Where to eat well in Middletown

Restaurants provide more than nourishment and employment. They provide a gathering space and symbiotic support system between the establishment and its surrounding community. The fast-paced, demanding work often instills close-knit camaraderie among workers that helps employees navigate challenges and provide great food and service.

For restaurants, there is a perpetual struggle to retain employees while they tangle with rising commodity prices and supply-chain difficulties. Facing these headwinds, several Middletown restaurateurs are playing a role in helping attract residents and visitors to downtown Middletown by operating restaurants that offer menu staples with distinctive signature twists.

Recently, a post on the Middletown Talk Facebook group posited that Middletown is a “cheeseburger and cold beer town.” Truth may dwell within that statement, but restaurants that create new takes on old favorites tend to win the lion’s share of consumers’ restaurant budget. Here’s a look at four Middletown restaurants applying their distinctive spins on what some would consider “traditional fare.”

Broken, cracked and happy

Brian and Tracy Teetzen, operators of Broken Barrel Bar and Grill and The Cracked Pot Coffee and Crepes on Central Avenue, undertook a circuitous route into the restaurant business. Brian studied theatrical special effects and puppetry at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Tracy left her hometown of L’Anse, Mich., moving to Brian’s hometown of Sheboygan, Wisc., where they met while working at a Sheboygan banquet hall before tying the knot in Tracy’s hometown. In 2018, Tracy took a job at Festo, a Maineville-based manufacturer of factory-automation equipment, and the community vibe and affordable housing steered them to Middletown. As time passed, they craved a return to their restaurant roots.

In 2019, they bought the Cracked Pot’s building, which had previously been a real-estate office. Brian and Tracy live in the residential area above Cracked Pot. Retrofitting the building for food service required considerable time and investment, and by the time it was ready to serve pastries and coffee, COVID had thrown public-facing businesses into hibernation. Eventually, the coronavirus cloud parted, and the Teetzens opened The Cracked Pot in June 2022. Its menu offers sweet and savory crepes including a Slow Your Roll, which features cinnamon sugar, cheesecake cream, candied walnuts, and whipped cream.

A year later, the Teetzens eyed a vacant property down the street that had previously been Stefano’s Italian Café, which operated for 30 years. They purchased the property from owner Steve O’Neil. The facility was equipped to run as a restaurant but required investing in a wood-fired oven to create flavorful pizzas.

Authentic hospitality entails giving customers what they want. During Mardi Gras season, Broken Barrel serves red beans and rice, and throughout the St. Patrick’s-Lenten season offers hungry patrons bangers and mash, a weekly Friday Fish Fry, and shrimp po boys. Thursday nights tip a cap to the building’s roots with pasta nights featuring homemade sauces.

A restaurant’s experience requires more than food quality. Brian and Tracy sample the local color of places they visit by frequenting their restaurants. Check out the wall near the bar for a display of coasters taken as mementos from sampled eateries and bars along with mounted helmets and masks that reflect Marvel and Star Wars fandom; Captain America, Iron Man, and a Stormtrooper among them.

“For a restaurant to be authentic, you have to put a bit of your own personality into it.”

That personality includes providing respect for and responsibility to their employees. Other than students departing for college, the Teetzens have enjoyed tremendous stability among their approximately 20 employees, which adjusts seasonally. Brian credits Felicia Shadwick, Broken Barrel’s bar manager, with providing a creative mix of seasonal drinks and an appealing array of drink staples.

“Treating our staff well is part of our commitment to Middletown,” Brian said. “Our goal is to have fun every day while serving the community.”

The Swire aspires

The Swire Inn, located at 64 S. Main St., boasts a rich history that encourages people to connect and share their own stories. According to the Middletown Historical Society, Thomas Wilson purchased the property in 1864, tore down the log cabin originally on the land and built this handsome Victorian structure. The building has experienced numerous incarnations as a boardinghouse, a local Republican Party headquarters, a doctor’s office, a mortgage company, and the Middletown Area Mental Health Center.

In late 2018, The Swire Inn opened as a full-service restaurant that retains its innate Victorian character with original woodworking and windows that convey the period’s ambiance. The current owner, Keith Alexander, purchased the restaurant from John Langhorne three years ago. Shelbi Hamilton, the restaurant’s general manager, began working at the restaurant as a server shortly before COVID, and assumed her current role three years ago.

Independent restaurants must think creatively to overcome the advertising budget and brand-recognition advantages chain restaurants hold.

“We stage a lot of pop-up events around popular or seasonal trends,” she said. “We’ve had costume contests and themed menus based around Harry Potter, the Grinch, and Stranger Things. We like to keep it loose and fun.”

As the calendar folds into spring and summer, The Swire Inn’s 85-seat patio also attracts patrons, offering live music from May through September on Friday and Saturday evening. Seasonal menus offer culinary variety, such as fish sandwiches during Lent and St. Patrick’s Day season or chicken kebabs to please summertime palates.

Collaboration has been a hallmark of The Swire Inn’s ongoing success. Hamilton has partnered with Middletown’s Gravel Road Brewing to provide seasonal brews on tap including rice beer. A partnership with Central Pastry provides glazed donuts, which provide the “bread” for its Ugly Burger, a hit for those who like sweet and savory in one bite.

Hamilton relies on Swire Inn’s head chef, Cory Estes, to provide a menu that balances old favorites like chicken wings and deviled eggs with current culinary trends such as cauliflower wings, flatbreads and charcuterie boards.

“In small towns like Middletown, it’s important for small businesses to find ways to support each other,” Hamilton said.

