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Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2010 > November > 01 > Entry
Closed for a year, former Wympee restaurant springs to life
The former Wympee diner and coffee shop at 416 E. Third St., which closed 13 months ago, will become a new restaurant focusing on locally sourced foods to be called “Olive, An Urban Dive.”
The new venture is the brainchild of Kimberly Collett, who serves as event operations manager for the Victoria Theatre Association. Collett, the new restaurant’s owner-operator, is collaborating with chef Matthew DeAngulo, who has worked at a variety of Dayton-area restaurants, including the Paragon Club, King Cole, Olivia’s, Pacchia, Neil’s Heritage House, Zola’s, Cafe Boulevard and Benham’s.
The Wympee diner opened in 1938 and became a part of the fabric of many Daytonians’ lives before it closed in October 2009. Collett said the Taste: Dayton Food and Restaurants story about the closing of Wympee entitled “After 70 years, Dayton restaurant calls it quits”, and the dozens of touching and nostalgic comments from readers that the story prompted, played a role in her decision to locate there.
“I read every comment people made online, and they made me even more determined to make it into something again,” Collett said. “I’ve visited almost every space available downtown and between reconstruction costs and location issues (like parking and visibility) this was hands-down the best deal.
“I’ve been working and playing downtown almost exclusively since 2002, so I can’t imagine having a space anywhere outside of this district. Plus, I love that I get to preserve something even as we make it new, that it’s such a kitschy, challenging space, and I can see the fun we can have with it. Plus it’s a cool little piece of Dayton’s history.”
Renovation of the former Wympee has begun, and Collett — who has worked as suites and catering manager at Fifth-Third Field, managed the former Blue Moon restaurant and oversaw banquets at the Crowne Plaza hotel — will transition out of her job with the Victoria in the coming months. The intent is to open the restaurant in early 2011.
“It’ll take 6-8 weeks to gut and restore the kitchen and dining area, so we’re looking at January for an open. But I don’t want to be stressed about it — I’m more worried about getting it right,” Collett said in an email. “We’ll improve and add to the building in stages after the initial remodel, so people will just have to understand we’re a work in progress and the more they support us, the more we can do.”
The menu, Collett said, will consist of “traditional and interpretations of Mediterranean cuisine, including: Greek, Spanish, Italian, French, Moroccan and Turkish influences. Don’t worry, there will be burgers and regular American food, but we’ll sneak in the healthy wherever we can.
“The Med concept lends itself to gluten-free and vegetarian diets, and makes it easier to use lots of locally grown vegetables. I love a great hamburger and a perfect, medium-rare steak that nobody messed with too much, if at all, so we will be taking our proteins very seriously (if for purely selfish reasons), and we’re converting the kitchen to gas so we can grill them properly.”
Collett said she has already received plenty of encouragement for the new venture, including from her friend Diane Spitzig, owner of the Century Bar, who “gave me the push to seriously look at the space and has been a huge support in dreaming up ways to make it work.” And Collett seems eager to tackle the challenge, despite a struggling regional economy.
“I was ready to step out and see what I know and what I need to learn yet,” she said. “This is a perfect starter business, low operating costs, fun location, in the heart of a downtown that usually supports people who invest in the district, who enjoy good food and good company, and who (I think and hope) will get what we’re doing and support it.”
For more information, including updates on the renovation, check out the Olive, An Urban Dive Facebook Page.
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