Plan ahead for December dining events
Planning ahead during the holiday season is paramount.
The days are moving fast, and everything from menu planning to restaurant reservations to ticket purchases must be in process if you’re going to check all of the holiday entertaining that you are hoping for off of your list.
Case in point — Dorothy Lane Market Culinary Center classes are almost completely sold out. With 13 classes in December, there are only a few spots left for two of them.
I’ll be at the Elegant Holiday Dinner event on Dec. 5 and the food and champagne celebration on Dec. 15, but tickets had to be purchased more than a month ago.
I love a good cooking class or food event. You always learn something new, and the more you learn how to cook, the easier and more fun it is. Exploring and adventuring through the world of food opens so many doors to inspiration and new techniques and recipes when you find yourself back in your home kitchen.
For obvious reasons, the number of events this holiday season isn’t nearly what it was pre-pandemic, but there are still a lot of exciting options to consider. Here are just a few worthy of considering.
Dinner in the Desert Kitchen V: Forage Ahead
Dec. 10, 6-9 p.m. The Hub at the Arcade 31 South Main St., Dayton
https://udayton.edu/ blogs/udhsi/21-11-22-dinner-in-desert.php
This is the fifth University of Dayton student-organized art auction, can drive, dinner experience and art exhibition to benefit the Gem City Market (https://gemcitymarket.com).
Dinner will take place at The Hub in the historic Dayton Arcade. An array of soups will be served for the Empty Bowls initiative, new student photographic works will be available for purchase, and small edition prints will be gifted to those who donate a non-perishable food item to the Dayton Foodbank.
They will also debut a new double issue of the student publication Desert Dispatch, featuring stories of local residents and organizations striving for food justice. For this
year’s event, students from multiple majors have partnered with both the Gem City Market and their wellness partner Expressions of Life to investigate a broad range of themes around community resiliency, sustainability and social justice.
This year the student organizers are taking inspiration from the term forage, meaning “to search widely for food or provisions.” They reference communities who seek out natural sustenance in their local forests and woodlands, a practice that has become increasingly popular during the global pandemic. However, they also apply the term more broadly to include an array of student projects, proposals, objects and inquiries that confront current environmental and social issues and seek to dismantle existing systems toward the aim of imagining a more just, equitable and sustainable world. They encourage the community to join them in this innovative new space where disciplines cross, minds meet and ideas collide.
It will be an evening of food and drink from local vendors, holiday gift shopping and the opportunity to help contribute to the fight against hunger.
Holiday on the Hill: A Neighborhood Tour
Dec. 11 and 12, 4-8 p.m.
St. Anne’s Historic District
https://stanneshill.org/ events/christmas-tour
After deciding to postpone our longstanding biannual Dickens of a Christmas Holiday Home Tour to 2022, this new event is set to take place on the same weekend.
While our houses will be decorated all month long, Holiday on the Hill features luminaries lining the sidewalks and neighbors greeting you from their porches to talk about the past, present and future of life in St. Anne’s Hill
The event will coincide with the Dayton Liederkranz-Turner annual Christkindlmarkt, where food and refreshments can be purchased. Many of the other neighborhood businesses will be joining in for the holiday spirit. They will be publishing a map and schedule for featured house host’s presentations and sharing other updates in the weeks leading up to this year’s event.
Afterward, stop by Fifth Street Brew Pub for some of their fantastic fried Amish cheese curds served with bacon-horseradish and blackberry preserves ($9.50) or some Henry St. Chips topped with shredded beef or corn and black bean salsa, cheddar cheese, red onions, tomatoes, bacon crumbles and chipotle BBQ sauce ($11.50). There’s also plenty of great salads and sandwiches to enjoy.
Cookie Decorating with Speakeasy Sweets
Dec. 12, 17 at 11:30 a.m.2:30 p.m.
2nd Street Market, 600 E. 2nd St., Dayton www.metroparks.org/ places-to-go/2nd-streetmarket
Join Speakeasy Sweets, a 2nd Street Market vendor, and learn how to decorate some dazzling holiday cookies. Purchase a dozen sugar cookies, along with three tubes of colored buttercream icing and sprinkles to learn how to decorate cookies for the holidays. All ages welcome. Cost is $24 per participant. No registration required. There’s also a free event to learn how to make appetizers for the holiday with Amber from Rosebud’s Real Food on Dec. 12 with two sessions — one at 11:30 a.m. and one at 1 p.m. The last item of note is an artisan night at the market on Dec. 16 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. ripe with holiday shopping opportunities.
Winter Solstice Big Beer Party
Dec. 21 from 2 p.m.- 1 a.m. Dec. 22 Toxic Brew Company, 431 E. Fifth St., Dayton https://toxicbrewcompany.com
Toxic Brew Company is promising the biggest, darkest, tastiest, bone-warming beers that are out there to help ring in the shortest day of the year. There’s 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 BANE
(Barrel Aged Night Ender) Imperial Stout, Luxardo Cherry Abby XXXX Belgian Quad and Lavender Vanilla Black Tonic Stout with more goodies to come. If it’s thick enough and packed with enough flavor, beer is food, and this is going to be an event that proves it.
A Griswold’s Christmas Eve Brunch
Dec. 24 beginning at 10 a.m. Mudlick Tap House, 135 E. Second St., Dayton https://mudlicktaphouse.com
With inspiration taken by what is quite possibly the best Christmas movie ever made, this has quickly become a tradition for my family. Folks dress in their bad holiday sweaters or as their favorite characters and get in the fun for this Griswold-themed brunch that’s kid friendly with a menu available. It’s a nice way to kick off the start of the holiday season. Reservations are limited, so jump on it. If your party is big enough, splurge on one of their outdoor igloos and enjoy a new kind of dining experience.
Master your Knife Skills
Jan. 19, 2022, 6-8 p.m. Dorothy Lane Market Culinary Center, 6177 Far Hills Ave., Dayton,
https://www.dorothylane.com/culinary-center
Usually at the end of December or first thing January, DLM’s Culinary Center will announce their winter class schedule. It sells out fast, so take a look if an immersive class environment where you get to cook and ultimately eat is for you. It’s a great gift for the cook in your life, and the classes make for a great surprise date night. Keep your eyes peeled, but this is a good foundation class teaching consistent cutting techniques to ensure food is cooked uniformly with enhanced visual appeal. Attendees will also learn how to select, wield, sharpen and store knives.
Dayton Eats looks at the regional food stories and restaurant news that make mouths water. Share info about your menu updates, special dinners and events, new chefs, interesting new dishes and culinary adventures. Do you know of exciting outdoor spaces, new exciting format changes, specials, happy hours, restaurant updates or any other tasty news you think is worth a closer look at? Email Alexis Larsen at alexis.e.larsen@hotmail.com with the information and we will work to include it in future coverage.