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?"

Terra Cotta Cafe

What will it take for Terra Cotta Cafe to get recognized and slammed with business? Terra Cotta Cafe is a great sandwich serving coffee shop (or a great coffee serving sandwich shop) on the corner of 5th and Ludlow. It is downtown but not near any major office buildings. It is close to the convention center but not close enough that people who go to only an event at the convention center would know about it. I understand that its 3 blocks from Courthouse Square but this is the problem with downtown Dayton, people are too lazy to walk 3 blocks.

My favorite thing about Terra Cotta Cafe is that I never see anyone there that I know. It makes it very convenient to meet someone in private or going to get some work done without distractions. Terra Cotta is the one place that I don't tell people about . . . but I need it to survive. I no longer have the luxury of a cafe that does okay in the good times.

Terra Cotta has great food. They have innovative panninis and sandwiches. They throw some classic ingredients together in an innovative way and they really like pesto, a favorite ingredient of mine. Today's special was "Pepperjack Turkey Club Melt. This melt has turkey, tomato, bacon, mayo and pepperjack cheese grilled on choice of bread." That is the prototypical Terra Cotta Cafe sandwich. They have a menu full of these kinds of sandwichs.

Terra Cotta also has a full service coffee machine and coffee specials. They really do their coffee specials well. On Friday, they had a coffee special of Large Chocolate Covered Raspberry Mocha. I know that this is a little fancy but break it down, this is coffee with chocolate and raspberries. It is a tried and true recipe for anyone woman or man who is comfortable with society's perception of his masculinity.

My biggest problem with Terra Cotta Cafe is that they don't have a web site. It is inexcusable for a restaurant to be without a web site as we approach 2010. This will be a common lament on Diving Through Dayton.

As my first restaurant posting, I give you my favorite "secret" place because I'm legitimately worried about them going out of business. I'm not happy about this. Please visit them.