Two Oregon District favorites on Wayne Avenue, Crafted and Cured and Grist Provisions, announced relocation plans closer to the core of downtown Dayton.

But there have also been closings. Wayback Burgers at the Mall at Fairfield Commons and a Panera Bread near the Dayton Mall shut down in July.

Here’s a taste of some of the Miami Valley’s restaurant-and-food-related news for July 2020.

NOW OPEN

Condado Tacos

The fast-growing Columbus-based restaurant chain Condado Tacos opened its first Dayton-area location at The Greene on July 9.

Condado offers a variety of tacos for the entire family, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, ranging in price from $3.60 to $5.50. The restaurant offers a build-your-own taco concept that allows diners to choose from a variety of taco shells and top it with their choice of proteins, sauces and other ingredients. An assortment of tequilas, margaritas and beers is also available.

Greenfire Fresh

A Tipp City restaurant that traces its history to more than three decades ago has a new name and a new owner, but its founder will be around for a few more weeks to work alongside his successor and make sure the transition is a smooth one.

Greenfire Bistro has morphed into Greenfire Fresh at 965 W. Main St. just east of I-75, under the ownership of Rob Scott, who has worked alongside previous owner and founder Art Chin as the restaurant's sous chef for the last three years. Art Chin founded the restaurant nearly 32 years ago as Chin's Ginger Grill and changed its name to Greenfire Bistro in 2010.

Among Greenfire Fresh’s signature items will be its new shrimp bruschetta, a sea bass entree, and its creme brulee, Rob Scott told us.

Say Yes Cakes

A new bakery on Wayne Avenue in Dayton is very much a family affair.

“Alyson has been baking with me since she was old enough to stand on a chair to crack eggs and hold a measuring cup for me,” Jennifer Coyle said of her daughter. “I always loved having her in the kitchen with me.”

Now the mother-daughter duo has opened their own bakery together: Say Yes Cakes. The new bakery is located at 2920 Wayne Ave. at Arbor Avenue, near Dayton Metro Library’s Belmont branch.

Say Yes Cakes will offer both traditional and distinctive cupcake and cake flavors, including pineapple upside down, pink lemonade, strawberry crunch, peach cobbler, pecan pie, and watermelon. It will also serve cookies, cake pops, pies and brownies.

redBERRY

The new breakfast, lunch and brunch restaurant called “redBERRY” is now open in the former Sherwood Shopping Centre in north Troy.

RedBERRY serves “classic breakfast, lunch and brunch fare with some creative surprises,” the spokeswoman said. Signature menu items include Parfait, the “redBERRY Skillet,” French Toast Bread Pudding, a signature salad and a BLT.

Old Dayton Pizza at Riverside Hideaway

A new restaurant and bar called “Old Dayton Pizza at Riverside Hideaway” is now open in the building that formerly housed the Green Lantern bar at 3490 Old Troy Pike in Riverside.

“We’re getting such a great, warm reception from the community,” said Sherri Zelen, who, along with her husband Steve Zelen, purchased the Green Lantern and the surrounding three-acre property in 2019. “Everyone is so happy we opened this place back up. One man was in tears because he remembered his parents used to bring him here to the Green Lantern when he was a child.”

The new restaurant’s sales are equally split between the bar and the pizza-making operation. The bar has 12 taps, including domestic and craft brews. Signature cocktails, spirits and wine are available.

Raising Cane’s

The third Raising Cane’s location in the Miami Valley opened its doors to customers in Huber Heights in a former PNC Bank branch on Old Troy Pike.

The chain offers a minimalist menu that revolves around chicken fingers that are “fresh, never frozen” and marinated for 24 hours, then battered and cooked to order. Visitors can also look forward to other menu staples, like crinkle-cut fries, cole slaw, Texas Toast and sauces that are made in-house every day.

EO Burgers

EO Burgers — the upscale burgers-and-beers restaurant that left The Greene in January after a decade-long run — has a new home in Washington Twp.

The relocated restaurant has opened in the former restaurant-bar side of Ollie’s Place near Hauer Music at 520 Miamisburg-Centerville Road.

The menu includes a choice of proteins such as Kobe/beef burgers, elk burgers, free-range chicken, salmon and a “Beyond” vegan burger. The burgers are served with hand-cut fries with a choice of regular, Parmesan, garlic, Cajun, herb-rubbed and truffle. Tots, onion rings and sweet-potato fries are available for a slight upcharge.

COMING SOON

Yumi Boba Tea

Tiffany Ngo describes her new business venture as a combination between a Vietnamese deli and Taiwanese bubble-tea shop, and it’s coming soon to Riverside.

Ngo is the founder of Yumi Boba Tea, which is in the works at 170 Woodman Drive in the Airway Shopping Center, adjacent to the retail center’s Big Lots store.

Yumi Boba Tea will serve a variety of bubble teas, smoothies and coffees, as well as a food menu that will include Vietnamese-style Bahn Mi sandwiches and appetizers such as egg rolls, chicken wings, dumplings, fries and popcorn chicken and shrimp.

Massman Thai Cuisine

The family that owned the former Siam Pad Thai restaurant in Kettering expects to open their new venture, Massman Thai Cuisine, in the coming weeks, following some final inspections coming up in early August.

