Meadowlark owner Wiley to launch new restaurant in Kettering

UPDATE: 

A group of Dayton area restaurateurs have shelved their plans to open a new sandwich shop in a Kettering strip mall.

>>MORE DETAILS: Meadowlark owner's new sandwich shop plans off the table — for now

FIRST REPORT: 

The founder of Meadowlark and Wheat Penny restaurants is gearing up to open a new restaurant in Kettering.

Elizabeth Wiley's newest venture will be located at 3141 Far Hills Ave. (Ohio 48) in the Fountain Square shopping center just south of Dorothy Lane. The space previously housed Fresco catering and carryout.

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ScissorTail Sandwich Shop will focus on breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and will open at 7 a.m. and close at 5 or 6 p.m., Wiley said. It will focus mostly on carryout, although there will be counter-style seating for about 15. Elizabeth Valenti, chef who oversees Wheat Penny, and Dave Rawson, chef who oversees Meadowlark's kitchens, are working on the project.

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Wiley said she is shooting for a July opening, and will be serving some of the potential menu items at this Saturday's AleFeast.

>>MORE: 11 (more) sandwiches you must eat in Dayton

“We are really excited about this one. We have a hundred million sandwich ideas, and I have always wanted to open a sandwich-themed restaurant,” Wiley said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Wiley’s culinary team is testing recipes for various kinds of sandwich bread, including bagels — ScissorTail will make most of its own breads — and plans to serve house-made cream cheese, condiments and salads, as well as slow-cooked meats. Plans call for making a house bologna and smoking meats and seafood, including salmon, at a smoker to be installed at Wheat Penny, Wiley said.

>>RELATED: Local chef and restaurant owner gets shout-out from NPR (July 2015)

The location makes sense in part because the space has four years left on its lease and because it is easily accessible. “There is tons of parking, and Far Hills has three lanes heading north and two lanes headed south, with a dedicated left-turn lane,” Wiley said.

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The restaurant’s name is a reference to the state bird of Oklahoma, the Scissor-tailed flycatcher — minus the “flycatcher,” of course. The name continues the bird theme started by Meadowlark, named for the state bird of Kansas, the Western Meadowlark.

>>RELATED: Meadowlark founder wins prestigious James Beard fellowship (July 2017)

Last year, Wiley was selected to participate in the James Beard Foundation’s first Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program, a five-day intensive training session designed to help women chefs grow their businesses.

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