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August 2009
Yellow Springs theater audience will choose best Julia Child impersonator
The Little Art Theater and the nearby Winds Cafe are teaming up to have a little fun with the screening of “Julie and Julia” this Friday, Sept. 4.
The theater will host a “Julia Child ‘Fake-Off’” in which contestants are invited to dress as Julia Child and offer a short skit, cooking tip or favorite Julia quote at 7:30 p.m. Friday prior to the 8 p.m. Yellow Springs premiere screening of the movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. And the audience for the screening will judge the contestants.
Actress Rani Crowe, who portrays a character she calls Julia-Jean Child, will serve as master of ceremonies for the contest and will host a “Cocktails with Julia” cocktail hour at The Winds Cafe beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The Winds is also offering a Julia Child-inspired entree Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights this week. Those ordering the entree will receive a $1.50 discount on the “Julie & Julia” screening ticket — $6 rather than $7.50.
For more information about the event, reservations for the cocktail hour or special restaurant entree, contact Mary Kay Smith at mk@windscafe.com or call (937) 767-1144. For more information about the movie screening, contact Jenny Cowperthwaite at latys@sbcglobal.net or call (937) 767-7671.
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TweetTea room set to open tomorrow
DAYTON — Basically British — a specialty shop that imports British candies, foods, teas and gifts — will open a tea room on Tuesday, Sept. 1 as part of an expansion of its business at 502 E. Third St. in the Cannery just east of downtown Dayton.
The Tea Room is adjacent to the Basically British retail shop and was the former reception area for Square One Salon and Spa, according to a news release from the Downtown Dayton Partnership.
The shop is accepting reservations for afternoon tea from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. In addition to choice of tea, the menu includes a Traditional English Scone with jam and clotted cream, sandwich offerings such as chutney chicken salad on puff pastry and cucumber sandwich with salmon and dill, and dessert offerings such as Orange Cheesecake with Butterscotch Sauce and Chocolate Caramel Shortbread. The cost is $20.95 per person. Service is limited to those 10 and older.
Terry Ronald, co-owner of Basically British, said in the news release that the tea room will seat up to 20 people and “will give the community an opportunity to fully experience the art of afternoon tea.”
Reservations are encouraged and can be made by calling (937) 222-1488.
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TweetRestaurant Week attracted record number of diners
Well, your reviews and mine were overwhelmingly positive, and now the hard numbers confirm what we suspected: summer Restaurant Week was a hit.
The twice-a-year Miami Valley Restaurant Association promotion in which diners can enjoy a three-course meal for $20.09 and the restaurants donate $1 for every special meal sold to a local charity resulted in a total of 19,863 meals sold, according to Amy Zahora, the MVRA’s executive director.
That number shatters all previous one-week Restaurant Week records and is a robust increase from last summer’s Restaurant Week, when about 12,000 meals were sold. It came up just short of the 20,009 meals sold during Winter Restaurant Week in early 2009, when the promotion was extended by a week due to dicey weather during week one and therefore deserves an asterisk in the record books.
Several restaurants saw a “nice-sized increase” from previous Restaurant Weeks, Zahora said. “Buckhorn Tavern doubled their numbers with 507 meals sold, Barleycorn’s also more than doubled with 304 sold, and Fleming’s did a whopping 2,707 meals,” she said.
Winter Restaurant Week — just in case you’re wondering — is scheduled for Jan. 24-29, 2010. But beware the price increase: the meals will cost a penny more, to $20.10.
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TweetFormer Blue Moon is now leased; restaurant may follow
The former Blue Moon Bistro — most recently John Henry’s restaurant — at 524 E. Fifth St. in Dayton’s Oregon District has been leased by a local catering company whose owners are considering a new restaurant for the site.
Beth Hirschbach and Dana Downs are partners in Veritas Foods LLC, which has rented most of the former John Henry’s space and is preparing Italian pasta dishes that they are selling frozen for at-home use under the name “The Black Rooster Gourmet Italian Foods” at the National City 2nd Street Market. The Black Rooster’s offerings — all prepared in the former Blue Moon/John Henry’s kitchens — include several variations of lasagna and other pasta dishes as well as other entrees.
