Patrick (left) and Casey Van Voorhis, owners of Grist and the soon-to-open Resonant in the Oregon District. CONTRIBUTED
Patrick and Casey Van Voorhis, owners of the popular Grist on West Fifth Street, are finishing work on their new restaurant in the Oregon District. Aiming to bring upscale, multi-course dining to the Dayton area, Resonant is scheduled to open for guests June 18.
“We have kind of always had a perfect vision of doing a somewhat more casual space with Grist, and then now a more fine-dining place with Resonant,” said Patrick.
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Inspired by the couple’s previous culinary experience, as well as a number of special events held at Grist, Resonant will offer a four-course prix fixe menu and a seven-course tasting menu. The four-course dinner will last 90-105 minutes, and guests will be able to choose from a small number of dishes each course.
“It allows for a more structured evening with the servers and gives us the ability to give them that polished experience,” said Casey. “So that’s a four-course for people who are not willing to really jump into the seven-course.”
Resonant is a new Oregon District restaurant from the owners of Grist.
Alex Cutler
Popular in major cities around the world, tasting menus are rarely offered in the Dayton area. The two-hour experience begins with guests choosing one of two menus, each with set offerings which can’t be changed. Each of the seven dishes are smaller than typical meals, to allow for guests to finish them all.
“On a seven-course, you’re practically saying ‘alright, we’re trusting the kitchen,’” said Casey. “There’s the vegetarian one and the traditional one, which is seasonally changing.”
For a short time after the restaurant opens, guests may be required to pay a deposit for the tasting menu, due to the intricacy of preparing the meals.
“Obviously, we’re very flexible,” said Casey. “We understand people who get sick or something happens. We’re not trying to be like ‘this or nothing’ you know, but that helps us a lot.”
While no finalized menu has been revealed, the owners said it will be “experience driven.”
“The way I’ve developed this menu is to give an experience that kind of starts you at a very soft point and then hopefully ends your meal at a very big finish,” said Patrick.
Patrick specifically mentioned dishes such as an exploding sweet corn ravioli, dried duck and fava beans.
Wine pairings are also common at upscale restaurants, and as part of its drink offerings, Resonant will allow guests to pair their meals with appropriate wines from the restaurant’s cellar, which is capable of holding 1,500 bottles. A variety of other cocktails will also be available, with many themed to the dishes.
Resonant, a new restaurant from the owners of Grist, is set to open this June. Photo by Alex Cutler
Before plans for Resonant were made, the couple originally planned to expand their wholesale business before opening a second restaurant. They were even looking for a production facility without any retail or dining space.
After touring the former location of Roost at 524 E. Fifth St., the two decided to move forward with what would become Resonant, signing a lease in January 2025. The restaurant would be announced in March 2025, with a planned opening later in the year. However, Patrick and Casey decided to push back this date back to allow for a more detailed refurbishment of the space.
“Our original thought was that we were going to do some, you know, minor facelift items and things like that,” said Patrick. “I kind of think of the analogy of like, you know, if you were going to polish or buff your car, you wouldn’t just like start with the fender and then leave it alone. You know, you kind of start ‘let me do over here too, and then over here’ and it just kind of evolved into, you know, us basically demoing this entire place.”
During these extensive renovations, the layout of the building was heavily altered. The original entrance was removed, the floors were all raised to be level with each other, the bathrooms were moved to allow for more kitchen space and many walls were repainted or redone entirely. The building itself is over 100 years old, so many of the electrical and plumbing facilities had to be updated as well.
Resonant, a new restaurant from the owners of Grist, is set to open this June. Photo by Alex Cutler
“It’s taken us longer and it’s cost a little bit more because of it, but I think we’re going to be making it back in the long run,” said Casey.
As for the design itself, the owners were looking to reflect the restaurant’s upscale offerings with an interior mixing elegance and nature.
“I know the kind of form and flow that we were looking for, very organic but also refined,” said Casey. “We have a frame of reference from restaurants and stuff that we’ve been to, and whether we take sketches of what we like in kitchens or the décor of the restaurants themselves, its kind of like a mesh of those things.”
More Information
Resonant is at 524 E. Fifth St. in downtown Dayton. For more information, visit resonantdining.com.
Dining and Cooking