New pizza-and-craft-beer restaurant to open near downtown Dayton

A new, locally owned restaurant called Old Scratch Pizza is gearing up to open this summer at 800 S. Patterson Blvd. near Miami Valley Hospital and on the edge of downtown Dayton.

Eric and Stephanie Soller of Oakwood — the husband-and-wife founders of Old Scratch Pizza who met while both were attending and later graduating from the New England Culinary Institute — are creating a pizzeria and beer hall that will have communal seating and a casual environment, and will “celebrate the spirit of Neopolitan pizza,” Eric Soller said this morning.

The 6,000-square-foot restaurant will have an open warehouse-like environment, with several wood-fired pizza ovens open to a large, 125-seat dining hall, Soller said. It will feature a variety of craft beers on tap.

Old Scratch Pizza could open as early as late summer, Soller said. It will be open for lunch and dinner, and will employ 30 to 40 people, he said.

Eric Soller served as operations manager for Solganik Food Group for six years until 2006, and has managed hotel and catering kitchens in Oregon, Michigan and Colorado.

Former Dayton restaurant owner and caterer Howard Solganik said Soller was instrumental to several of the high-profile catering projects he undertook at the Schuster Center and downtown. “Eric is a seasoned, high-quality restaurateur and foodie,” Solganik said this morning.

Neopolitan-style pizza has a thin crust and cooks quickly — in about 90 seconds — in 800-degree ovens. Soller said the restaurant will offer counter service but will not be a fast-casual restaurant, with its assembly-line service style similar to other fast-bake pizza chains that have opened or made plans to open in the region in recent months.

Soller said Old Scratch Pizza’s location will benefit from its proximity to downtown Dayton, Miami Valley Hospital and the University of Dayton, including nearby UD Arena. It also will have ample parking in its own lot of more than 40 spaces plus on-street parking surrounding the restaurant, he said.

Renovations are under way at the restaurant, which will be located at the corner of South Patterson Boulevard and Stout Street, across from a Grismer Tire & Auto store.

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