Breakfast at Abner's

You'll have to ask who Abner is because I forgot to ask. Sorry.

I forgot to ask because I was too busy eating my breakfast and people watching. The breakfast food was great. I tried the eggs, toast, biscuits & gravy, and fried potatoes. All of them were really good, cheap, and filling enough that I forgot to eat lunch (that NEVER happens).

Abner's is a classic Dayton diner. They assume that you want coffee, they sell lotto tickets and they have a back room where the food comes out of. I love it all! Abner's does have really good food. Since my bad experience at Wympe's, I had been leery of trying a diner's biscuits and gravy. I am very happy to report that Abner's biscuits and gravy were very good.

There is some good people watching at Abner's. It is on the main road of E. Dayton so it attracts a crowd with a lot of life experiences. I know this because the tatoos were a rich tapestry of . . . something. I think that my guest and I were the only people in there without tats. They were very friendly (like most Daytonians).

One of my favorite things about Abner's is that it is a great place to get away and get work done, especially if an internet connection is not needed. It is not a loud diner, the people pretty much keep to themselves and they don't mind you hanging around.

I recommend Abner's for the people watching, the office like functions but most of all, they serve a really good breakfast. (but you must pay cash for it)

Tony's!!!

I like to have business meetings at memorable places because it makes the meeting itself more memorable. I took a guy who lives in Cincinnati to Tony's and he was so excited that, the next night, he took his wife and another couple from Mason to Tony's for dinner. What this means is that Tony's is a tourist destination. It's that good.

What makes Tony’s memorable and unique is the menu. Tony's specializes in Fair Food. Among its fried items include pickles, Oreos, Twinkies, and Snickers. They have things that no one else has on their menu including Loaded Spiral Potatoes and Funnel Cake with Cherry Topping (I actually recommend without the Cherry Topping, the cherries are too overpowering). I’m sure that they would fry anything else if you asked. They are very nice there. (SPECIAL INSIGHT: The best way to get to Tony’s is a really long walk.)

Tony's also has pizza, hamburgers, pork tenderloins and other regular food there. They also have salads. (I want to see the person who orders a salad, a diet coke, and a fried Snicker). Those are all good. You can't go and get the specialty desserts if the main food is bad.

Recommended order: Tony's Italian Sausage, Loaded Spiral Potato and Deep Fried Twinkie.

I give the restaurant ambiance three lunch orders. The restaurant is really boring but the family that works there is very generous with portions and offering free samples. The food is four lunch orders. You will have a meal that you will remember for a long time.

Its nice to have choices but its also nice to have a place that specializes in something that no one else is specializing in doing. Go to Tony's but beware of the tourists!

How to Say Hello

A restaurant should be able to be classified by how they greet you when you walk through the door. An expensive restaurant will greet you formally. A good restaurant will make you feel welcome. When you walk into East 5th Street Grill & Carryout, they ask you if you want coffee. That's exactly how a diner should welcome its customers.

E. 5th Street Grill is an authentic diner. The walls are filled with garage sale pickups. In the summer time, they leave the door open and the screen door closed. They serve breakfast and lunch all day (including a huge pork tenderloin sandwich that should require two buns). The food is cheap. They even have a cook that is covered in tattoos and a shaved head (I wish I knew his name). They have a bar to sit at. All of their food is cooked on the griddle or fried in oil.

I was eating and trying to think what else the place needs. Only the waitress, a very nice woman, wasn't cast for the role. Their menu also mentions salads but can we all agree to ignore that?

All of that and you'll still remember how they greeted you,"Do you want coffee?"

RIP, burger

This is a blog post that I will be updating periodically for as long as I write on this blog. It is a graveyard for great restaurants that have gone to that great take-out joint in the sky. In all seriousness, these business's failure led to great anguish to a family. This post celebrates and remembers the great food that they served.

Cafe Istanbul-This was the first place that I had Turkish food, which is awesome! It was also the only restaurant at the Greene that I could eat at and, due to its uniqueness, not feel like I was betraying the locally owned restaurants.

Mi Tierra-This was a restaurant in East Dayton. I could never guess what was going to close it down first, the health department or INS. I mean that as a compliment. It had the most authentic Mexican food in Dayton.

Linden Grill-was a nice little diner that was within walking distance from my house. It had good food and good service but it was just so cool to have a diner within walking distance of my house. That's why urban life is better than suburbia.

Terra Cotta Cafe-http://divingthroughdayton.blogspot.com/2009/02/terra-cotta-cafe.html They moved out and left a whole in downtown's restaurant choices.

Philly Steak House- http://divingthroughdayton.blogspot.com/2009/04/best-cheesesteak-and-gyro-in-dayton-are.html. They had the best cheese steaks and gyros in town. I've found gyros that are comparable but I have not had a cheese steak that was in the same ball park.

Tony's- http://divingthroughdayton.blogspot.com/2009/03/tonys.html They were really good!

Wympee's-http://divingthroughdayton.blogspot.com/2009/05/wympees-breakfast-edition.html are they missed?

Bosco's - I never did a post about them but they were one of my favorites. That restaurant should NOT have gone down. It will definitely be missed and I just hope that their sweet potato fry and chipotle sauce recipes will show up somewhere else.

If you want to remember a favorite Dayton restaurant, mention it in the comments.