Chef Austin Walker prepares the blend of Italian seasonings, stewed tomatoes, sugar and heavy cream using a well-loved recipe, said Michelle Libby, the Dayton Woman’s Club floor manager.
“It is a tradition here,” Libby said. “I can’t even tell you when it started. It has been more than 50 years. Tomato bisque is handed down from chef to chef. “
As my recent dining companion Susan Hesselgesser, the executive director of League of Women Voters’s Dayton chapter, pointed out during my visit, the club is one of the few places in the Miami Valley that serves lunch on antique china with real linen and actual silverware.
The Dayton Woman’s Club was founded in 1916. It is located in an ornately decorated former home at 225 N. Ludlow St., built in the late 1840s by Robert W. Steele.
Interestingly enough, Napoleon Bonaparte Darst bought the house in the 1860s and renovated it in the Second Empire architectural style in vogue during the reign of Napoleon III of France.
The ornately-decorated club provides a fine dining atmosphere without the expense, and it’s open for lunch to the public, men included.
Entrees and sandwiches on the club’s menu range from the $6.99 gourmet grilled cheese sandwich to the $9.99 hand breaded tilapia sandwich served on grilled sourdough.
For my meal I opted for an $8.99 Monto Cristo — roasted turkey, ham, and cheddar and Swiss cheeses on sourdough, then dipped in egg and grilled.
It was great dipped into the stew-like tomato bisque — $3.99 for a cup or $4.99 for a bowl.
The 120-member club’s lunch menu is long established, but Walker offers daily specials, Libby said.
“He comes up with these amazing recipes and ideas off the cuff,” she said.
Details
225 North Ludlow St., Dayton
Venue opened to the public Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Phone: (937) 228-1124
Contact this columnist at arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com or Twitter.com/DDNSmartMouth
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