Downs said Black Rooster would like to open a booth at the Second Street market that will allow them to serve meal-sized portions of hot foods (it now offers hot samples of two or three of its frozen take-home meal-size dishes). Veritas Catering can host special events in the former John Henry’s, seating about 50 people with more room on the patio, Downs said. The catering menu is not limited to Italian foods but includes Asian, South American and Mediterranean specialties, she said. Veritas leased the former restaurant’s dining room, kitchens and patio, but not the bar area.
“Down the road, we’d love to open a Mexican restaurant” in the East Fifth Street location, Downs said, although she added that such plans are “perhaps a year or two” away.
Downs, who was trained at Sinclair Community College’s culinary arts program, previously worked at Franco’s and Zola’s; Hirschbach served as banquet manager at Five Seasons Country Club.
For more information, call (937) 603-0333.
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TweetNew restaurant coming to The Greene
A new specialty burger restaurant called EO Burgers — the first of its kind for its owner, an Ann Arbor restaurateur who is also the newly elected chairman of the National Restaurant Association — is scheduled to open at The Greene in late fall or winter.
The 3,800-square-feet restaurant will be located between Cinema de Lux and the town square fountain on 4482 Glengarry Drive. It will seat about 150 guests — 100 in the main dining room, 20 around the bar and 30 on the patio, according to Steiner + Associates, The Greene’s developer.
The restaurant will be a new concept of “upscale but affordable burgers” for the small Ann Arbor-based Mainstreet Ventures, which operates 15 upscale restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. The company’s other three Ohio restaurants are in the Toledo area.
Mainstreet Ventures President Michael C. Gibbons said this morning, Aug. 27, that he was already familiar with the region from his son attending the University of Dayton. Gibbons said Yaromir Steiner, CEO of Steiner + Associates, approached him with the idea of developing a specialty burger restaurant at The Greene, and Gibbons came to the shopping, entertainment and residential complex to gauge its potential.
“I fell in love with it instantly,” Gibbons said. “There are tons of apartments around there. It’s loaded with our customers.”
Steiner said EO Burgers will add a new and distinctive dimension to The Greene, and he’s glad he found a restaurateur who knows the Ohio market to launch it.
“We were searching for something extraordinary, not a chain, and not cookie-cutter. We found that in EO Burgers,” Steiner said. “I believe this will become a foodie destination for its unique ingredients.”
Gibbons and his fellow Mainstreet Ventures officials have spent recent weeks testing various ground beef products, buns and potatoes to fine-tune the menu offerings. The restaurant will use only hormone-free, antibiotic-free beef for its burgers and has settled on fresh-cut Yukon Gold potatoes for its fries, Gibbons said.
Customers can choose from among a variety of burger toppings, including cheeses and flavored mayonnaise dipping sauces such as chipotle and mango. The average bill for a diner is estimated to be less than $10 per person.
“I think the reasonable prices will resonate with people, especially in these times,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons said he had hoped to open EO Burgers before Christmas, “but I’m not sure that’s going to happen,” he said. The restaurant will likely open after the first of the year, the restaurateur said.
The new restaurant will employ about 30 people, Gibbons said. The restaurant will open for lunch and dinner, and is expected to remain open late into the evenings, although the exact hours of operation haven’t been set.
Gibbons is scheduled to be inducted into his elected position as chairman of the National Restaurant Association on Sept. 13 in Washington D.C. He previously served as treasurer and vice chairman of the membership organization.
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TweetLocal restaurant wins top prize for BBQ
For the second consecutive year, Brad and Krista Bowman’s Hickory River Smokehouse pulled pork has captured the Grand Champion top prize at the Ohio State Fair’s “Pork Rib-Off” competition.
