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Monday, June 22, 2009
Both sides urge judge to allow Duke’s to reopen
DAYTON — Attorneys for both sides of a civil lawsuit urged a federal judge on Monday, June 22 to allow Duke’s Restaurant in West Carrollton to reopen, but with one key difference.
The attorney for former Dominic’s restaurant owner Anne B. Mantia wants the judge to limit the Duke’s menu so the new restaurant doesn’t serve dishes similar to those once served at the former Dominic’s. The attorney for Duke’s owner Reece Powers III wants no such restrictions.
U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose heard testimony from Mantia and from three employees of Duke’s as part of the hearing on whether to grant Mantia a preliminary injunction in the trademark-infringement case. The case has already resulted in a court order shutting down Duke’s, which opened May 1 but was forced to close two weeks later. Rose did not rule immediately Monday but told attorneys he would issue a ruling later this week.
A preliminary injunction, if granted, would mark an intermediate step between the existing temporary restraining order that forced the restaurant to close and a potential permanent injunction. Attorneys have not yet taken up the issues involving possible monetary damages in the case in which Anne Mantia sued Powers along with Duke’s (and former Dominic’s) chef Harry Lee and Christie Mantia, the granddaughter of Dominic’s founder Dominic Mantia. Christie once co-owned Dominic’s with Anne Mantia — her former stepmother — before accepting a $460,000 buyout offer that required her to refrain from using the name “Dominic’s.”
Powers’ attorneys said in court that Christie Mantia was terminated before Duke’s opened and is no longer involved with the restaurant. On Monday, Christie Mantia’s attorney, Nicholas Subashi of Dayton, asked the judge to throw out the case against his client, arguing it was based solely on a March 19 Dayton Daily News article in which Christie says the new, then-unnamed restaurant would be similar to Dominic’s and would be serving Dominic’s original recipes.
Judge Rose did not issue an immediate ruling on the case against Christie.
Thomas Intili, attorney for Powers and Lee, said the restaurant has done everything possible to purge any references or connection with Dominic’s — including dissolving the corporation set up by Powers that had been named “Dominic’s Restaurant Inc.” — and thus should be allowed to reopen with no menu restrictions.
But James Morris, Anne Mantia’s attorney, argued that actions and statements by Powers and Christie Mantia improperly sought to capitalize on the Dominic’s connection.
“There’s still substantial confusion among the customer base,” Morris said. “Yes, we want the restaurant to reopen. No, we don’t want them to serve the items served by Dominic’s.”
Intili said there’s “nothing novel or unique about Italian food” and noted that the forced closure has been an extreme hardship on former Duke’s employees. He said any court order extending the forced closure pending the outcome of the case would likely “spell the end of Duke’s restaurant.”
Duke’s employees Hillary Harber of West Carrollton, Terri Gray of Moraine and Erin Harvey of Springboro testified about the financial hardships they’ve endured since the restaurant was forced to close. Harber, a cook, said she was “about to be evicted from my home” and may have to return to Tennessee soon because of the financial hardship. Gray, a server, said she has medical bills she cannot pay but has not looked for another job because she holds out hope Duke’s will be allowed to reopen.
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Tweet3 Dayton-area restaurant chefs move on to finals
Three local restaurant chefs — Jay’s Restaurant’s Justin White, l’Auberge’s Romy Jung and The Caroline’s Damian Bumgarner — survived the first elimination round of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association’s “Chef Quest Challenge” on Saturday, June 20.
The three chefs advance to a final cook-off, the judging for which begins at 2 p.m. next Saturday, June 27, at the Soraya Farms community on Ohio 48 between Social Row Road and Lytle Five Points Road in Clearcreek Twp. in Warren County. Just as they did in the initial elimination round, the finalists will have to quickly devise and cook a dish from a “blind basket” of ingredients, and a single “Chef Quest Challenge Winner” will be declared. The event is part of the Home Builders Association of Dayton’s “Questival,” which this year replaced the annual Homearama event, and the chef competition is put on by the Miami Valley Restaurant Association.
I served on the five-member panel of judges Saturday with representatives of the home-builders association, the Oakwood Register and Vectren. We judged “blind” — we did not know which dish came from which restaurant.
All of the judges were amazed and impressed at the wide variety of interpretations each of the seven chefs came up with from the surprise basket, which included chicken breast, onions, mushrooms, lemons, limes, mango, ginger, spinach, sweet potatoes, leeks and cajun spice. YOU try concocting a fine-dining dish out of those ingredients, under intense deadline pressure. Every chef did an excellent job under very difficult conditions — especially since they were working in strange kitchens, preparing the meals in separate homes that were on display as part of the Questival.
Other participants courageous enough to enter the contest and sacrifice a nerve-wracking Saturday afternoon included C’est Tout Chef Dominique Fortin, Cafe Boulevard Chef Rae Rosbough, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse Chef Jeff Vega, and Rue Dumaine Chef Anne Kearney.
The winning dishes — selected in no particular order — were:
— Justin White, Jay’s: Honey-Spiced Glazed Chicken Breast served with Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms and Leeks and Spinach Salad with a White Wine-Mango Vinaigrette.
— Damian Bumgarner, The Caroline (Troy): Rosemary Grilled Chicken Breast on Portobello Mushrooms with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Leek Butter, accompanied by a Spinach Salad with Leeks and Mango Dressing.
— Romy Jung, l’Auberge: Cajun-Spiced Chicken Roulade Deglazed with Lime and Honey, served with Chicken Jus, Fried Leeks and Mango Chutney, with Puree of Sweet Potatoes.
I’m scheduled to return for the final round of judging this Saturday, when the chefs will confront an entirely different mystery basket of ingredients and will be forced to come up with another dish — very, very quickly.
This should be fun. Come out to Soraya Farms at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 27, and enjoy the “questivities.”
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