The buildout of the new restaurant at 467 Patterson Road just west of Shroyer Road in Dayton’s Patterson Park neighborhood took longer than anticipated, but has accelerated to high gear in recent weeks, with the new restaurant’s signage installed and its parking lot paved and striped last week.

The restaurant’s new name honors the curry dish that became a signature dish at Siam Pad Thai in Kettering.

Warehouse 4 Cafe and Bake Shop

The owner of Warehouse 4 Cafe and Bake Shop in Vandalia — which scored a shout-out last fall as one of the “100 Best Coffee Shops in Ohio” — confirmed he will open a second location on Wilmington Pike in Kettering.

The new coffee shop and bakery will be located at 3131 Wilmington Pike at Devon Avenue, in a former Union Savings Bank branch, and it could open as soon as the latter half of September.

The new coffee shop will have a drive-through that was already a part of the bank branch, and a small patio is being added.

Crafted & Cured

After four years in the Oregon District’s Wayne Avenue corridor, Crafted & Cured has decided to move into the Dayton Arcade, joining a growing group of tenants who want to be part of the iconic complex’s resurgence.

Crafted & Cured this month permanently closed its location at 531 Wayne Ave. The business, which sells cured meats and alcohol, said in a recent social media post that it has worked diligently to find a more suitable home.

Crafted & Cured has signed a 10-year lease to be a first floor anchor-tenant in the arcade at 45 W. Fourth St. It will will occupy about 4,800 square feet of space and will have some new offerings. The business will have full-service retail shop that sells craft beer, boutique wines, cured meats, artisanal cheeses and champagnes, the company said.

Demolition work has started, and if all goes well, the business could open in early 2021.

Grist Provisions

Grist Provisions announced it will move from its current home in the District Provisions market in the Oregon District’s Wayne Avenue corridor and reopen soon at 46 W. Fifth St. at South Ludlow Street in downtown Dayton, space previously occupied by Third Perk Coffeehouse & Wine Bar.

Grist Provisions — opened by Casey Van Voorhis and her husband Patrick — offers pop-up dinners and take-home, fine-dining caliber breads, pastas and other specialty items.

Five Guys

The franchise owner of Dayton-area Five Guys restaurants is exploring the possibility of opening a new location on Old Troy Pike in Huber Heights.

Preliminary plans have been filed with the city of Huber Heights seeking approval for the partitioning of the former TGI Fridays (and more recently, Al’s Smokehouse) at 7777 Old Troy Pike into three tenant spaces, one of which — a 2,430-square-foot section — could become a Five Guys restaurant.

Tom Gunlock, a co-founder and co-owner of the local Five Guys franchisee, said Tuesday that the proposed project is in its early stages of development and has some obstacles to overcome before it can become reality.

CLOSED

Wayback Burgers

A restaurant that has operated for more than four years at the Mall at Fairfield Commons is now closed “until further notice” because its franchise owner returned to his native Bahamas, according to a spokeswoman for the restaurant’s corporate parent.

All restaurants in the Fairfield Commons food court are open and operating except for one: Wayback Burgers.

The Wayback franchise offered specialty burgers and shakes, as well as house-made potato chips, beef hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, turkey burgers and salads.

Panera

A Panera Bread bakery-cafe that had operated since 2005 is now closed, although a spokeswoman for the restaurant chain’s Dayton-area franchisee said that a new and larger replacement will open nearby in 2021.

Visitors to the free-standing Panera at 2500 Miamisburg-Centerville Road just east of the Dayton Mall are greeted with a sign reading “CAFE CLOSED: Sorry, we’re closed until further notice. Please visit us at our other locations: Heart of Centerville, Austin Landing and Sugarcreek (Twp.).” A “For Lease: Restaurant/Retail” sign has been erected on the store’s front lawn, facing Ohio 725.

Lee’s Ltd. Tenders & Dips

A first-of-its-kind concept restaurant that had been open for 11 months at 1200 Brown St. near the University of Dayton has shut its doors to the public, according to its co-founder.

The Lee’s Ltd. Tenders & Dips restaurant will be converted to a catering kitchen to help serve a growing off-premises side of the business. The restaurant, a new concept for the local franchisees of Lee’s Famous Recipe, had opened in August 2019.

The restaurant served a streamlined menu with a focus on boneless fried chicken tenders accompanied by multiple sauce options. It moved into space vacated by Arby’s, north of East Stewart Street, in 2019.

Logan’s Roadhouse

The Logan’s Roadhouse restaurant chain — which was facing serious financial obstacles even before the coronavirus pandemic — has permanently shut down one, and perhaps both, of its large Dayton-area restaurants.

A voicemail greeting on the phone of the Logan’s Roadhouse in Miami Twp. east of the Dayton Mall alerts callers that, “This location is now permanently closed.”

The situation with the second Dayton-area location, at 1750 W. Main St. in Troy, is murkier, but the signs are not encouraging. Like the Miami Twp. location, it is no longer listed as a restaurant location on the Logan’s Roadhouse web site. And “available” signs have been placed around the restaurant space.