The Bowmans own the Hickory River Smokehouse restaurant on 135 S. Garber Drive in Tipp City, which opened in 2006. They had never entered a food competition until the 2008 Ohio State Fair, where they also won the pulled-pork competition, and returned in 2009 to successfully defend their title in the competition held earlier this month.
Brad Bowman told my Dayton Daily News colleague Nancy Bowman, who covers Miami County for the newspaper, that the secret behind his barbecue is a simple process of using hickory smoked meat with a rub made fresh every couple of days, and topped with the Bowmans’ Hickory River barbecue sauce.
For winning, Hickory River received a $1,000 prize, but the publicity for being grand champion is the biggest payoff, Bowman said. “It puts us on the map,” he said.
Thanks to Nancy Bowman for the news tip and the reporting help!
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TweetAttorneys clash over Duke’s menu
Attorneys for Duke’s Restaurant owner Reece Powers III and for former Dominic’s restaurant owner Anne B. Mantia clashed in court this morning, Aug. 26, over whether Powers has violated a court order with the menu items his restaurant is serving.
In the end, a frustrated U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rose set a deadline of Friday, Aug. 28 for both sides to come up with an agreed-upon menu and to submit it to him for approval. Rose said absent such an agreement, he will issue a written ruling early next week on whether Powers should be held in contempt of court over the menu dispute, which is part of Mantia’s civil lawsuit against Powers and two other defendants claiming trademark infringement and breach of contract in the operation of the West Carrollton restaurant.
Rose said he was supposed to receive and approve an agreed-upon menu several weeks ago, but that never happened, and Mantia’s attorney filed a motion Aug. 5 seeking a contempt-of-court order against Powers for serving menu items that go beyond what the judge has approved. Rose has issued a preliminary injunction against Duke’s and its owner limiting its menu to the one served by the former Duke’s Golden Ox, a steakhouse that was operated by Powers’ uncle, Duke Morris.
Powers testified today that he thought he had reached an agreement with the plaintiffs on what he could serve. He said he removed more than 20 items from his menu at the request of Mantia and her attorney in an attempt to comply with the court order.
James Morris, Mantia’s attorney, pointed to menu items such as chicken and tilapia entrees, fried mushrooms and chicken wings appetizers, pizza dishes and desserts that are on the current Duke’s restaurant menu but which were not listed in a hand-written and partial Golden Ox menu submitted to the court by Duke Morris. The attorney and the former restaurant owner are not related.
James Morris said in a summary argument that he sought the contempt-of-court ruling in part because he believes Powers and the restaurant are “going to go out and bend the rules, break the rules in any way they can.”
When Lawrence Wilkins — a Beavercreek attorney who started serving as Powers’ co-counsel today and is part of the fifth legal team to officially represent Powers — suggested to the judge that it “shouldn’t be rocket science” to work out an agreed-upon menu, Rose reminded him that he has been overseeing the case for months and that previous defendants’ attorneys also have suggested the menu problem would be worked out — “but it still has not come about.”
Rose set a trial date of Sept. 27, 2010, although he concluded today’s hearing by saying, “Hopefully, we won’t have to have a trial.”
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TweetMichael Anticoli opens second La Piazza restaurant, but it’s no carbon copy
La Piazza restaurant owner Michael Anticoli knew he didn’t want to adopt a “cookie-cutter” approach to his second restaurant.
“We’re independent - it’s at the core of who we are,” Anticoli said. “There are a million places that make carbon copies of themselves, but I don’t see the value in that.”
So while La Piazza New Bremen may share a name with Anticoli’s flagship restaurant in Troy, it has its own identity, menu and personality, Anticoli said.
The new restaurant that we mentioned on these pages back in February opened in early July at 17 West Monroe St. in the Auglaize County village southeast of Grand Lake St. Mary’s. Anticoli makes the 70-mile round trip daily to La Piazza New Bremen so he can oversee both restaurants.
