El Toro to open 10th area restaurant

Mexican fare will be served at former Don Pablo’s in Butler Twp.
Business
By Mark Fisher
July 12, 2011
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A new El Toro Bar and Grill is scheduled to open later this summer following an $850,000 expansion and renovation. The former Don Pablo’s restaurant at 6870 Miller Lane in Butler Twp. will be the location of the new restaurant, according to Abdul Alnobani, a spokesman for the Munoz family that owns the Dayton-based chain of Mexican restaurants.

The new El Toro will seat 350 indoors and on a new second-floor patio, and the restaurant will employ about 35 people, said Alnobani, who is CEO of Izis Holding Co. of Springfield and has been general contractor for El Toro’s restaurants since 2003. The Miller Lane location will be the 10th restaurant in the Dayton-based chain, which has locations in Huber Heights, Riverside, Vandalia, Beavercreek, Miami Twp., Bellbrook and Springfield. It is scheduled to open later this summer, perhaps in early August, Alnobani said.

The Miller Lane restaurant has been vacant since Don Pablo’s closed in January 2008. El Toro’s owners were attracted by the concentration of motels and restaurants on and around Miller Lane, Alnobani said. “It’s a live gathering area,” he said.

Alex Kolodesh of Singer Properties, co-owner of the property, said El Toro has signed a long-term lease on the building. El Toro’s owners are looking to expand outside the Dayton-Springfield area, using the new Miller Lane restaurant as a prototype, Alnobani said. El Toro was founded in 2000.

Artisans Cafe owners Pam and Joe Heintz announced the closing “with great sadness” in an email to customers late Sunday night.

Sales at the restaurant were down about 40 percent this year, Heintz said in an interview Monday. She and her husband will be the owners of Plate O’ Noodles, which is scheduled to open Aug. 3.

And in Clayton, Artisans Cafe, 8351 N. Main St. in the Randolph Plaza, will close July 23, co-owner Pam Heintz said Monday. Another restaurant called Plate O’ Noodles will open in the same space in early August, Heintz said.

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About the Author

Mark Fisher, a 1981 graduate of Ohio State University and a 1976 graduate of Beavercreek High School, is a third-generation Dayton-area resident who has worked for the Dayton Daily News since 1983. He covered higher education and K-12 education accountability issues for nearly 20 years before taking over the food and dining beat in 2006.