There’s nothing new about eating local, relying on local chefs and local ingredients to please the palate. But there is something special. What’s neat is seeing how the local culinary scene is played out in cities across the globe, seeing how more and more travelers are eschewing food factories and cleaving to community constants. To that end, a couple of really excellent restaurants this Cheapflights reporter encountered this past weekend in America’s heartland – in Dayton, Ohio.
Olive bills itself as “an urban dive,” specializing in locally sourced Mediterranean and American cuisine. Located in what was the 1938 Wympee Diner, the restaurant is small, sumptuous and crackling with quality. You might want to start out with a cup of leek and potato soup, followed up by The Urban Burger – a concoction composed of grass-fed beef raised not in feed lots, but open pasture. Vegan? Try an entrée that serves up marinated tofu, spinach, roasted kalamata olives, sweet garlic and lemon zest. The deserts are house-made. A caveat: bring your own alcohol. Dayton’s not dry, but Olive doesn’t serve its own libations.
The Meadowlark is another Dayton favorite that culls culinary competence from the surrounding soil. This chef-owned restaurant is suffused with fresh food, and first-rate local artwork. The day we were there, it was packed, and the service a bit slow. That said, the meal was worth waiting for. Shrimp and Grits is a house specialty. The Pork Jezebel is really imaginative: all-natural pork cutlets with peach jam, fresh horseradish, mustard and cream. I was tempted to lap up every last smudge of my Mushroom Migas, a dish composed of Shiitakes and corn tortillas scrambled with eggs and topped with cheese, tomato and avocado.
Save room for dessert and head to one of Dayton’s Graeter’s ice cream emporiums. The shops are southern Ohio/northern Kentucky ice cream icons. If you get a cone, beware. The server plops on a massive portion of something like coconut chocolate almond with such fervor that there’s no way it’s going to remain on that cone. Lick really rapidly. Better yet, ask for a cup.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Images: Meadowlark, Graeter’s)