The new restaurant opened in a historic building built in the 1800s that once served as a hotel for travelers and salesmen navigating the newly created Miami and Erie Canal, Anticoli said. Most recently, it housed The Grille restaurant, but Anticoli said the interior has been redesigned, and restaurant customers like what they’ve seen.
“We were delayed a little bit. People were expecting us to open in May, and then in June, so once we did open, people were eager to get in and check it out,” he said. “I love old buildings, and I feel that the character of the place helps lead the way in creating a solid dining experience.“
And Anticoli should know a thing or two about the dining experience. He comes from what is likely the longest-established, continually operating restaurant family in the Miami Valley. His father Leo operates Caffe Anticoli in Harrison Twp., and the family celebrated 75 years in the restaurant business in 2006. Michael opened his Troy restaurant in 1992.
While the two La Piazza restaurants share some menu items - Italian standbys such as lasagna, ravioli and eggplant parmigiana - Anticoli and his New Bremen team created some new signature dishes for the new restaurant, including Tasso Chicken Saltimbocca, Zuppa di Pesce, Weinerschnitzel, and a locally supplied marinated pork chop, the restaurant owner said. The dessert list features signature items made by a New Bremen baker such as Amaretto Cheesecake and Italian Cream Cake, he said.
Anticoli said he’s pleased with how the first few weeks have gone in his New Bremen location. And he may not be done. When asked if he intends to open a third restaurant or more, Anticoli replied, “Who knows?
“If something shows itself, and the time is right … we’ll explore it.”
— For more information about La Piazza New Bremen, call (419) 629-3800 or go to www.lapiazzanewbremen.com.
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TweetPopcorn: the new antioxidant?
Could popcorn be the next “rich-in-antioxidants” craze?
Check out this story from ABC News entitled “Popcorn a hidden source of antioxidants, study says”, which may make you feel a little better about that big bowl of popcorn you’re munching on. Assuming, of course, you haven’t drowned your popcorn in butter and salt, which I have a habit of doing (oh, but it does taste good that way, doesn’t it?)
The story is based on a study unveiled this week by the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, and the PR folks from Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn wasted no time in trumpeting the findings in an email sent to food reporters, saying that Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn is “100 percent whole grain.” Which, we presume, other popcorn brands are as well.
Still, a bit of good news for us snackers …
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TweetL’Auberge hires new executive chef
L’Auberge has hired a new executive chef: Jared Whalen, a native of Hamilton who worked most recently at Chalk Food & Wine in Cincinnati.
Whalen is a graduate of The New England Culinary Institute and has worked at The Boulders in Scottsdale Arizona; the now-defunct Maisonette in Cincinnati; Jean Robert at Pigall’s; and Pho Paris before joining Chalk Food & Wine, where he has worked for the last 18 months, according to l’Auberge General Manager and Sommelier Brian DeMarke.
“Over the coming weeks, L’Auberge and Chef Whalen will begin unveiling new menus and ideas for the culinary future of L’Auberge,” DeMarke said.
Whalen replaces Romuald Jung, who parted ways with the restaurant last month.
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TweetRibbon -cutting today for new downtown Dayton restaurant
The new downtown Dayton deli that we told you about last month — Carmen’s Deli in the Fifth Third Building — will celebrate its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. today, Aug. 17, according to the Downtown Dayton Partnership.
The new deli’s address is 110 N. Main Street, Suite 90, although the entrance and the deli itself face Second Street in the Fifth Third Center, across from from the Kettering Tower.
Plans call for a ribbon cutting and official remarks at 4 p.m., to be followed by hors d’oeuvres, partnership officials said.
The new restaurant is owned by Haitham Imam and his wife Carmen, for whom the deli is named. Haitham Imam previously served in food-service management at Sinclair Community College and at area health-care facilities.
Carmen’s will be open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday. Its phone number is (937) 610-9999.
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TweetCENA files for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection
I’m on vacation (or in this case, stay-cation), but here is a story my DDN colleague Ben Sutherly has written this morning concerning the local restaurant scene entitled Restaurant owner files for bankruptcy protection, about CENA Brazilian-Mediterranean Steakhouse filing for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy.
