Newsletter: Tailgating food contest winners announced, Pizza Bandit kitchen expands & more food news🍕

This was my first time watching the parade and I think my favorite part was the DLM Umbrella Brigade. I had no idea this existed. If you haven’t seen it before, employees are dressed up in their DLM uniforms, twirling black and white umbrellas as they danced to “Takin’ Care Of Business.”

The festival has so many good food truck options from McNasty’s and the Lumpia Queen to El Meson. I ended up getting El Meson and had an arepa (a Colombian sweet corn cake stuffed with mozzarella cheese) and veggie nacho fries with beans, queso, shredded cheese, lettuce, salsa, queso and guac.

This was my first time trying an arepa and I absolutely loved it. Next time I go to El Meson, it will be a must. I also can’t emphasize enough how fresh the toppings were on my fries. I felt like I was at the restaurant’s brick-and-mortar location in West Carrollton enjoying a meal.

If you’re wondering, my husband had a burger from McNasty’s — the 2024 best food truck winner in our Best of Dayton contest.

This weekend there are several festivals happening across the Dayton region including the Dayton Greek Festival, Kettering’s Italian Fall Festa and the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival. CLICK HERE for a full list of fall festivals throughout the area.

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Pizza Bandit completes kitchen expansion inside Yellow Cab Tavern

After making New York-style pizzas outside the Yellow Cab Tavern for the past five years, The Pizza Bandit is moving indoors to its new kitchen.

The grand opening of the new kitchen space will be Sept. 25.

With the kitchen expansion, the Pizza Bandit has tripled its space. Brian Johnson, who owns the business with James Burton and Mark Jeffers, said they are going from only being able to cook four pizzas at a time to cooking 12 to 15 pizzas at once. They also have more cold storage space — allowing them to expand menu offerings.

The Pizza Bandit will have a menu of 12 to 16 specialty pies that have been customer favorites over the years. This includes the Elote, Crab Rangoon and Cincy Chili pizzas. Other offerings will include calzones, salads, specialty bandit breads and desserts.

In case you missed it, the Pizza Bandit started offering breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and Sundays last weekend featuring thin, crispy pancakes with cinnamon and sugar, sausage gravy bandit boats and classic French omelets.

The Pizza Bandit is open 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, in addition to weekend breakfast hours.

Riverside restaurant closing as owners shift focus to catering and rentals

The owners of Christopher’s Restaurant & Catering have announced they are permanently closing the restaurant portion of their business.

The Catering House by Christopher’s, located at 4211 Linden Ave., will be open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Saturday this week, in addition to a final dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday.

“Erika and I have found ourselves at a crossroads in our lives where we must decide how we can best serve our community, have a positive impact on the lives of those we serve, continue to produce amazing food, and provide levels of service that exceed expectations at fair and reasonable costs. And while we have been blessed, yet again, as our current restaurant continues to grow more and more, we have decided that it is best for us to focus our time, treasures and talents on growing our catering business and further (developing) our facility rentals,” said Dave Krites, who owns the restaurant with his wife.

The Catering House by Christopher’s will be available for private party space, weekly or monthly meetings and corporate events. In addition, the owners have plans to host “community building nights” featuring family dining, dessert/ice cream socials, wine tastings and specialty menus.

The Gem by Christopher’s, located at 3425 Valley St. in Dayton, will continue to operate.

Ashmore Cakes moving into commercial kitchen at Spark Fairborn

Ashley Knapick was 13 when she baked her first three-tier cake; now, she is the owner of Ashmore Cakes.

“I was obsessed with the TV show, “Cake Boss.” I watched it every day after school,” Knapick said. “My sister’s 16th birthday came around and I was like I want to make your cake and I ended up making her a three-tier cake and everyone raved about it, so that gave me some confidence.”

The Springfield native started practicing and when she was a junior in high school she went to Springfield-Clark CTC for culinary arts. She started taking orders from the staff at CTC and her business snowballed from there.

After graduating in 2017, she attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She said she loved living in New York, but ultimately decided to come back home and kickstart her business.

Ashmore Cakes is a custom cake and cookie business. She offers anything from custom cakes and royal iced cookies to cupcakes and small pastries. Her business is mostly pre-orders only, but she does do flash sales via her Facebook page (@ashmorecakes54) when she has extra cake batter to make cupcakes or extra egg yolks to make cookies.

On Sunday, she moved her business into Spark Fairborn, located at 305 W. Main St.

Quick Bites

🥪 All The Best Delicatessen’s menu continues to evolve: Co-founder Carin Solganik has introduced “The Besties,” a list of sandwiches that are just as great as the others on the menu, but offered at a lower price point.

🍴 TJ Chumps in Miamisburg revamps patio: Just in time for football season, the restaurant has five new TVs including a 98-inch feature screen, an upgraded audio system, new furniture and fans.

🌮 Viva La Fiesta opens in Springfield: The restaurant’s grand opening is today featuring a diverse menu with everything from tacos and fajitas to ramen birria and crazy fries.

🍜 Asianati Night Market returns to Cincinnati during BLINK: The food festival will feature authentic Asian street food, while highlighting restaurants across Cincinnati. READ MORE

The winners of our tailgating food competition brought the flavor

Football-watching season is officially upon us and we asked you to submit your very best, easy-to-follow tailgating recipes.

We received everything from dips and sliders to wings and breakfast sandwiches. After selecting and making nine of our favorite recipes, we had a panel of judges choose their Top 3.

Susan Valley of Dayton won first place with her recipe for stromboli. The recipe came from her late-aunt, Marie Abbruzzese, who she spent a lot of time with growing up in South Philadelphia.

Her aunt made the bread for the stromboli from scratch, but over the years Valley has simplified the recipe. She now makes stromboli for any occasion from birthdays and football parties to holidays like Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Here is Aunt Marie’s stromboli recipe:

Ingredients:

Directions: Flour your work surface and rolling pin generously, then roll out bread dough to approximately an 11 x 14 rectangle. Layer cooked ham, pepperoni, provolone and salami. Roll stromboli tightly lengthwise, pinch to seal, bend into a horseshoe shape and transfer to a greased cookie sheet (seam side down). Place in a preheated 375-degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Ann Clayton of Springfield won second place with her Mexican dip recipe and T.J. Justice of Moraine took home third with his southern style hot wings. CLICK HERE to take a look at their recipes.

Tell Us

Thank you so much for reading my weekly newsletter! If you see a new restaurant opening or are wondering when an establishment is expected to open, feel free to email me here, and I’ll check it out.

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