So earlier this week we decided to put up a DaytonDining Quiz, knowing folks had some extra time on their hands after the Governor’s stay at home order. We pulled 10 questions, mostly based on past stories from MostMetro.com. Our former food adventure partner Steve “The Big Ragu” Milano provided a good amount of the research that helped us pick these questions. We saw many posts saying the questions were to hard, but based on the results, we must have some smart foodie followers. 84% of the respondents were woman, folks from 18 different zip codes entered and 16 people aced the answers. From those, 16 we randomly drew our winner and Dawn Heit from Clayton will be receiving a $25 gift card to Old Scratch Pizza.
Here are the questions and the answers.
Love the spacious dining room with the wooden floors and upstairs area? That’s because the place used to be a peanut factory. That’s what The Big Ragu was told by management when the restaurant first opened. You can visit Thai9 at 11 Brown Street in the Oregon District seven nights a week and for lunch, Monday through Friday.
2. What local restaurant made Vice President George Bush Sr. wait 45 minutes for a table?In 1988, then Vice President Bush took a trip to The Pine Club at 1926 Brown St in Dayton. “We got a call from the Dayton Police that George Bush wanted to come here for dinner,” said Karen Watson, manager of the Pine Club. “He sent the secret service and they waited in line for a table for about 45 minutes, while Busch waited in the car.” This story made the national news at the time and continues to be shared by Pine Club fans around the county. Visit The Pine Club at 1926 Brown Street in Dayton.
3. Name the oldest potato chip company in the country
A little known fact is that this decorative bar, now at Sweeney’s Seafoodin Centerville was the bar at the Tequila Willies Restaurant near the Dayton Mall. The story goes, the previous tenant at Sweeney’s got it at auction and had it installed. Still locally owned and managed, they promote sustainable fishing and offer us fresh seafood in a family-friendly environment in the heart of downtown Centerville at 28 W Franklin Street.
6. What Iron Chef grew up in Dayton and cooked at his mother’s Mandarin Kitchen restaurant?
7. What Dayton restaurant was an ice company in the 1800’s?
Brixx was originally owned by a colorful character name Joe Mahoney (1862-1894) and was the site of the Mahoney Ice Company. Joe personally mined the ice in the basement and sold it in 30-pound blocks. Base on records found in the basement during this restaurant’s renovation, Mahoney’s business teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, due primarily to the enormous air conditioning bills he ran up during the summer months. But, in 1887, he hit upon a way to maximize profits: in the center of each block of ice he put a large brick. This practice inevitably led to his nickname which stayed with the building.
In 1965, the Ohio General Assembly made tomato juiceOhio’s official beverage. Adoption of an official beverage coincided with the Tomato Festival held in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
One would thought the official state beverage might have been beer, but, no it is the juice from a plant that Native American’s thought was poisonous. Although the plant originated in Mexico, it would take a Reynoldsburg citizen to develop a way of growing these red fruits in a way that made sense commercially, to grow, harvest and pack tomatoes. In 1870, Reynoldsburg resident Alexander Livingston began to grow tomatoes commercially. He is famous for developing the Paragon Tomato. The Tomato Festival, which occurs every year, honors Livingston and the tomato’s importance to Ohio’s economy which is second only to California in tomato growing.