CENA is owned by Eva Christian, who also owns Cafe Boulevard, which also filed for bankruptcy protection/reorganization earlier this year. Cafe Boulevard has been operating normally while in Chapter 11, and in fact offered up a great dining experience during the recently completed Restaurant Week. The reorganization bankruptcy case remains open.
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TweetJudge orders Duke’s to pay $20K in legal fees to other side’s attorney
A federal judge has ordered Duke’s restaurant, its owner Reece Powers III, and chef Harry Lee to pay $19,725 to the attorney representing former Dominic’s Restaurant owner Anne Mantia.
In a ruling filed Wednsday, Aug. 12, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose noted that the deadline passed on July 10 for filing a response to a motion for attorneys’ fees filed June 15 by Mantia’s attorney, James Morris of Lexington, Ky. — and no response was filed. Rose concluded that Morris’ request is “unopposed and now ripe for decision,” and he awarded Morris the full amount requested. But the judge declined Morris’ attempt to hike the amount awarded because of the quality of the attorney’s legal service and because of the nature of Duke’s violations of a temporary restraining order that prompted the request for legal fees, calculated on 52.6 hours of work at an hourly rate of $375.
Powers could not be reached for comment this morning, Aug. 13. Judge Rose noted in his ruling that Powers has parted ways with at least four sets of attorneys as the still-pending case has unfolded and is now acting as his own attorney.
Christie Mantia — also a defendant in Anne Mantia’s copyright-infringement and breach-of-contract lawsuit against the restaurant now called Duke’s — was not ordered to pay the legal fees because she was no longer connected to the restaurant at the time of the violations of the restraining order. Her attorney also has asked to withdraw from the case.
Powers has filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals to Rose’s issuance of a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit. The injunction, among other actions, severely limits the menu of Duke’s — located at 630 E. Dixie Drive in West Carrollton — to items served at the now-defunct Duke’s Golden Ox restaurant, which was run by Powers’ uncle.
The original lawsuit was filed April 3. Its request for monetary damages against the new restaurant and against Powers, Lee and Christie Mantia has not been resolved.
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TweetRestaurant Week, revisited
The 2009 Summer Restaurant Week promotion is now history, of course, but what a history it was. Please share your Restaurant Week experiences right here by clicking on the “Post your comment” link below and telling us about your meals.
I’ll go first:
Duke’s Italian & American Restaurant
No way could I pass up the chance to eat at Duke’s, the new restaurant in West Carrollton about which I’ve written hundreds and hundreds of column inches of news stories about a lawsuit that places the eatery at its epicenter, but not a single word about actually dining there.
For Restaurant Week, Duke’s went above and beyond its competitors by offering a four-course dinner for $20.09, one more course than the norm. Each of the appetizers was a winner: Fried mushrooms were hot from the fryer, served with tomato sauce on the side rather than ranch, while chips and salsa featured house-made tortilla chips with a salsa filled with chunks of fresh tomatoes and peppers and a separate container of sour cream. Cheese garlic bread was straightforward and satisfying.
The delicious, fennel-laced, slightly spicy Italian sausage that comes as a choice with the Restaurant Week Pasta entree triggered a moment of nostalgia for restaurants past, as did the Baked Lasagne, a cheese-lover’s rendition that includes ricotta, Romano and mozzarella enveloping ground beef and sausage.
In addition to the two Italian entrees, five “American” dishes were offered as Restaurant Week options. We chose the Lemon Pepper Chicken, two properly seasoned and broiled chicken breasts served with broccoli.
Chocolate Lava Cake served warm was a slightly better dessert choice than the Strawberry Shortcake, which was a bit sweet.
The restaurant seemed a bit overwhelmed by the Restaurant Week surge, as two of our three appetizers arrived at our table out of sequence, after our salads were served. But generous portions of well-made Italian fare made Duke’s an appealing Restaurant Week choice.
