Living on history

As I was looking for their web site, I found this anonymous review of Hickory Bar-B-Que (the place on Brown St. that usually has a line at night), "I'm all for old-school, institution-type restaurants like this but I think they should deliver on some level. This Brown St. restaurant has all the trappings... the decor, ultra-guardian over-age staff, and the faux exclusivity of waiting for your table. Even at below average, I tend to give a place like this a break out of respect and/or shear sentimentality but Hickory failed to meet that mark, for me. I guess if you're a retiree that gets really excited about predictable, bland dinner club fare served in a music-less, stale environment this is your huckleberry."

I agree with what is quoted. I went to Hickory Bar-B-Que with a lot of excitement. I usually find good results when a place attracts a crowd. What worried me is that no one that I know had suggested that I try the place. The food was good but it just wasn't as great as it should be.

I don't know enough about why Hickory has stayed in business for so long to make an educated guess so I'm going to just make a guess. I think that for many years that this was the best barbecue in Dayton due to a lack of competition and experience with good barbecue. As barbecue becomes more popular and good barbecue becomes more common, I worry about Hickory's place in the local restaurant scene. I hope that they are inspired to become better.

There are other places in Dayton that seem to be living on legacy. They are places where the owners have not invested capital in the facility and spruces up the menu by adding some "light" food but not really improving the facility, the service or the menu. I think that maintaining great quality can be done over decades. Mama Disalvo's is a good example of that. The litmus test for a restaurant is not whether they can keep people coming for decades; it is whether they can keep new people coming back. That is the difference between a legend and a slow death.

By the way, the best part of Hickory Bar-B-Que is looking through the sidewalk window and seeing the food being cooked. The reason Hickory Bar-B-Que is not better is because you can see the food through the glass, their method of cooking does not produce enough smoke, especially wood smoke.

North River Coffee House

There is a dearth of food choices on Salem Ave. I will go so far as to say that there does not seem to be many local food choices in that part of Dayton. It is a desert of good food options. There may be water there but I sure as hell can't find much.

One solid choice for the past several years has been North River Coffee House, http://www.northrivercoffee.com/. This little diner-coffee shop is owned by Judge Littlejohn and has been managed by a very sweet woman who was doing a great job, according to this frequent customer.

Honestly, North River's food was never spectacular. I just really enjoyed eating there because if the food tastes better in a locally owned restaurant, it tastes even better in a locally owned restaurant in a part of town that does an awful job supporting locally owned restaurants. It does have good coffee, pie, and free wi-fi!

North River Coffee House was the 2007 CityWide Development Corporation Business of the Year. They earned it. It was bringing an entrepreneurial solution to an area that needs more businesses.

I'm frustrated because I fear that they will be on my "RIP, burger" list soon. There was a new woman today behind the counter and the service was poor, there was a slimmed down menu with 1/2 of the lunch options (the menu wasn't expansive in the first place), and I know that they have been doing poorly. They also forgot my pickle.

I just don't understand how that business is not better supported. They have NO competition except a Rally's up the street and downtown (which is almost a mile away). There is enough car traffic, residents and local businesses that they should be thriving. They have ample parking and they have a "Dayton celebrity" owner. Their poor prospects do not make me sad; they make me mad. If you want more businesses like this one, than you have to not only go there, you have to bring people to them. This is people-powered economic development, the best kind!

Don't make your business lunches at an easily found and safe chain restaurant, make it at some place memorable. I just hope that North River Coffee Coffee House survives as an option.