Restaurant highlights from September: 9 openings, 5 coming soon and 4 closing

Last month, the Dayton dining scene was busy with exciting and interesting openings.

Glo Juice Bar + Café, a cold-pressed juice and smoothie shop, opened near the University of Dayton, and comic book fans can dine on foods named for super heroes at Nimbus Comic Café in Trotwood. Club Oceano, a locally owned and independent seafood restaurant, opened at The Greene.

In disappointing news, MOD Pizza restaurant, open for two years at the Cornerstone of Centerville, abruptly shut down, and local franchise owners did not say why. A second Dayton-area location remains open in Englewood

Here’s a look back at the restaurant news for September.

Openings

 

Heavenly Divine Vegetarian Indian & Kosher Food 

Credit: Mark Fisher

Credit: Mark Fisher

The Miami Valley has its first kosher vegetarian restaurant that specializes in Indian dishes.

Heavenly Divine Vegetarian Indian & Kosher Food is located at 9486 N. Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in Miami Twp., which previously housed Persis Biryani Indian Grill.

The restaurant offers a wide-ranging menu that includes Tandoori appetizers, curries, Indo-Chinese dishes, South Indian specialties such as Dosa and Uthappam, Chaat items, rice dishes and a variety of pastries.

>>READ MORE: The Dayton area’s 1st vegetarian Indian kosher restaurant is now open

OinkADoodleMoo & Brew 

The former Dark Horse Tavern in Miamisburg has been brought back to life as a new concept by a locally owned, independent barbecue chain.

OinkADoodleMoo & Brew is now open at 209 Byers Road in Miamisburg. It offers a full-service bar and musical entertainment, ranging from acoustic acts during the week to karaoke on Friday nights and to live bands on Saturday nights.

>>READ MORE: Local BBQ chain’s new-concept restaurant in Miamisburg now open

Qdoba Mexican Grill 

The new Qdoba Mexican Grill, 1524 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, at Washington Village Drive, has opened.

Qdoba shut down its previous Dayton Mall-area location at 2008 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in late July.

San Diego-based Qdoba, a fast-casual restaurant, was founded in 1995 and operates more than 700 restaurants in 47 states.

>>READ MORE: New Qdoba Mexican Grill near Centerville now open

Glo Juice Bar + Café 

Glo Juice Bar + Cafe, a cold-pressed juice and smoothie shop that has been in the works at 1120 Brown St. since 2017, opened its doors to the public Sept. 30.

The juice shop will also offer smoothie bowls, raw vegan desserts, toasts, and organic baby food seven days a week.

All of Glo’s cold-pressed juice and smoothie products are made in-house with no added sugars. All items are gluten-free and vegan friendly. The company is partnering with Taste-T-Love Baby Food to sell organic baby foods.

>>READ MORE: Glo Juice Bar and Café  now open on Brown Street

Club Oceano

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

One of the highest-profile restaurant openings at The Greene Town Center in recent years was held Sept. 18 for Club Oceano.

The locally owned and independent restaurant seats 280 and overlooks The Greene’s town square. It fills the 8,000-square-foot space that previously housed McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant, which shut down in September 2017.

>>READ MORE: Here’s a visual taste of the seafood served at the new restaurant at The Greene

La Catrina Street Tacos & Tequila 

The new La Catrina Street Tacos & Tequila restaurant at 845 W. Market St. in has opened.

The 5,000-square-foot restaurant at 845 W. Market St. will seat more than 200.

“The menu is not what you would find in a typical Mexican restaurant,” Stephania Villalpando, co-founder and co-owner said. “We will focus on more traditional Mexican dishes, with fresh ingredients, made on site.” And La Catrina will work with local businesses and purveyors, and plans to use bread from The Bakehouse for its tortas, or Mexican-style sandwiches, she said.

>>READ MORE: Ribbon-cutting set for new Mexican restaurant in Troy

Locktenders Restaurant 

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Locktender’s Restaurant, a restaurant three years in the making, opened at 10 W. High St. in Piqua, Sept. 10.

Located on the ground floor of the city-owned historic Fort Piqua Plaza downtown, the restaurant is the fourth from Basil’s on Market owners Todd Uhlir and Jeff Finklestein.

Locktenders menu features a list of sandwiches that includes the Bloody Mary Grill as well as Black and Blue Ravioli, Shepherd’s Pie, Maryland Crab Cakes and other entrees.

Nimbus Comic Café and Mysterium Coffee 

Credit: Rob Dejene

Credit: Rob Dejene

Nimbus Comic Café, a combination of comic books and healthy food, has opened at 486 E. Main St. in Trotwood.

Nimbus Cafe features fruit smoothies, wraps and other foods named for super heroes and comic book characters.

The Groot is named for the character from “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the Jubilee is named for an X-Men superhero. Wakanda fruit punch pays tribute to the “Black Panther.”

Dejene said his smoothies are made from fruit, not powder, and come packed with nutrition like B6; vitamin C; vitamin A; protein and potassium.

The cafe shares a building with Mysterium Coffee.

>>READ MORE: BANG! POW! ZAP! Comic cafe now open

The Pizza Bandit 

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

A new food truck called The Pizza Bandit is now in business at Dayton’s Yellow Cab.

It serves pizza by the slice to patrons of the bar and delivers via Uber Eats and DoorDash, Brian Johnson, Pizza Bandit partner, said in a release.

To start, the Pizza Bandit will be open for dinner and late night service four days a week. The new food truck will operate Thursdays through Sundays, opening when the Yellow Cab Tavern opens, and serving until 4 a.m., according to a release. It will offer “fresh, hot pizza with a variety of toppings,” its founders said. “We’ll have big New York slices, Chicago deep-dish style, salads, and more.”

