Fricker’s, a Dayton-based wing joint, officially opens its West Chester location today.
It is located at 7844 Kingland Drive off Tylersville Road.
Fricker’s menu features 13 different types of sauces for its chicken wings, chicken chunks and shrimp. The restaurant also features appetizers, salads, ribs, steak, burgers, sandwiches, pizza, quesadillas and wraps, as well as a kids’ menu and desserts.
The West Chester location is the chain’s 20th in Ohio. In Greater Cincinnati, it also has a location in North College Hill and Middletown.
Fricker’s offers the following weekly dine-in promotions at each of its restaurants – Monday, 40-cent boneless wings; Tuesday, 40-cent wings; Wednesday, $5 sirloin steak; and Thursday $5 chicken chunks.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Sunday, according to its website.
Lakota West fans cheer during a game this season. All of the Lakota West and Lakota East varsity teams will host games this weekend. The boys will host games Friday night, while the girls will be in action on Saturday afternoon. Photo taken by Tony Tribble.
From a restaurant crawl to a winter farmers’ market, there is plenty to do in West Chester this weekend.
Armchair program – Residents of West Chester Township are invited to experience New Zealand and Australia without ever leaving their hometown. The countries will be discussed at this week’s Armchair session at Township Hall, 9113, Cincinnati-Dayton Road, at 7 p.m. Friday.
Lakota boys’ basketball – Both Lakota West and Lakota East will host conference opponents Friday at 7:30 p.m. Lakota West (6-4 overall, 4-3 in Greater Miami Conference) will host Colerain (4-7 overall, 0-6 in GMC), while Lakota East (11-2 overall, 5-1 in GMC) will host Princeton (6-5 overall, 3-3 in GMC).
Saturday
Union Centre Restaurant Crawl – The fifth annual Union Centre Restaurant Crawl (photo) benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will take place this Saturday. The crawl will begin at 4 p.m. at the UNO Chicago Grill and will move to other participating restaurants that include El Rancho Grande, The Wise Owl Wine Bar, the Dingle House and Jag’s Steak and Seafood.
Winter farmers’ market – The weekly farmers’ market season is over, but the winter farmers’ market will be open this Saturday at the Square at Union Centre. This Saturday’s market will take place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Like in the summer, the winter farmers’ market also features all local vendors with produce and meats grown and raised locally and products made by hand.
Lakota girls’ basketball – Both Lakota West and Lakota East will host conference opponents Saturday at 2 p.m. Lakota West (10-2 overall, 6-2 in Greater Miami Conference) will host Mason (13-0 overall, 8-0 in GMC), while Lakota East (5-9 overall, 4-4 in GMC) will host Hamilton (3-11 overall, 2-6 in GMC).
Sunday
Community choir rehearsal for MLK program – Residents of Liberty and West Chester townships are invited to Sunday’s community choir rehearsal for the Martin Luther King Day program. The choir will practice beginning at 2 p.m. at St. Paul AME Church, 7161 Ohio 4 in Fairfield. All residents are invited to sing with the group, which will perform at the Jan. 21 Live the Dream: Our Declaration of Unity program.
The fifth annual Union Centre Restaurant Crawl benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will take place this Saturday.
The crawl will begin at 4 p.m. at the UNO Chicago Grill and will move to other participating restaurants that include El Rancho Grande, The Wise Owl Wine Bar, the Dingle House and Jag’s Steak and Seafood.
Those interested can pre-register for the crawl by giving a $30 donation in advance. Registration at the door can be done for a $35 donation.
Parking will be available at the old Max and Erma’s building next to UNO, which is located at 9246 Schulze Drive in West Chester. After checking in at UNO, crawl participants will be walking (dress appropriately) to all of the other nearby restaurants.
The first 50 crawl participants to sign up will receive a complimentary t-shirt. All participants will receive appetizers and discounted drink specials at each restaurant. There will also be raffles and games during the crawl.
Taxi service will be available after the event at Jag’s.
Persian cooking, though it has some things in common with the Arabic cooking of the rest of the Middle East, is a distinctive cuisine to itself. Lots of herbs, sweet-sour flavors, saffron, different ways of cooking rice, roasted meat and fish are all part of Persian, or Iranian cuisine.
Persian Nights is a new restaurant on Cincinnati-Dayton Road that serves this complex and delicious cuisine. It’s owned by the Mostofi family, with Mehrdad Mostofi in the kitchen as chef. He previously owned the Caspian in Symmes Township. Son-in-law Tony Abbas is the general manager. He said this restaurant has more in the way of atmosphere and polished service than the Caspian did.
On the menu: must-o-khiar, a homemade yogurt with cucumber and mint, kookoo sabzi, an egg and herb dish, barley soup, shirazi salad, koobideh: kabobs of seasoned ground beef, chicken or lamb, and nightly specials often a polo dish, much like a pilaf. There are also lunch specials for $5-7.
