December-area restaurant highlights: 4 opening, 3 coming soon and 1 closing

December was filled with Dayton-area restaurant news. Among the developments: Dayton’s beloved The Brunch Club finally reopened after a devastating kitchen fire, and McGillicutty’s Pub, a long-time Kettering sports pub and restaurant, closed.

Here’s a look at more of the month’s restaurant news.

Opening

 

The Brunch Club 

Credit: Jim Noelker/Dayton Daily News

Credit: Jim Noelker/Dayton Daily News

The Brunch Club, 601 S. Main St. in downtown Dayton, reopened after it closed seven months ago.

“We will have the same people (on staff), the same service and the same food,” Brunch Club owner Jim Vari told this news organization. “It is just better equipment.”

The restaurant has been closed since an early morning kitchen fire on April 20. The restaurant employs about 14 people. Vari said most are returning.

>>Restaurant owner on reopening: ‘It’s been a nightmare basically, but it’s done’

Kings Cuisine

A new restaurant that opened in Harrison Twp. promises its customers the royal treatment.

King’s Cuisine was launched by Jontee Ruffin and his family at 5252 N. Dixie Dr., in a space that previously housed Pat’s Kitchen.

The Kings Cuisine menu includes burgers, wings, country-fried steak, Chicago-style hot dogs and cheese steaks, Ruffin said.

Frutta Bowls 

A health-focused restaurant concept known for its fruit- and veggie-based bowls and smoothies opened its first Dayton-area location, and only the second in Ohio, at the Austin Landing development in southern Montgomery County.

Frutta Bowls, a restaurant concept that began just two years ago in New Jersey and has spread to a dozen states. Frutta Bowls opened its first Ohio location earlier this year in Deerfield Towne Center in southern Warren County.

Frutta Bowls is located at 3609 Rigby Road, in 1,400 square feet of leased space in the Progress Park Office Tower. Winter hours will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

>>New restaurant opens 1st Dayton-area location at Austin Landing

Donatos 

Donatos Pizza has transformed a former Clark’s pharmacy store into a new restaurant.

The pizza chain is moving an existing store at 3375 Dayton-Xenia Road in Beavercreek to the new location at 3197 Rodenbeck Drive, off Dayton-Xenia Road just east of North Fairfield Road.

The 3,580-square-foot restaurant includes a dining room and also offers a 50-seat private room for groups, teams, organizations and families to host meetings, parties and celebrations, according to a Donatos release. A pickup window for order-ahead food orders also will be available. Delivery and catering services also will be available.

Coming Soon

 

Thirsty Frog Saloon

A new bar and live-music venue called the Thirsty Frog Saloon has opened near the I-75/Ohio 725 interchange in a space that has housed a pub or tavern for more than 40 years.

The new pub is located in the former Dark Horse Tavern space at 209 Byers Road in Miamisburg.

The saloon plans to host a karaoke night, a trivia night, dart leagues and a Taco Tuesday night that will offer 50-cent tacos. In addition to traditional pub fare, the food menu will include specialty items such as frog legs, pickled pizza and a peanut-butter burger.

The Thirsty Frog Saloon will feature live music on Saturday nights, including but not limited to Nashville-inspired country acts.

Burger King 

Credit: Matt Cardy

Credit: Matt Cardy

When the local Burger King franchisee’s CEO told us earlier this year that he was bullish on the Dayton area and was seeking to expand the burger chain’s footprint across the Miami Valley, he wasn’t just blowing smoke.

BK franchisee TOMS King Services is gearing up to open its fourth new Dayton-area restaurant in the last year, and also revealed the location of yet another new store in the works for 2019.

The first to come will be a new restaurant at 7151 Hoke Road at Salem Avenue in Clayton, which is scheduled to open in mid-January, said Matt Carpenter, CEO of TOMS King Services.

Another new restaurant is in the early stages of development at the intersection of Cincinnati Street and South Edwin C. Moses Blvd in Dayton, with construction  expected to begin in early 2019.

>>2 new restaurants to expand Burger King’s Dayton-area footprint

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 

The Dayton area’s newest Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen now has a target opening date in Kettering.

Pat Gilligan, the franchise owner of Dayton and southwest Ohio’s Popeyes restaurants, told this news outlet today, Dec. 19 that his newest location at 4025 Wilmington Pike just south of East Stroop Road will open fully to the public on Jan. 2.

The Kettering restaurant will be the fifth Popeyes in the Dayton-Springfield area for the Atlanta-based chain, joining locations in Harrison Twp., Springfield, Englewood and Springboro. The Springboro location opened in January 2018.

Closing

 

McGillicutty’s Pub 

McGillicutty's Pub on Whipp Road in south Kettering, which has been in business for 24 years, shut its doors for good at the close of business on Christmas Day, according to the pub’s Facebook page.

Here is part of the post:

“It is with a broken heart that I am writing this. First off I want to thank my employees, who are really more family than employees — I cannot thank all of you enough for everything you have done for me and with me over the years. There are no words!!”

Customers reacted with shock and grief to the announcement and thanked co-owner Lisa Worthington Kash.

“I have so many great memories and met so many great people in your establishment,” one customer wrote. “And I thank you for all of it Lisa Worthington Kash.”