A new vegan restaurant, That’s Soul Vegan, has opened in the Dayton Mall and Ghostlight Coffee has unveiled a second location with a more expansive food menu.
Fino Sur Peruvian Street Food, a new restaurant on the horizon in Centerville’s Cross Pointe Centre, will bring more South American food options to Dayton-area diners.
Here’s a closer look at some of the restaurant highlights in November.
New
Mr. Bourbon Restaurant
Trotwood has a new restaurant, and its co-owner says he and his partners chose the Salem Avenue location in part because they wanted to support the community after it was ravaged by the Memorial Day tornadoes.
Mr. Bourbon Restaurant opened at 5212 Salem Ave., in a 5,000 square feet space that most recently housed John Anthony’s Southern Cuisine.
The new restaurant’s menu includes its signature Bourbon Chicken and several other chicken dishes, such as Cajun and Curry chicken and a Chicken Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. It also offers gyros, fried rice, burritos and grilled fish entrees, along with a handful of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern specialties such as Greek Salad, Falafel sandwich and Fattoush salad, all served up in a fast-casual ordering concept similar to Subway and Chipotle.
>>READ MORE: New restaurant opens in tornado-ravaged Trotwood ‘to help support the community’
Butter Churn Café
Waynesville has another lunch-and-dinner dining option in the downtown portion of the village.
Butter Churn Cafe opened earlier this month at 57 S. Main St. It fulfills a long-time dream of its founder and owner, Waynesville native Herchelle Shipman.
The new restaurant serves muffins, cakes and other house-made baked goods. It also makes its own waffle cones, in which it serves scoops of ice cream sourced from Young’s Jersey Dairy near Yellow Springs.
Customer favorites so far have been a tomato soup that has mac and cheese in the soup; a seasonal pumpkin soup; and a signature grilled-cheese sandwich, Shipman said.
>>READ MORE: New ‘Butter Churn Cafe’ now open in Waynesville
Chiapas Mexican Grill
The locally owned Chiapas Mexican Grill has opened its second — and much larger — location in a former craft beer pub off of Ohio 741.
Chiapas Mexican Grill, which has operated a restaurant at 298 N. Main St. (Ohio 48) in Centerville since 2015, opened its second location at 2733 West Alex-Bell Road near Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in Moraine.
Chiapas Mexican Grill has a broad menu that specializes on the cuisine of southern Mexico, where the Mexican state of Chiapas is located. Offerings include the Mole del Sur, a grilled chicken breast topped with mole sauce. Meat choices for soft tacos include chorizo, carnitas, seasoned grilled chopped steak, marinated pork, cow tongue and grilled chicken. Soups, fajitas, enchiladas and tortas are also available.
Agave & Rye
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Agave & Rye has opened at 7125 Fountain View Drive in Liberty Twp. offering a menu that features 17 “epic” gourmet specialty tacos, seven street tacos, plus a liquor list brimming with more than 120 tequilas and bourbons.
Tacos are prepared from scratch, using fresh produce and protein to create a mix of hot meats and cool toppings. The majority of them are double-shelled with crunchy corn and soft flour and can be ordered with a “Love Cushion” between the two shells — bourbon-bacon refried beans, queso or guacamole — for $1 each.
Ghostlight Coffee
Credit: Amelia Robinson
Credit: Amelia Robinson
Ghostlight Coffee opened its second location in Dayton on Nov. 14 at 800 S. Patterson Blvd., next to Old Scratch Pizza.
The first coffee house has offered fresh baked goods and treats made off-site by Ghostlight bakers, but the new midtown location will have more room for an expanded food menu ranging from breakfast sandwiches and “from-scratch” bakery goods to toasts, tartines and salads inspired by international cafes, its owners said.
>>READ MORE: Ghostlight Coffee’s second location is now open
Rusty Taco
The Dayton-area’s third Rusty Taco is now open.
Rusty Taco, formerly known as R Taco, moved into a 2,700-square-foot space at 2335 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Miami Twp. that formerly housed an El Toro Bar and Grill.
Rusty Taco specializes in street-style tacos along with house-made salsas, and also offers craft beers and margaritas. It was founded in 2010 and named for co-founder Rusty Fenton.