Persian Nights is located at 7967 Cincinnati-Dayton Road and can be reached at 513-777-4111. It is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The WG Kitchen and Bar at Bridgewater Falls Lifestyle Shopping Center in Fairfield Township opened for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
Owner Craig Decker said he’s hoping its beer, wine and liquor permit will be approved Monday, in which case, there will be wine by dinner. Otherwise, he’s hopeful that it will be flowing by Tuesday.
The 6,300-square-foot restaurant, wine bar and wine shop has a similar look and feel to The Wine Guy Bistro at Rookwood Pavilion, with hand-built wine racks and tables to give it a rustic touch. It also offers the same American bistro menu, with dishes such as sesame-crusted tuna, chicken marsala and Cajun scallops.
Zagat launched its 2013 America’s Top Restaurants guide on Wednesday, which included a top ten list for the Greater Cincinnati area.
The Enquirer’s food critic Polly Campbell posted Cincinnati’s top ten on her blog on Cincinnati.com.
Jean-Robert Table (French)
Bakersfield (Mexican)
Orchids at Palm Court (American)
Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse (Steak)
Nicola’s (Italian)
Tony’s (Seafood/Steak)
Abigail Street (Mediterranean)
Jeff Ruby’s Precinct (Steak)
Jag’s Steak & Seafood (Seafood/Steak)
Morton’s (Steak)
Locally, West Chester’s Jag’s Steak & Seafood, 5980 West Chester Road, was one of only two Cincinnati restaurants to make the list despite not being located downtown.
Overall, Zagat’s restaurant guide includes 1,822 restaurants in 46 U.S. cities and regions as rated and reviewed by more than 225,000 diners.
To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.
30,000 jam West Chester for Mitt Romney rally – Cindi Andrews and Paul Kostyu reported on last Friday’s Mitt Romney rally: The presidential race returned to Ohio for the final push Friday as GOP challenger Mitt Romney held a massive rally in the Republican heartland north of Cincinnati and President Barack Obama cut a swath through central Ohio. Romney spoke to a crowd of 30,000, according to West Chester Fire chief Tony Goller – making it the largest rally of the campaign, said Romney spokesman Chris Maloney.
Senior Chamada Palmore races 80 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter in a 45-38 win at Springboro. It was the first postseason game in Lakota East history. Photo taken by Barb Trimble of TrimPhotoAndVideo.com. For more photos from this game, visit http://proofs.trimphotoandvideo.com/g/110312east_spring
Lakota East wins OT thriller 45-38 against Springboro -It took 16 years for Lakota East to earn its first trip to the postseason in school history, but it only took one try to win its first playoff game as the Thunderhawks defeated Springboro 45-38 in overtime at CareFlight Field in front of more than 5,000 cold fans on the campus of Springboro High School last Saturday. Lakota East will now play Moeller in the regional semifinal at the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium at 2 p.m. this Saturday.
Fricker’s in West Chester scheduled to open mid-January - A Dayton-based wing joint is poised to open a new location in West Chester off Tylersville Road in mid-January, Fricker’s director of human resources and franchising Paul Curtis told WestChesterBuzz.com last week. The new Fricker’s will be located at 7844 Kingland Drive.
East vs. West food drive brings in roughly 74,000 cans - Lakota East may have won the football game, but the winner of the annual food drive was Lakota West High School. Principals of both high schools said last week that the entire Lakota school district donated roughly 74,000 cans to Reach Out Lakota in just one week.
Lakota West falls in penalty kicks to Mason in regional final -Lakota West lost its regional final matchup with Mason Saturday. The game was scoreless through regulation and through the 30-minute sudden victory overtime. The Comets then won in penalty kicks, 2-1.
Lakota East senior Anna Starr had 36 assists and 11 digs in 25-18, 25-8, 14-25, 25-14 loss to Ursuline Saturday in the regional final at Lebanon High School. Photo taken by Barb Trimble of TrimPhotoAndVideo.com.For more photos from this game, visit http://proofs.trimphotoandvideo.com/g/110312east
Lakota East comes up short in volleyball regional final - The Ursuline Lions continued the tradition of Girls Greater Cincinnati League volleyball teams winning local regional titles with a 25-18, 25-8, 14-25, 25-14 win against Lakota East on Saturday at Lebanon High School. For the Thunderhawks, it was their first time in the school’s 16-year history that they advanced to the regional semifinal. The loss also marks the end of the high school career of one of the state’s top players in Purdue commit Ashley Evans, who finished the match with a game-high 19 kills and 8 digs.
Lawyer to fight West Chester’s Lady Liberty ruling - The fight to put Lady Liberty back out on a busy street corner in West Chester Township next tax season isn’t over, Sheila McLaughlin of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week. The 12th District Court of Appeals has ruled against Liberty Tax Service’s “waver,” saying West Chester gave the company a fair shake in hearings to decide whether the mascot was allowed under the township’s sign code. Last Tuesday, the company’s lawyer asked the appeals court to take another look at the case before the constitutionality question is broached.
Reach Out Lakota seeks gifts and coats for holidays - Reach Out Lakota is seeking volunteers for its adopt-a-child program and donations for its winter coat drive to help families in need this holiday season. The adopt-a-child program will provide approximately 1,000 local children with gifts during the holidays. Reach Out Lakota officials hope to provide each registered child with two $25 gifts.
