Dayton restaurant buys 3/4 ton of crab for today’s special

The all-you-can-eat crab special on Fridays during Lent will hit its crescendo tonight, April 14, and Basil's on Market's downtown Dayton restaurant will be ready: it purchased 1,500 pounds of crab for the event.

The promotion has grown in popularity over the last three Fridays. Restaurant officials said last week they had brought in 1,000 pounds and sold nearly all of it. They ordered more for today, a Basil’s spokeswoman said, because the weather has improved — and that means the restaurant’s popular 2,200-square-foot patio, which overlooks the Great Miami River and its fountains, will bring in even more customers than last week.

The deal includes all-you-can-eat crab legs and side dishes for $30, and it's good from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on this Good Friday at the Dayton restaurant at 312 N. Patterson Blvd. The spokeswoman for Basil's said the restaurant is strongly considering bringing back the all-you-can-eat crab special later in the year, and doing it regularly on a designated weeknight, perhaps starting in May, after Mother's Day.

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The downtown Dayton Basil’s opened last July on the ground floor of a retail and office building on North Patterson Boulevard at East Monument Avenue, overlooking the Great Miami River. It’s part of the Water Street mixed-use development along the river.

The 4,800-square-foot restaurant seats 150 to 160 inside, and another 120 or so on a 2,200-square-foot patio overlooking the river and its fountains. Basil’s on Market also operates a restaurant-pub in Troy that opened in 2014.

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