Friday the 13th - Spooky specials at Skyline! Tomorrow, the Dayton Mall location of Skyline chili will be serving up 13 coneys for $13. Get your Pepto ready!

Christopher's Restaurant is continuing their themed Thursday dinner specials, featuring "Miami Valley Grown Meals" for $18.95 per person.

Greek Isles Deli on Airway Rd is now offering a Greek buffet on Fridays. This is word-of-mouth news, so I don't have specifics, but it's on my list of places to check out.

Had lunch at DoubleDay's in Cross Point Center again yesterday, and discovered that they have the best fried pickles...ever. They're breaded in panko and what appears to be grated parmesan cheese. Full of win.

Still working my way through the Dei Fratelli tomato products sampler that I got. Mr. FvF and I both adore these pasta sauces & salsas. No artificial ingredients or preservatives, and much lower sugar content than a lot of their mainstream competitors. They actually taste fresh, like REAL tomatoes, not like doctored up tomato paste. Looks like Dayton-area Kroger stores are carrying the brand now, too!

Mr. FvF and I went to Christopher's today to celebrate our anniversary since we had our first date there. More importantly, we had big hongries and hadn't eaten a meal there since December. I had no idea the place so was packed on an early Saturday afternoon. We didn't wait long for a table, though. We ordered the mozzarella wedges as an appetizer, Mr. FvF ordered the Manhattan with roast beef (aka Kentucky Hot Brown or Hot Shot, depending on your geographical vernacular) because he wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and I stuck with my old stand-by, the chicken salad-stuffed tomato plate.

I'll cut them a little slack on service since they were busy, but it was probably some of the worst I've ever had there. Granted, it was still better than some places, but I expect more out of them. Just very rushed and not terribly friendly. No one told us about the specials, and our server slipped in and delivered our drinks without asking if we had any questions. No "how are you two today?" or any of the usual pleasantries. Luckily, the food was amazing, as always.


The Mister looooved his Manhattan. I tried a bite and may still contest that the Hot Shots at Tank's are better, this this was pretty delicious. My stuffed tomato plate was super tasty and refreshing - I always hate eating really heavy food when it's as humid as it was this morning. It also took me twice as long to clean my plate compared to Mr. FvF. But, we've determined that most of his life from here on out will be spent waiting on me to do something, whether it's pick out my clothes, change them five times, decide on a lipstick, or finish my food. The mozz wedges were tops, too. Somehow much better than your standard mozzarella stick appetizers. The breading held up better, and they're served with Christopher's house-made marinara, which is good enough to bathe in.

• In case you didn't know, Barnsider (one of my favorite older Dayton restaurants) has some killer specials. They just introduced "Couple's Retreat Tuesdays," where you can pick two of their under $15 entrees for only $16.95. The only rub is, they don't have tons of entrees under $15 (no red meat options unless you go with beef tips), but ti's still a steal. Don't forget about VIP Mondays where you can get hooked up with their Prime Rib dinner for only $9.95.

• Christopher's Restaurant continues their Theme Thursdays this month with this hot action:

• I'm definitely going to try to make it to the one on the 11th, hoping for some low-country ass-kickery.

• Two new burger joints opened in Dayton this week: EO Burgers at The Greene (featuring Kobe beef!) and a new location of Smashburger on Brown Street near UD.

• Fazoli's is launching their "new restaurant concept" in Dayton, which involves the same low-grade food, but now with real glasses, plates and flatware. You'll still place your order at the counter, but now a server will bring your food out to your table. When asked for a comment, fatties everywhere said "What about the free breadsticks? Do we still get those?"

• Mr. FvF and I are headed to Yellow Springs on Thursday, a town where I've shamefully only been three times in my, uh....twenty-something years as a Daytonian. He's got very important artist things to do at Superfly Comics, but I'm more interested in where we'll be having dinner. Maybe Ha Ha's Pizza? I'd love to check out The Winds Cafe, but I'm not a damn Rockerfeller.

We've been to Christopher's plenty of times, and the food is always stellar, so what I'm about to tell you might not be news.

We went there for a tasting tonight since they're doing our wedding catering, and got to sample tons of things not on their daily menu. Namely: Angel Hair Carbonara, Turkey Roulades, Greek chicken (stuffed with spinach, pine nuts & feta) and plenty of sides. they were all magically delicious. The catering chef/manager, Holly, could not have been lovelier. Quick to tell us how we could save money, where we could cut corners, and even providing the linens through a local party supplier without a surcharge. The best part? Even though she knew I was firm on another baker making our pies (that's right - no cake for us!), she brought us all out dessert after the tasting, on the house. My mom and I both ordered the bread pudding because I recalled having it years ago and it was amazing. Mr. FvF had the tiramisu.

Christopher's bread pudding is the stuff dreams are made of. I had the assiest of assy days, and one bite of this dense concoction washed all of my troubles away in a way that would make Calgon dart away with their tail between their legs. The portion size was as big as my head.


The texture and weight was perfect, nice crispy edges on top and the butter rum sauce was to die for. If you never do anything with your life, do this: go to Christopher's and order the bread pudding. All of their desserts are tops, but they can't even touch this one. And don't get ahead of yourself - only go there for dessert if you plan on heeding my advice. Their daily menu is filled with gastric delights that will NOT allow room for your sweet tooth at the end (though I do highly recommend, on another visit, ordering the chicken salad-stuffed tomato plate, the pot roast stew, the chicken parm, or the Manhattan). Don't even think about getting it to go, either - you have to have it warm, right out of their lovin' oven.