Photo of the Fricker’s in North College Hill. File photo from 2008.
A Dayton-based wing joint is poised to open a new location in West Chester off Tylersville Road in mid-January, Fricker’s director of human resources and franchising Paul Curtis told WestChesterBuzz.com this week.
The new Fricker’s will be located at 7844 Kingland Drive.
Below is a description of the restaurant written by The Cincinnati Enquirer Polly Campbell:
Originally opened by Ray Frick in 1986 in West Carrollton, there are now 20 Fricker’s – one is in Michigan, the rest in Ohio. They use the words fun, food, sports and spirits to describe themselves, and their specialty is chicken wings. Every location has lots of TVs, and 22 oz draft beers for $2.42. But they’re also family friendly, with an eating area separate from the bar. Kids 10 and under eat free every day.
To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday.
MetroParks breaks ground on VOA athletic complex – The Butler County Visitors Bureau and MetroParks of Butler County held an official ground breaking ceremony last Wednesday for their $3 million project that will add 22 multipurpose natural grass athletic fields on 100 acres of Voice of America Park in West Chester Township. The fields, which border Butler-Warren and Tylersville roads, are expected to be available for use by September of 2014.
Lakota Local Schools maintains rating – Michael D. Clark reported on the annual Ohio Report Cards – Southwest Ohio’s second-largest school system maintained its top state ranking while the area’s longest financially embattled district finally dropped a category, according to the annual Ohio Report Cards, released last Wednesday. Butler County’s Lakota Schools earned an Excellent with Distinction rating despite historically deep budget cuts in recent years.
BAE to sell commercial armored vehicles business – In a $10 million deal, defense contractor BAE Systems announced it is selling off its locally based commercial armored vehicles business that employs 134 workers, Alexander Coolidge of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last Tuesday.
Zoning Commission approves ‘high end’ apartments in West Chester – Last week, the West Chester Zoning Commission approved two proposed apartment developments that could possibly feature rents greater than $1,200 per month. One of those developments, currently called The Cascades, will have its zoning change go before the West Chester Township Board of Trustees on Nov. 13.
White House Inn becomes Casa Bianca – The owner of Symmes Tavern in Fairfield has bought the venerable White House Inn in West Chester and has turned it into an Italian restaurant, Polly Campbell of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week. The name is simply a translation: Casa Bianca. The restaurant will have traditional Italian and traditional American on the menu.
Colerain defeats Lakota West in battle of unbeatens – In a battle of the top two teams in The Cincinnati Enquirer coaches’ poll, senior quarterback Alfred “L.A.” Ramsby carried Colerain from an early 17-0 deficit to a 57-44 win against Lakota West at Cardinal Stadium on a wet and chilly night in Colerain Township.
Supreme Court OK’s Ohio early voting – The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Ohioans to cast early in-person absentee ballots on the final three days before the Nov. 6 election, Barry M. Horstman of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last Tuesday.
Bridge replacement on Rialto Road is complete – The Butler County Engineer’s Office announced last Tuesday that Rialto Road in West Chester Township is now open. A portion of the road had been closed since early July as the Rialto Road bridge over Mill Creek was replaced.
Lakota teen’s been to Barrackville and Romney – Matthew King, a 17-year-old Lakota East High school senior, recently created a Youtube Video highlighting two small towns in America, that just so happened to be named Romney and Barrackville. In the video, King talks to people on the street, through car windows, and people putting groceries in their cars about their views on the towns name, asking questions with only slight political implications.
Phoenix will phase out West Chester, Florence campuses – The University of Phoenix will phase out classes in West Chester and Florence, impacting 236 students, Cliff Peale of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week. The sites have stopped accepting applications, and current students will have the choice of finishing their programs in traditional classrooms or converting to online classes.
The owner of Symmes Tavern in Fairfield has bought the venerable White House Inn in West Chester and has turned it into an Italian restaurant. The name is simply a translation: Casa Bianca.
Joe Schwartz bought the building and 9 acres of land around it at auction in August. He developed The Village Green in Fairfield and owns Symmes Tavern on the Green.
But Casa Bianca is being run day-to-day by manager Mike Lindner. He said they have traditional Italian and traditional American on the menu. That includes veal and chicken parmesan, homemade seasonal ravioli (It’s pumpkin right now), risotto-stuffed bell peppers, bruschetta including a seasonal one, which is currently bourbon-glazed mushroom onion and goat cheese.
There’s also mix-and-match pastas and sauces, salads, steak, Southwestern Cobb salad. Average entree price is $14.
They haven’t done a thorough renovation of the old building, but did paint and take up the carpets to reveal hardwood floors. They’ll be doing more later. Their prices for rehearsal dinner, wedding and other special occasion packages have been lowered; they hope to do more of those.
Casa Bianca is open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. It is located at 4940 Muhlhauser Rd. For more information, call 513-860-0829.
It is located at 7844 Kingland Drive off Tylersville Road.
