5 things to know about Bacon Week in Dayton

If you’ve never met a piece of bacon you didn’t like, then you are going to want to know some specifics about the Miami Valley Restaurant Association’s 2020 Bacon Week Promotion that runs Aug. 15-22.

1) There’s a contest.

Are you feeling lucky? There’s a Bacon Week giveaway with the prize being fun T-shirts that say,” Bacon Never Broke My Heart” and “Pigs, the Inventors of Bacon.”

To enter, take a picture of your bacon dish, post it on Facebook, check in at the restaurant and tag @OhioHogFarmers and @BaconFestDayton.

2) It’s a beloved salty meat.

“People just love bacon! I came up with the idea for Bacon Fest six years ago because my nephews would want to eat bacon for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And one morning when my nephew Nathan spent the night at my house, of course for breakfast he wanted bacon. Lunch came around and I said Nate “what do you want for lunch?” He responds with bacon .... I then started thinking what about doing a Bacon Fest. I called a couple locally owned restaurants and asked their opinion and they were game, so I set up a meeting with Fraze Pavilion and we scheduled the event that year and the rest was history. People just love bacon with everything,” said Amy Zahora President of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association (MVRA), who believes this will be the most popular week her organization has coordinated yet with local restaurants.

3) Restaurants could run out.

The MVRA’s burger and wing weeks have been so popular that several local restaurants have run out of product. Zahora says restaurants saw a noticeable increase in business and have been eager to participate in specialty weeks. For burger week alone, more than 6,000 burgers were sold.

“Restaurants and patrons are both enjoying these weeks. It is giving the people of the Miami Valley something to do and new foods to try. The restaurants are coming up with specialty dishes for the weeks and the chefs are having a lot of fun with it. People are really happy that with all the events being canceled that we still figured out a way to celebrate these wonderful foods and they want to support our local restaurants,” said Zahora.

4) Know the participating restaurants in advance and make a plan for the week.

The participating locations include Amber Rose Restaurant and Catering, Archer’s Tavern, Bunkers Sports Bar and Grill, Buckhorn Tavern, Chappys Social House, The Florentine Restaurant, Hanks Local, Heather’s Cafe, Meadowlark, Mr. Boro’s Tavern, Nick’s Restaurant, Rip Rap Roadhouse, Sweeney’s Seafood and Bar, Wheat Penny Oven and Bar

5) Some restaurants will have great bacon dishes available long after the promotion is over.

Meadowlark Restaurant (5531 Far Hills Ave., Dayton; (937) 434-4750 or www.meadowlarkrestaurant.com), which has one of the best looking menus in the entire promotion, also has several terrific bacon dishes outside the promotion.

Fried green tomato sandwich with bacon and goat cheese, sliced, coated in breadcrumbs and fried to golden brown, green tomatoes soften and sweeten with cooking and become a special treat.

Here they are teamed with smoky Nueske’s bacon, a slathering of goat cheese, lettuce and caper mayo to make a great summer sandwich. Served with fries or vinaigrette-dressed greens, it’s a fantastic treat. You could opt for the spaghetti carbonara lightly coated with tiny soft curds of egg and ricotta, accented with Nueske’s smoked bacon, peas, black pepper and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. So good and served with toast.

Here's what Meadowlark will be serving for Bacon Week. We want all of these!

Double Down Bacon Burrito: Thick-cut, tender pork belly and smoky strips of Nueske’s Bacon combine with a slather of creamy frijoles, tomato rice, cheese and tomatillo salsa for the lunch of a lifetime. And if you’d like to Brunch-i-tize it, they’ll swap out the rice for some fluffy scrambled eggs. Served with fries or vinaigrette dressed greens.

Hungarian Greasy Bread with Homegrown Tomatoes: An Old World campfire dish reformatted for today’s bacon lovers. A thick slice of rye bread is grilled with Nueske’s smoky bacon drippings and topped with crusty slab bacon, thick slices of homegrown tomato, coarse salt and pepper and a smattering of chopped bell pepper.

Bacon Week Surf and Turf: Asian-braised Pork Belly and Seared Tuna: Slices of flavorful pork belly are laid atop fragrant jasmine rice alongside slices of seared tuna for the ultimate dream team, with a bevy of garnishes including charred scallions, grilled shiitakes, shaved summer squash, Japanese-pickled cucumber, sesame mayo, and spicy chile crisp.

Bacon Banana Caramel Shortcake: Make a flaky bacon-studded scone. Warm it and split it, and spoon on sliced bananas in a deep amber bacon caramel sauce. Sprinkle on some roughly chopped bacon. Crown with a big cloud of toasted cashew whipped cream.

May the bacon be with you.


Contact this contributing writer at alexis.e.larsen@hotmail.com.

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