New restaurant coming to Kettering/Destination is popular during Fraze concerts

KETTERING — A restaurant called The Tropics is scheduled to open in the former Lincoln Park Grille/Norton’s space adjacent to Fraze Pavilion in October, the owner of the new venture said Thursday.

Bill Mangan, who with his wife Annette owns the Cherry House Cafe in Beavercreek and One Eyed Jack’s in Fairborn, signed a five-year lease, with two five-year options, on the space Thursday morning. The lease is contingent on Mangan’s ability to obtain a liquor license from the state; Mangan said he has applied for a license and has not heard anything discouraging about his application. He spent part of Thursday afternoon identifying initial renovation with a potential contractor, and he and his wife have devised working menus for the new restaurant.

The restaurant space at at 580 Lincoln Park Blvd. seats 250 inside and 150 on a patio. It is a particularly popular destination during Fraze concert nights, but has been shuttered during this summer’s entire entertainment season after the Pavilion Grille, previously Norton’s, shut down in May.

Gregg Gorsuch, economic development manager for the city of Kettering, praised the extensive restaurant experience of the new owners. The Mangans owned the Peasant Stock Cafes inside the Dayton Mall and Salem Mall from 1987 through 1996, and they owned the Oasis Cafe in Xenia from 1997 through 2005.

“The city’s excited the venue will be reopening, especially with someone such as the Mangans overseeing the restaurant,” Gorsuch said. “With their experience, we foresee this being a fine complement to Fraze Pavilion and a successful year-round operation.”

The Tropics will employ about 30 and will offer lunch, dinner, catering, and late-night musical entertainment, Mangan said. The menu will include burgers, salads, sandwiches, dinner entrees and an extensive appetizer list, and seasonal specials will be on the menu every day.

The restaurant will have a tropical theme in decor and menu, but will not be a Tiki bar, Mangan said. And it has no connection to The Tropics Supper Club, which was a mainstay dining destination on North Main Street in Dayton through the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

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