June restaurant highlights: 1 new, 6 coming soon and 5 closing

The Dayton Mall’s newest restaurant is serving up a menu featuring Dayton beer, apple cranberry chicken wraps and a killer meat and cheese board with truffle goat cheese.

Andrew Payne, the owner of Hunger Paynes food truck, launched the Hunger Paynes Beer and Wine Garden in the lower level of the mall near Macy’s.

It will serve about two or three varieties of Hunger Paynes’ signature croquettes daily and have a dozen Dayton area beers on tap daily as a tribute to local breweries.

»»READ MORE: Beloved food truck to host grand opening of new restaurant, beer garden at local mall

Partial to Pie Bakery

A new and independently owned bakery founded by a local father-daughter duo has set an opening date of July 27 near the University of Dayton campus.

“Partial to Pie Bakery” is gearing up to open at 200 Shroyer Road, at the intersection of Shroyer and Wilmington Pike. The space previously housed AAA Stripping and Refinishing, but it had been vacant for several years.

The retail bakery will provide both dine-in and carry-out services, specializing in pies, quiche and sweet treats, according to co-founders Marie Clark and her father Mike Clark, both of Kettering.

»»READ MORE: Opening date set for new Dayton pie shop

Elsa’s Corner Cantina 

The new Elsa’s Corner Cantina in the Sugarcreek Plaza is scheduled to open on July 5 if all goes well, according to a sign posted on the restaurant’s door June 26.

The co-owner of Elsa’s has a message for prospective customers of his new cantina-style restaurant in the Sugarcreek Plaza off Wilmington Pike.

“This doesn’t look like your parents’ Elsa’s,” Jason Hemmert said. “And we didn’t want it to be your parents’ Elsa’s.”

The new restaurant will seat 135 inside and another 50 or so on a breezy patio. There are 30 large-screen televisions inside, and another five on the patio, Hemmert said. And perhaps most important: The original Elsa’s “Bad Juan” margarita will be available on tap.

Dunkin’ Donuts

The Dayton area's newest Dunkin' Donuts shop coming to a former Wendy's restaurant on Far Hills Avenue in Washington Twp. will be unlike any other in the region.

Township officials have approved zoning plans for the project at 5901 Far Hills Ave., which calls for a build-out a Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Next Generation Concept Store.”

The Next Generation stores include digital kiosks that will allow customers to place an order without the help of a crew member and “premium pours” that include cold beverages such as coffees, iced teas, cold brew coffee and nitro infused cold brew coffee, served through a tap system that looks very much like a craft-brewery taproom. A single-cup machine will also give customers the option of grinding and brewing coffee varieties one cup at a time.

Leo Bistro

Leo Bistro, the restaurant inside the Dayton Art Institute, will reopen July 11, institute officials said.

Leo Bistro will operate with a “fast-casual” concept, serving soups, made-to-order sandwiches featuring Boar’s Head deli products, and bakery items from Boosalis Bakery of Centerville. It will serve beer and wine, other specialty beverages and Starbucks coffees.

Museum members will continue to receive a discount on purchases at Leo Bistro.

»»READ MORE: Dayton Art Institute to reopen its restaurant, Leo Bistro

Flyby BBQ 

A new and independently owned restaurant that got its start on the local food-truck circuit is coming to the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

Flyby BBQ will open in space between the existing Fusian and BRAVO Cucina Italiana restaurants, according to 20-year-old Ohio State University student David Butcher. Plans call for building out the space this summer and opening sometime this fall.

Flyby will be a fast-casual barbecue restaurant with an ordering system similar to Chipotle. It will serve signature barbeque sandwiches, bowls and platters featuring hickory-smoked meats, a variety of toppings, and regional American barbeque sauces. A vegan option of pulled barbecue jackfruit will be available.

»»READ MORE: New BBQ restaurant coming to the Mall at Fairfield Commons

Gionino’s Pizzeria 

Ink has been dried and demolition work has begun at 1528 E. Third St. to bring one of the Akron area’s favorite pizza parlors to Dayton.

Tony Clark, a Huffman Historic Area resident and the owner of DK Effect , said he has formally signed an agreement with Gionino’s Pizzeria, a northeast Ohio based pizza chain with about 44 locations between Cleveland and Canton.

“It is generally always rated the top (pizza) in the city,” Clark said of Gionino’s. “It is not just a pizza place. They have really good fried chicken and chicken wings and salads.”

»»READ MORE:  One of Akron's top pizza restaurants coming to Dayton

Applebee’s

The franchise owner of Applebee’s Grill & Bar restaurants throughout Ohio has permanently shut down one of its Dayton-area restaurants at 6242 Wilmington Pike in Sugarcreek Twp.

A spokeswoman for Applebee’s Grill & Bar says the restaurant chain’s owners want to “keep as many restaurants open as possible” after filing a lawsuit seeking to gain control of the brand’s restaurants in the Dayton area and elsewhere in Ohio from its franchisee.

»»READ MORE: Applebees to 'keep as many restaurants open as possible,' spokeswoman says

Mike’s Nashville Hot 

Less than two years after it opened, a restaurant known for its spicy chicken has closed one if its Dayton-area locations.

The Mike’s Nashville Hot restaurant at 6230 Far Hills Ave. (Ohio 48) in the Shops of North Village retail center in Centerville is closed. The Centerville location opened Monday, Jan. 30, 2017.

When it opened, the Centerville Mike’s location had seats for about 72 and employed about 40.

»»READ MORE: 18 months after opening, chicken chain shuts down one of its Dayton locations 

De’Lish

Jasmine Brown announced on her Facebook page that her restaurant, De'Lish Cafe, located at 139 N. Main St., will close for good on July 31.

“As I am sitting here writing this, I am tearing up. This message is to let everyone know that De’Lish will be closing July 31, 2018 for good.

My family and I have given this city 8 long and hard years of our lives. We have had good times and we have had bad times.

It is time for us to move on to try something different…”

Brown launched the restaurant in 2010, at the former site of Gregory’s Piano Bar.

»»READ MORE: Downtown restaurant closing for good

Rocky’s Pizza Ring 

The owner of a Beavercreek pizza restaurant that has operated for more than four decades has shut down.

“Yes, Saturday, June 30, at 9 p.m., we will close our doors,” Rocky’s Pizza Ring owner Amy Calcutta told this news outlet via a Facebook message. The restaurant is located in the Beaver Valley Shopping Center at North Fairfield Road and U.S. 35 in Beavercreek.

“We want to thank you for allowing us to be a part of your family and for over 40 years of memories,” the owners of Rocky’s Pizza Ring said on its Facebook page in March. The decision to shut down was made “with a heavy heart,” the owners said.

»»READ MORE: Beavercreek pizza restaurant to shut down for good after more than 40 years.

Chappys Tap Room and Grille

A local beer bar and restaurant that was a pioneer of the craft beer movement in the Dayton has shut its doors for good, but its second, newer location will remain open.

Chappys Tap Room and Grille at 2733 West Alex-Bell Road near Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in Moraine — which opened in 2007 and helped lay the groundwork for the Dayton area’s thriving brewery scene — will consolidate operations to Chappy's Social House at 7880 Washington Village Drive in Washington Twp.

»»READ MORE: One of Dayton's pioneer craft-beer pubs to shut down this weekend after more than a decade.