Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2009 > December > 11 > Entry
Duke’s restaurant reopens for third time
Duke’s Restaurant in West Carrollton, which was ordered by a federal judge to close on Sept. 1 as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit, reopened for business today, Dec. 11.
The restaurant was seating diners over the lunch hour, and the restaurant’s owner, Reece Powers III, said he planned to be open regular hours today, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and for lunch and dinner going forward.
Powers said he is serving a menu limited to that of the now-defunct Duke’s Golden Ox restaurant — which was owned by Powers’ Uncle, Raymond “Duke” Morris — to comply with a judge’s order limiting his menu. Powers and his restaurant’s chef, Harry Lee, are defendants in a federal trademark-infringement lawsuit filed by Anne B. Mantia, former owner of Dominic’s Restaurant in Dayton.
Mantia obtained a preliminary injunction against the Duke’s owner and chef limiting the menu they could serve at the restaurant at 630 E. Dixie Drive. Powers thought he had reached agreement to reopen in October, but no agreed-upon menu was ever filed with the court, and his restaurant remained closed.
Powers said his decision to reopen was based a decision filed by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas M. Rose last week, on Dec. 3, which read in part: “The Court is and has been agreeable to … permitting the Restaurant to open using an agreed menu. However, Powers and DRI (Powers former corporation, entitled “Dominic’s Restaurant Inc.”) were unwilling to operate under the Duke’s menu that they submitted and have been unwilling and/or unable to agree to another menu. Thus, the restaurant remains closed. Powers’ and DRI’s Motion To Amend this Court’s latest Order that the Restaurant remain closed until if and when the Parties can agree to a different menu or until the menu used is the menu submitted by Powers, Lee and DRI known as the Duke’s Golden Ox Steak House menu is OVERRULED.”
Powers said he believes the restaurant can reopen as long as he limits his menu to the former Duke’s Golden Ox menu, which includes steaks, sandwiches, barbecue ribs and Italian dishes. He estimated that since he first opened eight months ago, he has only been able to serve for about eight weeks. The forced closings have “cost me everything financially,” Powers said. “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”
“But we’ve gotten a lot of public support, our vendors have hung in there, and so have our employees,” Powers said.
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