January area restaurant highlights: 6 openings, 3 coming soon and 3 closing

Old Hickory 

Old Hickory, which has been serving up barbecue meats to hungry Daytonians for nearly seven decades, has opened a second restaurant.

The Miami Valley’s newest barbecue restaurant from one of Dayton’s most storied restaurant families opened last week at 302 Market St. in Brookville.

The Brookville restaurant’s menu has much of the classic barbecue-joint menu of ribs, pulled pork, chicken and pork chops, along with burgers, broasted chicken and sides, that the Woodman Drive restaurant offers, according to the Old Hickory Brookville web site.

La Pinata 

A larger, and free-standing, La Pinata Mexican Restaurant at 9505 Dayton-Lebanon Pike in south Centerville is now open.

The new restaurant, which served its first customers Friday, replaces the La Pinata Mexican Food restaurant that was located in a nearby retail center just north of the new venture. The stand-alone restaurant is at the intersection of Sheehan Road and Ohio 48 at the site of a former Coldwell Banker realty office.

Persis Biryani Indian Grill 

An Indian restaurant, Persis Biryani Indian Grill at 9486 N. Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) north of Austin Landing, has opened under new management.

The restaurant is part of a chain that also operates restaurants in Columbus and Mason/Deerfield Twp. and in nine other states.

Persis Biryani Indian Grill is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Monday, closed Tuesdays.

Cassano’s 

Cassano’s, the iconic pizza chain, has shut down its restaurant at 1200 Brown St. adjacent to the University of Dayton’s campus and relocated to a newly constructed building several blocks north at the new Flats at South Park, in the 400 block of Warren Street.

The new 2,000-square-foot restaurant will seat 40, Chris Cassano, president of Cassano's Pizza King, told this news outlet.

“We will be serving the same area we did before, just from a new location,” said Cassano, part of the third generation of his family to oversee the Dayton-born-and-bred pizza business.

KFC 

A Dayton-area KFC franchisee has opened a new prototype fried-chicken restaurant at 4458 Clyo Road just east of Wilmington Pike.

The Sugarcreek Twp. location is the fifth Dayton-area restaurant for Dunn & Bowling LLC, which also operates two other KFCs in Kenton and Gallion, Ohio.

The new KFC is a prototype/next-generation design that seats 52 and employs 35 to 40.

Wings Sports Bar and Grille 

Vandalia’s Wings Sports Bar & Grille purchased the Beef O’Brady’s sports bar, 3347 Seajay Drive in the Beaver Valley Shopping Center in Beavercreek, and rebranded it into a second Wings Sports Bar.

Wings “is bringing a new menu based on its Vandalia offerings, plus several new items,” its owners, Chad and Mary Macek, said. “The goal will be to provide great service, great wings and food, the best local/regional bands on Friday and Saturday nights, and a fun, safe, memorable experience. There will also be doing a lot of other crossover concepts with Vandalia such as acoustic, karaoke, trivia and bar bingo as well. There will be something going on throughout the week.”

Old Scratch Pizza

A popular Dayton pizza restaurant is adding a second location south of town, according to Eric Soller, co-founder of Old Scratch Pizza in Dayton.

Soller believes he has found just the right spot: a small strip-retail center that currently houses Centerville Home Fireplace & Patio at 440 Miamisburg-Centerville Road just west of Centerville in Washington Twp.

Independent and locally owned Old Scratch Pizza serves Naples-style pizzas cooked in wood-fired ovens, as well as salads and a few specialty items. It features a variety of craft beers on tap as well as a wine and cocktail list. The atmosphere is casual, with seating in the dining area provided by picnic tables.

Soller said he is shooting for a late-summer opening. The new Old Scratch Pizza will seat as many as 200 and will employ about 60.

Stoney’s Munchie Bar 

A small restaurant with a rather intriguing name is under development on East Fifth Street in Dayton.

“Stoney’s Munchie Bar” is the brainchild of Jesse and Teresa Seiber, and it could open as early as this spring at 1929 E. Fifth St. in Dayton, the Seibers told this news outlet. The space previously housed a restaurant called The Spot.

Stoney's Munchie Bar will be "a free flowing restaurant specializing in your munchie needs," according to its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TheMunchieBar.

Jimmy John’s 

Jimmy John's is gearing up to open a new sandwich shop in downtown Dayton.

The shop at 216 N. Main St. in the Biltmore Towers will focus primarily on carry-out and delivery, but will have seating for seven, according to Jeff Wagoner, the store’s franchise owner-operator.

“We are about two or three weeks from completing construction,” Wagoner told this news outlet Jan. 2. “We are looking to open in early February.”

The store will hire a projected 30 to 40 people to work in the shop and to deliver orders via car and bicycle, Wagoner said

Brookville Grille 

The owners of the Brookville Grille announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page Sunday that they have sold the business after more than 12 years because of illness.

The restaurant at 428 N. Wolf Creek St. will close temporarily effective Feb. 1, and will reopen under new ownership after renovations and installation of new kitchen equipment, owners Jeff, Melissa, John and Mikayla Van Brederode wrote.

“Fortunately, I was able to find a local family, Justin and Jamie Izor, who are interested in purchasing the restaurant, to continue some of our traditions, and create some of their own.”

IHOP 

Employees of the Dayton-area IHOP restaurants that abruptly closed this month were told Jan. 22, that the restaurants would be reopening in perhaps a month, although they were given no target date for a return to work.

The franchise owner of three Dayton-area IHOP locations — in Beavercreek, Huber Heights and Springfield — is “unable to continue operating,” and the restaurant chain is exploring options to get the padlocked restaurants reopened, an IHOP spokeswoman said.

All three restaurants abruptly shut down and their entrances were chained and padlocked overnight. Signs on the door of the Beavercreek and Springfield locations tell customers those restaurants are “temporarily closed until further notice.”

Beef O’Brady’s 

The last day for Beef O’Brady’s at 3347 Seajay Drive in the Beaver Valley Shopping Center was Jan. 17, according to Beef O’Brady’s owner Bill DeFries.

The restaurant transitioned into Wings Sports Bar & Grille the next day.

DeFries opened his first Beef O’Brady’s franchise in Centerville in 2004, which he sold in 2011. The sale of the Beavercreek location will mark the end of his restaurant career, Defries said in a release.