Lily’s Bistro to launch new, daily changing menus TODAY

Lily's Bistro in Dayton's Oregon District has officially launched its daily changing menus.

"Seasonal and local have always been important to us, and with the new daily menus, we can source the freshest ingredients for the most flavorful dishes," Lily's owner Emily Mendenhall said in a Facebook announcement of the change. "Every day we will be updating our lunch and dinner menus to create options that are continually creative, seasonally fresh, and as locally sourced as possible."

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The restaurant at 329 E. Fifth St. will hosted a special, reservations-only “New Menu Preview Night” last evening, on Nov. 28. The official launch of the new daily menus will begin with lunch service today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner service from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

As we prepare to launch our "new menu items daily" concept this evening for friends and family and tomorrow to the...

Posted by Lily's Dayton on Tuesday, November 28, 2017

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We reached out to Mendenhall to find out how the daily menus would work. Here was her response:

“The menu won’t be an entirely new menu every day; rather each day, there will be updates based on what is tasting the best, what our farmers have available, what products are in season, and what our chefs are feeling creatively.

“Once a menu item no longer fits the season, it will be replaced with a new item. The menus on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 will have overlap, but there will be small changes where dishes use different ingredients, or a menu item or two change to spotlight something special. Then, when you look at the menu December 30 compared to December 1, you’ll see that a month of small changes has lead to a menu that started off with some late fall items and has moved into full on winter.

“It’s a constant flow of change rather than a hard stop every 3 months, which is what we have done in the past and found restrictive when it came to utilizing as much seasonal and local product as possible.

“The menu will also be designed to have some more moderately sized ‘medium’ plates that can serve as a lighter entree, or be paired with small plates and snacks to make a heartier meal. There will be many more options for folks who prefer a more tapas style, or as I call it, ‘snack meal’ approach to dining. There will be an handful of larger, traditional entrees in our ‘supper’ section of the menu, which will always include an iteration of our popular local, free-range fried chicken.”

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