Which restaurants are open on Thanksgiving Day?

By Mark Fisher | Monday, November 9, 2009, 03:59 PM

If your restaurant is open on Thanksgiving Day and offering some kind of special holiday menu that day, please email us and provide the following information: Restaurant name, address, phone number, hours on Thanksgiving Day, a brief description of what you’re serving, price, and whether reservations are required. We’ll assemble a list and post it online at www.daytondailynews.com/go/taste and publish it in the Dayton Daily News on Nov. 20. Send your email to at mfisher@daytondailynews.com.

And if you’d like, post the same information in the form of a comment to let potential customers know of your plans.

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Couple accused of poisoning restaurant customers

By Mark Fisher | Monday, November 9, 2009, 11:57 AM

Two former employees of a Mexican restaurant in Lenexa, Kansas have been charged with intentionally poisoning as many as 48 diners in two separate incidents, according to this story from Nation’s Restaurant News and this KansasCity.com story.

The stories suggest that a disgruntled 30-year-old ex-employee was trying to get revenge against the restaurant’s owner, whom he blamed for the loss of his job. The man’s 19-year-old wife, also an ex-employee, was also charged. They are accused of mixing a pesticide into the restaurant’s salsa, sickening 12 customers on Aug. 11 and 36 more customers in a subsequent incident on Aug. 30.

We’ve had incidents of mass food-poisonings in this part of Ohio, but none that were caused intentionally, to my recollection. Nasty.

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New pizza joint near UD welcomes night owls

By Mark Fisher | Friday, November 6, 2009, 06:44 AM

A new carryout and delivery pizza restaurant, Pie Pizzeria, has opened at 1910 Brown St. near the campus of the University of Dayton.

The new pizza place caters to night owls: Pie Pizzeria stays open until 4 a.m. Thursday through Sunday, and until 3 a.m. Monday through Wednesday. It opens at 11 a.m. daily.

Pie Pizzeria is owned by Craig Hatfield of Dayton, who said he has always wanted to own a restaurant. Pie Pizzeria specializes in New York-style pizza by the slice, and offers 16-inch and 18-inch specialty pizzas with nicknames such as the Brooklyn Brawler, Park Avenue Chicken, Madison Square Garden and Broadway Barbecue. The menu also includes oven-baked sandwiches, pasta dishes and salads.

If those pizza nicknames sound familiar to what’s served at Johnny’s Pizzeria — A Slice of New York in Centerville, they are. Hatfield said he has been friends with Johnny’s co-owner Johnny Rivera for 10 years, and Rivera was behind the counter helping Hatfield on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 5.

Pie Pizzeria employs 16 people. It is located just north of the Brown Street-Irving Avenue intersection, near the Pine Club restaurant. For more information, call (937) 228-4743.

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Ribbon-cutting today for downtown coffee shop

By Mark Fisher | Friday, November 6, 2009, 05:48 AM

Downtown Dayton’s newest coffee shop — The Ohio Coffee Co., 46 W. Fifth St. — will host a ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration at 7 p.m. today, Nov. 6.

The coffee shop and cafe at the corner of South Ludlow and West Fifth streets, owned by Rob Gray and Rebecca Ledingham, opened its doors on Oct. 1. It offers homemade baked goods, organic teas and coffee from a variety of roasters.

Tonight’s festivities will include food samples from the coffee shop’s menu, live music from five acoustic acts, and a display of the work from local artists.

The Ohio Coffee Co. is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended evening hours on First Fridays. For more information, call (937) 228-5282.

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Judge extends order shutting down Kettering sports bar

By Mark Fisher | Thursday, November 5, 2009, 06:10 PM

A judge has extended her order shutting down All Stars Sports & Wings in Kettering for at least another week.