>>READ MORE: There’s a new place for street tacos and margaritas by local mall
Twin Peaks
Restaurant and sports-bar chain Twin Peaks has opened a new location in West Chester Twp.
Located at 9424 Civic Centre Blvd., the 9,800-square-foot restaurant will feature 68 high-definition flatscreen televisions, 32 taps, an open-air covered patio and a variety of beers and spirits.
Twin Peaks touts itself as “the ultimate sports lodge featuring made-from-scratch food and the coldest beer in the business.”
>>READ MORE: New Twin Peaks restaurant opens today in West Chester
That’s Soul Vegan
Credit: Mark Fisher
Credit: Mark Fisher
The Dayton area’s newest vegan restaurant is located inside the Dayton Mall in Miami Twp.
“That’s Soul Vegan” opened earlier this month in the mall’s food court. The new restaurant is a partnership between Ashaki Daugherty, who previously operated the KulaKula restaurant on North Dixie Drive, and Jose Estremera, owner of the Agnes Express restaurant, also located in the Dayton Mall Food Court.
Menu favorites so far include “Soul Stuffed Meatloaf,” made from plant-based “Impossible Beef.” The meatloaf is stuffed with “Mean Greens” that have a slightly spicy kick and “Lip Smackin Mac” macaroni and cheese. Another customer favorite is the “Soul Rolls,” in which marinated jackfruit, macaroni and cheese and greens are rolled in a spring-roll wrapper and lightly fried, then served with “Original Soul Sauce.”
Coming Soon
Fino Sur Peruvian Street Food
Alberto Arenas has worked for several years in the local restaurant industry, mostly in Mexican restaurants, but he has always had a dream to bring his native country’s South American food to Dayton-area diners.
His new restaurant, to be called Fino Sur Peruvian Street Food, will open in the Cross Pointe Centre in Centerville early next year.
If all goes well with the build-out of the space, which formerly housed a chiropractic office, Fino Sur Peruvian Street Food could open as early as February or March 2020, Arenas said.
>>READ MORE: New restaurant at Cross Pointe will introduce a new cuisine to Dayton area
Riverside Hideaway
Credit: Mark Fisher
Credit: Mark Fisher
Sherri Zelen, who along with her husband Steve Zelen purchased the Green Lantern and the surrounding three-acre property at 3490 Old Troy Pike earlier this year, plan to transform the former bar into the “Riverside Hideaway” sports bar and pizza restaurant.
Their plans, the Zelens said, include indoor and outdoor dining, with a menu that includes Roman-style “Old Dayton Pizza;” live entertainment; a pool table and dart boards; a farmers market on Sundays; plenty of televisions for sports-watching; community-supported events and charity fund raisers; and outdoor events such as pig roasts and bike nights.
>>READ MORE: New owners lay out their plans for the historic Green Lantern bar
Singha Thai Homestyle Thai Food
The new Thai restaurant that has been in the works in the Town & Country Shopping Center at Stroop Road and Far Hills Avenue in Kettering is gearing up to open fully to the public, perhaps by this week.
Singha Thai is located at 4123 East Town and Country Road in the “Village Shops” section of Town & Country, which consists of smaller retail spaces behind the main Town & Country retail building. It is in the same building as First Watch restaurant.
The menu will include many classic Thai dishes but will also include special offerings that come from family recipes, founder Mint Thonawn said.
Closing
Arepas & Co. Colombian Comfort Food (Washington Twp. location only)
Credit: File Photo
Credit: File Photo
The most recently opened of the three Arepas & Co Colombian Comfort Food restaurants in the Dayton area has shut its doors.
The small, locally owned restaurant chain has closed its location at 1000 Miamisburg-Centerville Road (Ohio 725) in Washington Twp., between Centerville and I-675. The restaurant opened in June 2017.
Arepas & Co co-founder J.P. Perdomo confirmed the closure last week, on Nov. 26.
>> READ MORE: Arepas & Co shuts down one of its 3 Dayton-area Colombian restaurants
>> RELATED: Daytonians of the Week: restaurant founders J.P. and Lisa Perdomo