Cafe Boulevard
The weather defied the forecast just long enough to make Cafe Boulevard’s back patio a fine destination.
Thoughtful and creative touches were evident from the start: The Bruschetta appetizer was served with two toppings, with a flavorful olive tapenade joining the customary tomato-basil relish. Even more impressive and satisfying were the Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms, two large white mushrooms topped with melted boursin and bread crumbs served on a rectangular plate with a visually pleasing swirl of balsamic glaze. It was simply the best Restaurant Week appetizer of the week.
The Cafe Boulevard Caesar was robust and well-made, and the restaurant’s House Salad was enhanced by an excellent, well-balanced raspberry vinaigrette.
Entrees included a Portobello vegetarian dish that featured two medium-large mushrooms over whipped potatoes and asparagus, accented by a healthy pour of a creamy piccata sauce. The flavors melded well, and the portion was just right. The Beef Galette entree delivered some spicy heat with slices of steak, onions, mushrooms, sweet peppers and a smoky, citrusy, and appealingly zesty sauce.
Unlike most other Restaurant Week menus, Cafe Boulevard’s menu includes both salad and appetizer but not dessert. We paid extra to split the Cafe Boulevard Signature Chocolate Cake, with its multiple layers of chocolate in various forms and textures. It was rich, decadent and soul-satisfying, and it was well worth the extra $7.
Savona Restaurant & Wine Bar
Savona opened on Monday for Restaurant Week, and we snagged the last parking spot when we arrived for 6:30 p.m. reservations.
The Salad Savona, with pristine romaine and radicchio dressed with an herb vinaigrette, was a better first-course choice than the Caramelized Onion Soup with Parmesan Crostini, which was a bit thin.
Chef-owner Keith Taylor’s take on Paella was a winner, chock full of mussels, shrimp, chicken and a robustly spicy chorizo, as well as tomatoes, onions and peas. The saffron rice played an appropriately supporting role to the meats, seafood and veggies. The Grilled Mahi Mahi was cooked properly, still moist, and benefitted from the well-made red-cabbage slaw piled on top as well as the garlic mashed potatoes.
We opted for the vanilla gelato over the coffee-spiked flavor, and it was flat-out delicious — one of the best gelatos I’ve encountered.
One oddity: the butter served at the beginning of the meal, with a bread basket, is flavored with honey and garlic — only this particular garlic bulb must have been an especially potent one, since the butter was virtually aflame with essence of garlic. After the initial shock, I enjoyed the flavor blast, but I’m not sure others would share my enthusiasm.
Barleycorn’s Restaurant & Bar
Since I’d already written a story about the increasing number of casual restaurants and wine bars joining the Restaurant Week promotion, I chose one of those casual eateries for my opening-night sojourn: Barleycorn’s. Besides, it’s a safe bet that no other Restaurant Week participant in history has offered entree choices of lamb chops or snow crab legs. Ever.
The appetizers were excellent: a single Crab Cake put the focus on crab, not on filler, and was served with a shot-glass full of creamy, faintly sweet, and potently spicy Firecracker sauce. A Tomato and Red Onion Bruschetta served with lightly toasted ciabatta points tasted fresh and tangy with its splash of Balsamic-style vinegar.
The Grilled New Zealand Lamb Chops was a relatively generous portion of five chops of varying thickness served atop mashed potatoes with steamed broccoli. The rosemary-mint sauce thankfully was used judiciously. The Chicken Cordon Bleu was also a generously large baked breast stuffed with ham and Swiss Cheese, though the mixed vegetables served alongside seemed an afterthought.
Desserts were a bit of a disappointment. The blackberries and ice cream in the Blackberry Cobbler were refreshing but were served atop what tasted like raw dough. The Fried Raspberry Cheesecake stuffed cheesecake inside an eggroll wrapper which was then deep-fried and topped with cinnamon sugar. But the fried eggroll wrapper turned tough and chewy.