Coming Soon

 

Loose Ends Brewing 

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

A new 175-seat craft brewery and restaurant to be named “Loose Ends Brewing Co.” is in the works at 890 S. Main St. in Centerville.

The father-and-son duo of Kent and John Loose lent their names to their joint business venture turning their vision for a craft brewery and restaurant into a reality.

“The focus for us is to be able to offer something for everyone and make it a family establishment where people can come in and relax with some great beer and excellent food,” said John Loose.

Old Scratch Pizza 

The second location of locally owned Old Scratch Pizza, which operates a restaurant just south of downtown Dayton, is now hiring in Washington Twp., and is shooting for a mid-October opening, co-founder Eric Soller said.

The restaurant will be located at 440 Miamisburg-Centerville Road (Ohio 725), in space that formerly housed Centerville Home Fireplace & Patio just west of Centerville.

The Washington Twp. location will have three Naples-style pizza ovens, one more than the Dayton restaurant has.

>>READ MORE: Old Scratch Pizza sets target opening date, now hiring for its 2nd location

Dunkin’ Donuts 

Two new shops are under construction at 1505 N. Fairfield Road at Lantz Road, south of the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek; and to 2835 Harshman Road in Dayton, not far from the Huber Heights and Riverside borders.

If all goes well with construction, the Dayton location is projected to open in October, and the Beavercreek doughnut shop should open in November, Pat Gilligan, the southwest Ohio franchisee for Dunkin’ Donuts, told this news outlet.

One Eyed Jacks Pub 

Credit: Mark Fisher

Credit: Mark Fisher

The former One Eyed Jacks restaurant and live-music venue — which shut its doors in February 2018 after a decade-long run across from Wright State University in Fairborn — appears headed for a rebirth under its original name.

Jerrod Kennedy, owner of “OEJ LLC” doing business as One Eyed Jacks Pub, confirmed that he plans to reopen One Eyed Jacks in its original 2638 Colonel Glenn Highway space, which is located in the University Shoppes retail center next to The Flying Pizza.

Kennedy said obtaining the liquor license may take three to six months, so the new One Eyed Jacks Pub is still early in its development stage. It will likely open as a restaurant/bar.

>>READ MORE: 20 months after shutting down, One Eyed Jacks is about to be reborn

Condado Tacos 

The CEO of Condado Tacos, which operates restaurants in Columbus and Cincinnati, confirmed Sept. 6 that the chain plans to open its first Dayton-area restaurant in 2020, although the location has not yet been determined.

Condado Tacos says it specializes in creating “unique tacos, guacamole, tequila and margaritas at affordable prices. Fresh, high-quality ingredients including salsas, toppings, proteins and tortilla chips — all made from scratch daily — are staples to Condado’s cuisine.”

Closings

 

Rapid Fired Pizza 

Credit: Lisa Powell

Credit: Lisa Powell

A week before it is scheduled to open a new restaurant on Brown Street near the University of Dayton, Rapid Fired Pizza closed a location on Wilmington Pike near I-675 in Sugarcreek Twp.

The store, located next to a Starbucks Coffee shop, had operated at 6252 Wilmington Pike since June 2016.

Kettering-based Rapid Fired Pizza, which opened its first restaurant on Miamisburg-Centerville Road between Centerville and the Dayton Mall in September 2015, now operates 34 restaurants in six states, including nine in the Dayton area.

>>READ MORE: Rapid Fired Pizza closes location as it prepares to launch new one

MOD Pizza 

Credit: Mark Fisher

Credit: Mark Fisher

The MOD Pizza restaurant that has operated for two years at the Cornerstone of Centerville development shut down abruptly, Saturday, Sept. 14.

A sign taped to the entrances of the restaurant say, "We're Closing. Thank you Cornerstone. For more locations and information, visit modpizza.com. Same great people, same great food." Windows of the restaurant are papered over.

MOD Pizza is the second fast-bake, custom-order pizza chain to close a location in the Dayton area, following the closure of the Dayton area’s only PizzaFire restaurant in January 2018.

>>READ MORE: Pizza restaurant in Centerville shuts down abruptly

Tim Hortons 

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

At least four Dayton-area Tim Hortons restaurants have shut down abruptly while other locations in the region are open and operating business as usual.

Tim Hortons locations that have shut down include 5976 Far Hills Ave. at Whipp Road in Washington Twp., 2312 Needmore Road along I-75 in Dayton, 6793 Miller Lane in the Vandalia/Butler Twp. area, and 5798 N. Springboro Pike in Miami Twp.

This news outlet reached out to Tim Hortons officials and received a two-sentence statement that said, “This closure is part of our normal course of business. Tim Hortons remains committed to growth in all markets, including the U.S.”

>>READ MORE: TIM HORTONS CLOSINGS: At least 4 Dayton-area restaurants shut down abruptly

Hannah’s 

A challenging location, combined with fallout from the Dayton area’s mass shooting, Memorial Day tornadoes and KKK rally, have forced the owner of Hannah’s restaurant, music and bar venue at 121 N. Ludlow St. in downtown Dayton, to shut down.

“This location just didn’t work out,” Hannah’s founder and owner Luke Feerer told this news outlet. “We did our best, but it just wasn’t in the cards. At the end of the day, I’m proud of what we did for the two years we were here.”

Feerer is looking for a new location — one with dedicated parking, and a larger seating capacity, he said — and intends to reopen, although nothing is imminent.