Spoonfuls of Soul: Why Bourbon Street Grill Deserves Your Next Lunch Break

Brown Street’s close proximity to Sinclair College and UD make it a bustling hub for the hungry college student rushing around between school and work. There are more than 20 restaurants lining the downtown street, ranging from upscale to quick and casual to greasy spoon territory.

Bourbon Street Grill and Cafe is definitely further down the list when it comes to atmosphere and presentation, but anyone who is curious to try it should be warned not to let appearances fool them. Within the unassuming building and nondescript dining room is some of the best food one could hope to find in Dayton.

**Art showcase in Bourbon Street Grill and Cafe.** THE CLARION

After choosing from a diverse, Cajun-inspired menu, customers order at a walk-up counter where they can see the entire kitchen, including two large rice cookers from which the cooks shovel out their famous spicy rice each day. After a short few minutes, they are handed their food in styrofoam shells along with plastic utensils.

I mention the serving dishes to make the point that I am typically very concerned with eco-consciousness and dislike any form of waste. But I would keep going back to order again and again, even knowing the materials involved, because the food was that good.

**Food items that we ordered at the Bourbon Street Grill and Cafe.** THE CLARION

The first menu item that needs a shout-out is, unsurprisingly, the bourbon sauce. Bourbon Street has perfected this recipe and is right to highlight it at every opportunity. Diners can easily taste the distinctive alcohol flavor, but instead of being overpowering, it lends the perfect balance of pungency and spice that makes the taste so memorable. The sauce was incredible over their perfectly grilled chicken or soaked into sides of rice, cornbread or one of the more confusing options: plain Lo Mein noodles.

Bourbon Street Grill and Cafe has been celebrated for these homemade sides as much as their main dishes. Their cornbread, Cajun potato spuds and red beans with rice were beautifully textured, albeit not the freshest when we happened to be there. Each side had notes or full-on symphonies of its own seasoning, which explains why there are no condiments available on the tables. Even if there were, no one would need them.

**Food item that we ordered at the Bourbon Street Grill and Cafe.** THE CLARION

I also tried their gyro, which included thin cuts of lamb and beef nestled in a pita with lettuce, red bell peppers, onions and a creamy, mellow tzatziki. Like everything else we ordered, this was outstanding. I would not have changed anything about the recipe, from the way the meat was cooked and seasoned to the chunky dicing of the peppers and onions. Again, there is no shying away from flavor here.

Aside from a sparse social media presence and participating in nearby food festivals, Bourbon Street does not make a habit of advertising. A word-of-mouth following has kept the restaurant thriving since it moved to Brown Street in 2014, and anyone who tries it will surely add themselves to that list.