Overall, though, the appetizer and entree courses at Barleycorn’s made its Restaurant Week menu a fine bargain.
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TweetDuke’s menu challenged again by ex-Dominic’s owner
The former owner of Dominic’s Restaurant has gone to court to again challenge the menu being served at Duke’s Restaurant — not because it resembles the former Dominic’s’ menu, but because it has “grossly expanded” beyond the limitations set by a federal judge in an earlier court order.
In documents filed Wednesday, Aug. 5, in U.S. District Court, the attorney for former Dominic’s owner Anne Mantia is seeking a second finding of contempt of court against Reece Powers III, the owner of Duke’s Restaurant at 630 E. Dixie Drive in West Carrollton, and the restaurant’s chef, Harry Lee. District Court Judge Thomas Rose ruled in June that Duke’s Restaurant — which is at the center of a breach-of-contract and trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Mantia — would be allowed to reopen but must serve only the menu of the former Duke’s Golden Ox restaurant, at least until the lawsuit was resolved.
Powers and Lee have filed a notice of appeal of Judge’s Rose’s ruling, suggesting they will try to convince an appeals court that the menu restrictions go too far.
But Mantia’s attorney, James Morris, said in his motion that until the appeal is sorted out, Rose retains jurisdiction over the preliminary injunction that ordered Powers and Lee to serve only those items on the former Golden Ox menu as submitted by the restaurant’s owner (and Powers’ uncle), Raymond “Duke” Morris. Any deviations from the old menu were ordered to be submitted to the judge for approval.
Yet Morris claims that Powers and Lee “continue to ignore the injunction and, instead, have insisted upon utilizing a grossly expanded menu, incorporating numerous items that are simply nonexistent in the Duke’s menu … .”
Powers said this afternoon, Aug. 6, that Morris’ motion seems like harassment, especially since Duke’s current menu was hammered out during a lengthy conference among Morris, himself and his ex-attorneys. During that conference, Powers said he agreed to remove many Italian specialties from the Duke’s menu, including multiple entrees, soups, salads and desserts, in order to reach an agreed-upon menu with Morris.
“I’m trying to run a restaurant. I don’t know what more to do” to placate the plaintiffs’ attorney, Powers said.
Morris renewed his request that the judge order Powers to account for, then forfeit, “all gross receipts from the illegal operation of the restaurant.”
No hearing date has yet been set on the most recent motion for a contempt of court ruling. It’s not clear who will be filing the appeal of the menu restrictions on Powers’ behalf; his most recent attorneys have obtained the judge’s permission to withdraw from representing the restaurant owner, who has parted ways with at least four different sets of attorneys since the case began.
So far, the case has revolved around restraining orders and injunctions regarding Duke’s, while the requests by Anne B. Mantia for monetary damages for what she says are trademark infringement and breach-of-contract remain unresolved. Christie Mantia, granddaughter of Dominic’s founder and stepdaughter to Anne Mantia, is also listed as a defendant in the case, though she is no longer affiliated with Duke’s.
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TweetNew Voltzy’s Root Beer Stand opens today
MORAINE — Voltzy’s Root Beer Stand is scheduled to open this morning, Aug.4, at 11 a.m. at 4668 Springboro Pike.
The root beer stand was built adjacent to the trailer from which Voltzy’s ownwer Rick Volz has been serving lunch in the parking lot of Kastle Electric at 4501 Kettering Blvd. The new permanent structure will allow Volz to extend his hours: The root beer stand will be open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
The new restaurant is a throwback to the 1950s-era root beer stands and will feature carhop service. Picnic tables also are available for dining al fresco. In the winter, carhop service and dinner hours will phase out and diners will be able to order in a foyer at lunchtime.
The expanded menu will continue to include Voltzy’s signature hamburgers and soups but will now also include fries, onion rings, chicken strips, deep-fried pickles, deep-fried hot dogs and other items, including Frostop root beer and ice cream floats.
For more information, call (937) 299-1440.
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