“It means everything to me coming back to Dayton,” said King, who also has a Mz. Jade’s location in the northern Cincinnati suburb of Sharonville.
The former food hall location, which she left in June at West Social Tap and Table, necessitated a limited menu.
The new Dayton location will add more items –barbecue, ox tail, lamb chops, burgers and seafood boil bags, for example, as well as shrimp and grits every day. They will be joining old menu favorites like fried chicken wings, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, honey cornbread, candied yams and strawberry banana pudding.
The menu also will include $10 specials, as well as Soul Food Sunday features, she said. Catering also will be offered.
Mz. Jade’s got its start in Middletown eight years ago, with its most recent site in that city closing when the food hall location opened in Dayton in 2024.
“Every time I wanted to eat fried catfish or fried pork chops, nobody sold it in Middletown or the surrounding areas,” she said.
Instead of cooking it for herself alone, she decided to open a pop-up and eventually a brick-and-mortar store. The lines proved that she wasn’t the only one craving the cuisine.
The inspiration for the restaurant came from the time spent cooking with the grandmother who raised her. King learned that when love is included in the recipe, there will be no shortage of diners.
“That’s the main ingredient: Love,” King said.
Hours for the new Dayton location will be noon to 7 p.m., seven days a week. For more information visit https://www.mzjadessoulfood.net or the restaurant’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mzjades.
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