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Y! MyWebNew lunch spots you can't miss
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
While the broader restaurant market is trying to break out of its late-winter blues, lunch and brunch spots are proliferating. Here's a brief look at a few new (or fairly new) places that cater to the morning-and-noontime crowd.
Raw Passion Bistro, 600 E. Second St. (inside the 2nd Street Public Market), Dayton: One of the newest additions to the row of booths that cater to marketgoers, Raw Passion Bistro is the brainchild of married couple Lori Anne Agricola and George Eninger of Dayton, who describe their eatery as "a vegetarian, vegan and raw foods bistro." Specialties include the colorful and flavorful Sweet-n-Spicy Peanut Roll ($3, or two for $5.75), consisting of baked tofu, red peppers, shredded carrots, green onions and cabbage adorned with a ribbon of zingy peanut sauce and rolled up in sticky rice paper. The veggies retain a healthy crunch, and the sauce lends just the right zippy sweetness. Also a hit is the Pesto Pizza ($6), a bread-like whole-grain crust spread with basil pesto and topped with slices of fresh tomato, red onions and your choice of feta or vegan cheese. Dishes are labeled as to whether they're dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan or raw. Saturdays-only breakfast specialties include Grandpa's Waffles (buckwheat Belgian waffles, $4.50) and Tofu Scramble ($5.25) with diced onions and sweet peppers. And the owners take "green" to a new level by using biodegradeable and compostable dishes and flatware, made of sugar-cane fiber and cornstarch. Hours are limited to the market's hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. www.rawpassionbistro.webs.com
The Brunch Club, 601 S. Main St., Dayton: This piece of ground at South Main Street and South Patterson Boulevard has housed some sort of restaurant for more than half a century, so when The Breakfast Club Cafe closed in April, it didn't stay closed for long. Judging by the crowded parking lot throughout the morning and early afternoon, The Brunch Club didn't miss a beat. It kept some of the old favorites and added a few new wrinkles. Among the highlights: Jimbo's Turkey Reuben ($5.25 sandwich, $7.25 platter), turkey breast topped with cole slaw, Swiss and sauce, then grilled on marbled rye bread, and the pleasantly spicy Spice Island Chicken Sandwich ($5.25/$7.25), a fried chicken breast topped with pepper jack cheese, served on a toasted Kaiser roll. Open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week. Phone: (937) 222-7411.
The Lunch Box, 15 E. First St.: This is a fairly small hole-in-the-wall eatery — and in its opening weeks, with its exterior still under construction, that description was more literal than figurative. It offers a variety of sub sandwiches and lunch salads, mostly for carryout, since there are three eat-in tables. But the highlight here is the rotating hot-lunch daily special that may include meat loaf with mashed potatoes and green beans, chicken and dumplings or spaghetti. Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone: (937) 224-0451.
Big Sky Bread Head Cafe, 912 E. Dorothy Lane (at Ackerman Boulevard), Kettering: The lunch spot is a satellite of the Big Sky Breads bakery at 3070 Far Hills Avenue in Kettering, and it offers a variety of sandwiches, soups and salads. Big Sky owner Philip Gallenstein said the bakery was looking for a location to showcase an expanded sandwich menu and offer more seating. Among the signature sandwiches, the Bavarian Ham and Cheese ($5.95) and grilled Reuben ($6.95) are better choices than the Turkey on Big Sky Craisin Bread $5.95). Whole loaves of Big Sky breads are also available. Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone: (937) 299-9200.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2258 or mfisher@DaytonDailyNews.com.
