July restaurant highlights: 4 new, 5 coming soon and 1 closing

New

Olive Mediterranean Grill 

Credit: Photo: Ed Dixon

Credit: Photo: Ed Dixon

Olive Mediterranean Grill has opened its doors at its new location, 44 W. Third St.

The restaurant, a favorite among Best of Dayton voters, opened about three years ago at 6129 N. Dixie Drive in Harrison Twp., Montgomery County.

This Olive should not be confused with Olive: an Urban Dive, which closed in 2015 in the current downtown Dayton home of Arepas & Co Colombian Comfort Food, or the former Green Olive restaurant a few miles south of it on Dixie.

The Vistro Modern Vietnamese 

An Asian-themed food truck is poised to become the latest Dayton-based mobile eatery to make the jump to bricks-and-mortar restaurant — and like its predecessors, it has every intention to keep its food truck operating.

The Vistro food truck launched The Vistro Modern Vietnamese restaurant at 3937 Linden Ave. across from the Eastown Shopping Center in Riverside. The space previously housed Al-Mandi Restaurant & Cafe, and before that, Antojitos Criollos Puerto Rican restaurant.

Myger said he will take his parents’ recipes for Vietnamese dishes such as Pho, the classic soup of Vietnam, and update them and give them an occasional twist with ingredients and presentation. He also plans to serve noodle salads with grilled meats and fresh vegetables.

»»READ MORE: Local Asian food truck opens its brick & mortar restaurant

Leo Bistro 

Leo Bistro, the restaurant inside the Dayton Art Institute, has reopened.

Leo Bistro operates with a “fast-casual” concept, serving soups, made-to-order sandwiches featuring Boar’s Head deli products, and bakery items from Boosalis Bakery of Centerville. It will serve beer and wine, other specialty beverages and Starbucks coffees.

Museum members will continue to receive a discount on purchases at Leo Bistro.

»»READ MORE: Restaurant inside the Dayton Art Institute reopens

Elsa’s Corner Cantina 

Credit: Mark Fisher

Credit: Mark Fisher

The co-owner of Elsa’s Mexican Restaurant has a message for prospective customers of his new cantina-style restaurant in the Sugarcreek Plaza off Wilmington Pike that opened July 5.

“This doesn’t look like your parents’ Elsa’s,” Jason Hemmert said. “And we didn’t want it to be your parents’ Elsa’s.”

The space at 6204 Wilmington Pike in the Sugarcreek Plaza previously housed Caramella’s Italian Kitchen, and, before that, Murphy’s Irish Pub and Barleycorn’s. But it has been renovated extensively.

The kitchen will start off with a fairly straightforward Elsa’s menu, but down the road, will produce specials that, if they prove successful, will find their way onto Elsa’s menus elsewhere, Hemmert said.

»»READ MORE: Elsa's new cantina-style Mexican restaurant "not your mother's"

Coming Soon

Duck Donuts 

Credit: Yvonne Zusel

Credit: Yvonne Zusel

Duck Donuts will be among three tenants in a new retail development breaking ground in Beavercreek soon.

The multi-million dollar development at just under 7,000 square feet will be located in the Target parking lot at 2490 North Fairfield Road.

“It’s hard to find stuff like that that’s highly visible to the road,” said Realtor Kelly Gray, who represents Duck Donuts, the North Carolina-based doughnut shop that will open its second Dayton-area location in the building.

The tenants are expected to open at the Beavercreek location sometime between January and March, depending on when construction begins.

Tudor’s Biscuit World 

The new Tudor’s Biscuit World in Fairborn is expected to open this fall.

Ground broke on the building at 130 N. Broad St. July 16, a second Dayton-area location. The other opened in Xenia eight years ago.

The 2,500-square-foot restaurant will hold 40-50 customers and employ about 20, according to previous reports from the Dayton Daily News.

»»READ MORE: Second Dayton-area Tudor's Biscuit World set to open this fall

Roosters 

A restaurant chain has been approved for changes that will help it move from Miamisburg to a larger site down the street in Miami Twp.

Roosters is adding jobs and plans to put about $1 million in upgrades to the former Caddy’s Tap House site it bought on Springboro Pike, with an aim of opening “in time for football season,” company President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Ponton has said.

Roosters plans to increase its staff from about 95 to about 125 at the new site south of the Dayton Mall, and it will seat about 400, about 25 percent more than its current location, Ponton has said.

»»READ MORE: Restaurant approved, looks to open Miami Twp. site by football season

Shantz Express

Credit: Shantz Express

Credit: Shantz Express

Bill Shancey, the owner of the Shantz Express food truck, says he hopes to open a brick and mortar store by Oct. 1 at 5993 Bigger Road near Bee-Gee’s Market in Kettering. He plans to continue operating the food truck after his business joins the growing list of eateries that started as food trucks.

The food truck is known for its wings, pierogies and Big O pizzas (pepperoni, sausage, bacon, green peppers, and onions ).

A cook for 30 years, Shancey launched his Shantz Express three years ago.

He says his pizza and wings “sell like crazy.”

The new carry-out and delivery restaurant will also sell a variety of subs and cheese fries.

Shancey said he plans to offer “buy one, get one free pizza” deals.

He said the restaurant will be in a good location near the Victoria’s Secret call center and several apartments.

»»Food truck famous for its pizza and wings plans to open restaurant in Kettering

Pho District 

A new Vietnamese restaurant is coming to The Greene Town Center.

The new restaurant, Pho District, will open in the previous Ranch One location beside Cold Stone Creamery, said the town center’s general manager Steve Willshaw.

The opening date of the restaurant isn’t official yet, but owner Hoang Van Nguyen said he hopes to open the restaurant by mid August.

Serving Pho with broth made fresh daily, Vietnamese sandwiches called banh mi and Vietnamese smoothies, Nguyen said he plans to expand his restaurant to three other markets including near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the University of Dayton and Austin Landing in the future. He also wants to eventually package his products to be sold in grocery stores.

Closed

La Gota Coffee 

A coffee shop has closed its downtown Dayton location, according to the property owner.

The 804 Building posted on its Facebook page that La Gota Coffee had permanently closed its shop at the property.

The post stated that the building owners “appreciate everyone who enjoyed visiting us over the past year for coffee.”

The coffee shop opened a little less than a year ago at the 804 E. Monument Ave. building. La Gota branded itself as a place not to rush in and out of but to instead spend time with a quality cup of coffee. The shop also emphasized that it directly sourced its coffee beans from fairly paid farmers.

»»READ MORE: Downtown Dayton coffee shop closed