A hearing on Thursday, Nov. 5, to determine whether Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara Gorman would grant a preliminary injunction shutting down the sports bar did not wrap up as expected. Gorman will hear additional testimony Tuesday, Nov. 10 and promised a decision by Thursday, Nov. 12 that will determine whether All-Stars can reopen or must remain closed as a civil lawsuit against the sports bar and its owner, Todd Hicks of Beavercreek, moves forward. In the meantime, however, Gorman extended the temporary restraining order that All-Stars must close.

All Stars Sports & Wings opened Sept. 13 in the 4139 Wilmington Pike building that housed a Grindstone Charley’s restaurant until early 2008. The lawsuit against the sports bar and its owner was filed by 8-Ball & Wings, 4515 Salem Ave., Trotwood, and its owner Theodore Somerset, who purchased the sports bar from Hicks in April 2009.

Hicks signed a “non-compete” agreement as part of the sale in which Hicks agreed he would not become involved with a competing sports bar within a radius of 20 miles of the sports bar on Salem Avenue. The lawsuit contends that All-Sports “lies within 20 miles” of 8-Ball & Wings, and that the Trotwood sports bar has suffered a loss of revenue from “the diversion of customers from plaintiff’s business to defendant’s business” and by confusion over the 8-Ball & Wings trademark.

Hicks testified Thursday that his new business is very different from his former one — more of a family restaurant rather than a bar. Somerset testified that the businesses are similar and have a similar menu focus on chicken wings

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College student to open restaurant in Miami Twp.

By Mark Fisher | Thursday, November 5, 2009, 06:59 AM

MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — A new Indian restaurant is poised to open at 9632 Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) — and it’s owned by a college senior who will operate the restaurant with help from his family.

Named Namaste India, the 1,700-square feet restaurant has seating for about 36 people and is located in the strip shopping center that also houses a Scrambler Marie’s restaurant. Its goal is to “provide our customers with the best tasting and largest varieties of Indian food without the long wait and high prices,” according to its web site, which says it will offer “North Indian, South Indian, Gujarati, Indo-Chinese, Chaats and even our exclusive Indian Wraps.” Click here to read the restaurant’s menu.

Namaste India is owned by Sunny Thakkar, a senior at the University of Cincinnati finishing up a psychology degree.

In an email, Thakkar wrote, “We want to bring something fairly new to Dayton — Indian fast food, where there will be a large variety, delivered fast and at a low cost.”

Thakkar said his parents have been successful restaurateurs, “and I want to follow in their footsteps.” His parents and sister will provide “a helping hand” in operating the restaurant, Thakkar said.

The restaurant will open soon, but no date has been set yet, the restaurant owner said. When it does open, Namaste India’s phone number will be (937) 433-0101.

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2 new, competing restaurants coming to Troy

By Mark Fisher | Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 10:50 AM

Two new restaurants are coming to Troy — and they’ll compete head-to-head for the burrito market.

Hot Head Burritos will open a restaurant on South Dorset Road just north of Ohio 55 and east of I-75, according to Hot Head co-owner Ray Wiley. Located in a strip shopping center that includes a Subway and a Boston Stoker, the new Hot Head will be the eighth for the small Dayton-based chain that Wiley co-founded.

“We’re shooting for Dec. 15” to open, Wiley said. Customer requests from Troy-area residents who inquired online and at the Huber Heights Hot Head restaurant prompted Wiley to look into a Troy location, he said. The restaurant will open with about 15 employees, Wiley said.

Another burrito specialist, Chipotle, is preparing to open a restaurant on West Main Street west of I-75, in a small strip shopping center in front of the Meijer store that also houses a Panera Bread restaurant.

The 2,400-square-feet restaurant is projected to open in early 2010, said Chipotle spokeswoman Jenna Simenic. It will seat 48 people. Most new Chipotle restaurants open with about 30 employees, Simenic said.

The Denver-based chain operates 900 restaurants nationwide.

Troy Development Director Jim Dando said the two new restaurants will add to an already robust restaurant scene offering south-of-the-border cuisine, including El Sombrero, La Fiesta, El Rancho Grande and Taco Bell.

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