Let Frazier cook

Robert Frazier started his food service business in his own garage, opening during late-evening hours selling burgers and chicken wings. He noted the lack of late-night restaurant options in the community and bet on himself to fill the void. In 2024, Frazier took the next step and leased space within a bar that provided kitchen facilities, letting him sell to bargoers. It was a successful venture for Frazier while it lasted, but last year, the bar was closed for various violations, shutting down Frazier’s stand in the process.

However, an opportunity beckoned. A commercial tenant had been enlisted for a foodservice property, but the plans were scuttled. Frazier heard about the opportunity, contacted that landlord, and eagerly signed his name on the lease. Eight months ago, Frazier’s Kitchen opened. Robert admitted to sticker shock with the related costs of business ownership.

“The bills for power, food, cleaning supplies and everything else was a lot more than I expected,” he said. “I talked about it with other restaurant operators, and they just said, ‘Yep, get used to it.’ It’s all been part of the learning curve.”

Frazier touted the restaurant’s pancakes and French toast for breakfast, and smashburgers and steak quesadillas for lunch. He partnered with Five Monkeys to provide Frazier’s Kitchen with desserts and is especially fond of their peach cobbler.

He appreciates the positive momentum that is slowly gaining traction along Central Avenue, talking up Grandpa Joe’s, the nostalgic candy store next door, as well as a forthcoming relocation and opening of Taco Bout Crab in the next block. Taco Bout Crab is a Mexican restaurant that had closed on Tytus Ave. in Middletown and opened another location on Reading Road in Cincinnati last year.

“There’s plenty of room for more restaurants in Middletown, and I think it’s important that we support each other,” he said.

Frazier’s Kitchen operates as a family affair; his daughters Jordan, Cami, and Rihanna and son Rayvon all help the restaurant run smoothly. The restaurant’s atmosphere derives from the wall-to-wall mural painted by Antwain Shaw-Huff, a Cincinnati-based muralist. Shaw-Huff brings panache to Frazier’s Kitchen’s walls with a sprawling serpentine, and fantastical growth of flora and filled pots cooking over an open flame.

“He’s the professional, and I trusted his vision,” Frazier said.

Frazier was recognized at Middletown High School as an African American entrepreneur that could inspire the next generation, and several online content creators have visited and offered cyberspace praise.

A visit to Frazier’s Kitchen is comfortable with jazz-piano music from a YouTube channel  and a stamped ceiling pattern reflect the building’s original architecture.

In the future, Frazier expressed a hope to expand to other locations, naming Cincinnati and Oxford as possibilities.

“Whatever direction we take, this isn’t the end,” Frazier said.

A slice of Middie life

Ten years ago, brothers Shane and Brandon Scott were operating a thriving Over-the-Rhine pizza shop. Then, an unpleasant surprise recalibrated their plans and eventually led to a solid commitment to downtown Middletown.

The brothers grew up in Warren County and first learned the rudiments of pizza making as LaRosa’s employees. Shane attributed a growing passion for the business to his time as a student at Youngstown State, where his affinity for pizza and paisano cuisine grew working at that city’s well-known pizza shops and Italian restaurants. In 2012, the Scotts opened The Slice in OTR, and the business grew steadily over four years. However, in 2016, their landlord announced a rent hike that made continuing in that location prohibitive.

They looked around for more affordable locations to reboot The Slice, and they found the opportunity on Middletown’s Central Avenue. The asking price for their current location was $3,000, but the low price of entry required a heavy load of back-end work. Shane said that property was on the verge of condemnation, and that a complete overhaul of electrical, mechanical, and structural systems, plus making it foodservice-ready and code-compliant, carried an $800,000 price tag.

The Slice Pie opened in March 2017, and it retained the same calling card that bolstered business in OTR: The Pickleroni, a pizza loaded with pickles and pepperoni. It was purely an experimental gamble by the Scotts, and it paid off nicely. For a little extra kick, the “Pickle My Roni” contains pickle, pepperoni, and onions.

For three years, The Slice Pie’s business grew steadily, and then COVID-19 hit. The Scotts tried to subsist as best they could with a carryout business, and the brothers served as the only employees. Shane concedes that without PPP loans, the business wouldn’t have survived.

Eventually, dine-in business resumed in 2021, and they hired a mix of employees to help them reestablish the pizzeria’s brand. However, even as COVID’s grip on commercial opportunities eased, other challenges emerged. In 2022, Central Avenue’s streetscape project launched, which improved downtown Middletown’s walkability, but the year-long closure for the street’s resurfacing impeded foot traffic and, once completed, the new streetscape significantly decreased Central Avenue’s available parking spaces. The Slice has its own parking lot, but the reduction of public parking spaces places a greater onus upon the Scotts to pay for its repair and upkeep to sustain the business.

The Scotts are continuing their expansion of The Slice Pie’s brand by resuming musical programming for the pizzeria’s adjacent bar, Leo’s at The Slice. Shane said plans include nostalgia-laced tunes with ‘80s and ‘90s vintage bands performing, including Sponge, Blessed Union of Souls and Trixter.

“We’re open to newer bands, but demand has been stronger for established acts,” Shane said. “We’ve built a loyal customer base; about 25% of our customers come up from Cincy and know us from our OTR days. We’re always looking for new opportunities.”

This Partner City Middletown series is made possible with support provided by: Cincinnati Commercial Contracting, the city of Middletown, the Middletown Community Foundation, and the Chamber of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton. You can read other stories from the series here.