5 restaurants open now (or soon) that we can’t wait to visit

SALAR 

One of the Oregon District’s most celebrated eateries, Salar, has reopened after a devastating New Year’s Eve weekend fire closed it for nearly 10 months.

“We are so grateful to everyone who has helped us rejoin Dayton’s culinary scene,” Margot Blondet, owner and executive chef of Salar Restaurant and Lounge, said in a release.

Regular service began Monday, Oct. 1. Salar will be open seven days a week, with the bar opening at 4 p.m. and the kitchen opening at 5 p.m. daily.

>> What’s new and different at Salar?

GYRO PALACE

Gyro Palace is now open at 1124 Brown St., the former site of The Gyro Room.

It is the second location for Gyro Palace, which has long had a restaurant at 57 S. Springboro Pike in Miamisburg at the corner of Ohio 725 and Ohio 741.

Steve Harrison, an employee at the Miamisburg store, said the Brown St. location will be open weekdays from 11 a.m. to midnight and Friday and Saturday until 2:30 a.m. Sunday hours were not available.

SPORTY’S TAPHOUSE & GRILL 

The region’s newest sports-themed restaurant, Sporty’s Taphouse & Grill, and its 60 beer taps made their debut Sept. 6.

The sports pub is located at 5202 N. Main St. in Harrison Twp., in space that formerly housed iconic restaurant The Barnsider, and later, Liquid Sports Club.

The kitchen is overseen by William Tucker, who has decades of experience in Dayton-area restaurants, including stints in the kitchens of several now-defunct fine-dining establishments such as King Cole, l’Auberge and Thomato’s. More recently, he has worked at J. Alexander’s and Another Broken Egg.

NOTHING BUNDT CAKE 

The Dayton area’s newest specialty bakery, “Nothing Bundt Cake,” is now open at 9632 Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in the Shoppes at the Exchange retail center north of Austin Landing. The 1,728-square-foot space previously housed Indian Rasoi restaurant.

The bakery sells tiered cakes, “bundtlet” towers, and more sizes and styles of bundt cakes. The franchise bakery is locally owned and operated by Jeff and Renee Hall.

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE 

The opening of a new Outback Steakhouse this fall adjacent to the Dayton Mall will come with a price: the closing of another Outback location. But the new restaurant will create more jobs, and seat more diners, than its predecessor, according to its franchise owner.

The Outback Steakhouse restaurant that has operated for more than 22 years at the Cross Pointe retail center in Centerville will shut down shortly before a new Outback Steakhouse opens later this year at the former Sears auto center at the Dayton Mall.

The new Dayton Mall restaurant at 2560 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Miami Twp. is projected to open the first half of November. The existing restaurant in Centerville will shut down prior to the opening, so that staff can be trained at the new location.