Newsletter: Montgomery County Fair food and our list of newer restaurants to check out 🍕🍔🍗

We started the list with Ford’s Garage because it’s the shiny new thing at Liberty Center, which is just off Interstate 75 in Liberty Twp. When Natalie visited, they laid out a spread of their best menu items for her to try. I went about a week after she did — as a regular patron, we can’t all be the fancy F&D reporter! — and took a friend who is a car guy. He wanted to see the vehicles displayed inside the restaurant. My friend ordered the Bison Bacon Burger that came with sharp cheddar, bacon jam, bourbon BBQ sauce, arugula, an onion ring and Chipotle Aioli sauce. Of course I reached across the table to try it, and it was delish.

I ordered the “Chicken Henry” which is a marinated grilled chicken breast topped with Chardonnay lemon butter sauce, goat cheese, basil and sundried tomatoes. It was also great. (Basically if it says goat cheese is included, I usually order it.)

We shared an appetizer that was so good, the next time I go it will be my main course ... get the “Famous Firestone Shrimp” — that “Boom Boom” sauce is killer! I loved it.

Go here to read the other 9 restaurants on our list of places to visit or re-visit.

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It’s Montgomery County Fair week

Have you checked out the fair yet? And more importantly, what food have you enjoyed there? Dayton Daily News Reporter Lillian Ali has been there each day and coverage has been on our website and in the app. The fair has more than 35 food vendors serving a variety of tastes and cuisines. That includes Dayton food truck The Messy Meatball and Cleveland-based restaurant Melt Bar and Grilled, which specializes in gourmet grilled cheese.

The Montgomery County Fair is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today and Thursday and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Read more about how to go here.

Centerville restaurant launches anniversary celebration

Flavors Eatery in Centerville is celebrating the 20-year mark by trying to top its own record, writes Dayton Daily News Reporter Eric Schwartzberg. The restaurant at 865 E. Franklin St., which prepares daily health-conscious cuisine that can accommodate low-carb, vegan, gluten-free and other diet preferences, is looking to outdo its best week ever in 2021 by serving 816 customers in one week.

The promotion by the California-style restaurant, which offers burritos and wraps, pizzas, salads, smoothies and other items, is the start of a six-month long celebration filled with similar promotions, co-owner Ric Campbell said. READ MORE

The eateries are abundant in Yellow Springs

Former Dayton Daily News Publisher Jana Collier is retired and is now writing features content for us. This past month she wrote a “Girlfriend Getaway” column on the fun stuff to do in Yellow Springs. From her article:

Yellow Springs has an abundance of quaint restaurants, bars and coffee houses, almost all with vegetarian and vegan offerings. Here are some highlights:

Current Cuisine: A gourmet deli with made-to-order sandwiches and soups, plus homemade pastries, it also sells grocery items and offers catering. 

Dino’s Cappuccinos: Grab a cappuccino or coffee at this cute coffee shop.

Emporium Wines and Underdog Café: Divine breakfast burritos and a large selection of wine, including natural wine, make this a welcoming spot for a morning or afternoon break.

HaHa Pizza: A Yellow Springs institution, HaHa makes its pizza dough from scratch daily. It offers classic pizzas as well as offbeat creations.

O&E’s Corner Cone: Save some room for a special treat from this throwback ice cream stand.

Peach’s Grill: A longtime Yellow Springs restaurant and bar, Peach’s offers live music, comedy, karaoke, trivia and the occasional drag show. 

Sunrise Café: Sunrise Café makes nearly everything from scratch, including breads, burgers, soups, jams, sauces and pickles. Most food is sourced from local farms, and even the patio furniture is made from old wooden pallets. 

Winds Café: This lovely restaurant started in 1977 as a collectively owned and operated café. The menu has evolved over the past four decades and today is “European-inspired with an American twist.” Known also for its wide selection of wines, the Winds changes its menu monthly to reflect the seasons. 

Ye Olde Trail Tavern: The oldest tavern in Ohio, Ye Olde Trail incorporates the original hand-hewn log cabin that housed the tavern when it started in 1827. The menu features burgers, sandwiches and nibbles, some with a German theme, a nod to a previous owner.

Yellow Springs Brewery: Where else but Yellow Springs would you find a beer company with the slogan “Crafting truth to power”? Today the beer is sold throughout the Dayton and Columbus areas, but you can still enjoy the original taproom in Yellow Springs.

Read more of Jana’s article about Yellow Springs things to do.

Quick Bites

🎪 Dayton Daily News Reporter Alex Cutler has provided a more expanded list of the area county fairs, which are happening all over the region through August. Check that out here. Up next is the Warren County Fair in Lebanon.

🧇 Waffle House in Xenia plans to open at the end of this month. The restaurant will initially open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. After a month or two, it will have a third shift crew and be open 24 hours.

❎ If you voted in our annual Best of Dayton contest, voting is now closed. Winners will be announced Aug. 9, and we will be releasing some information exclusively first throughout the contest in one of our email newsletters. Sign up to get the winners before anyone else.

🍦This one might be worth the drive: Aglamesis Bros. Ice Cream and Chocolate, a very popular treat shop in Cincinnati, has announced it will open a new location in Hamilton, and it’s about a mile from the offices of our sister news outlet, the Journal-News. “We never imagined that our next parlor location would be this far outside of Cincinnati, but the offer that Hamilton put together for us was just too compelling to not consider simply because of the distance involved,” said Kristi Weissman, vice president and general manager of Aglamesis Bros. I was given a box of Aglamesis chocolates at Christmas and it was devoured quickly. So good!

Tell Us

Thank you so much for reading our weekly newsletter! If you see a new restaurant opening or are wondering when an establishment is expected to open up, feel free to email Natalie here, and she will check it out.

You are invited to follow the Dayton Daily News on Facebook and visit our website’s Food & Dining section for the latest articles. When Natalie isn’t hiking on mountains in Montana (she returns Monday!), she has continuous updates on her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok pages.