies handed out to the top three finalists in the Chef Quest Challenge

If you haven’t seen that dish on any restaurant menus lately, hey, we said the ingredients list was a challenge. And the chefs had to use some of each ingredient listed, which for the finals included tilapia, eggs, lentils, raisins, kale, plantains, Vidalia onions, rolled oats, almonds, orange juice, red peppers and lemons.

Second place honors went to l’Auberge’s executive chef Romy Jung, and Jay’s Restaurant executive chef Justin White captured third. The three finalists were the top three finishers in an “elimination round” held the previous week at the Questival.

Both weeks, members of the judging panel tasted the final dishes “blind” — we didn’t know the dish’s preparer. I was joined on the tasting panel by Graham Bailey and Barb Acker of Vectren, Lance Oakes from Design Homes and Development and Marty Coates, president of the Home Builders Association of Dayton. We thought about declaring a three-way tie so we could be served another free feast again a week later, but eventually came to consensus on the winner, in part because we liked his preparation of the fish best.

Bumgarner was humble in victory — no excessive celebration dance in the end zone or anything — and said he tries to focus his cooking on dishes that he would enjoy eating.

Can’t beat that approach — at least, not this year. But next year, the challengers will be sharpening their knives.

L’Auberge chef Romy Jung

Jay’s chef Justin White

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New Sonic Drive-In opens in Huber Heights

By Mark Fisher | Friday, June 26, 2009, 11:40 AM

A new Sonic Drive-In has opened at 7888 Brandt Pike in Huber Heights.

The Sonic is the 15th to open in the Dayton and west-central Ohio region in the last two years. Houchens Industries, which owns the Dayton-area franchises, has said it wants to open 29 restaurants in the region. The franchisee, however, has closed one of the region’s Sonic restaurants, in Piqua, about a month ago, less than a year after it had opened.

Construction will begin soon on a new Sonic to be built on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road across from Fairborn High School, a Houchens Industries/Sonic spokesman said earlier this year.

Oklahoma City-based Sonic operated more than 3,500 drive-in fast-food restaurants across the country. It’s known for its carhop service and for menu items such as hamburgers and sandwiches served on thick Texas Toast, cheese coneys and onion rings.

The new Huber Heights Sonic, located on a tract that once housed Stapleton Automotive, is open from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. The drive-in’s phone number is (937) 938-9271.

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