NEWS
New Carlisle Historical Society Vice President Dave McWhorter places the first order of the 2016 Wot-A-Dog season.

For the first time in nearly two years, we are able to indulge in a decadent Wot-A-Dog dish.

The restaurant was last open in September of 2014, but has opened under a new lessee who intends to buy it outright in the next few years.

Brian Swann said Wot-A-Dog’s owner Jack Hefner was “gracious enough” to let him take over the business after some health issues made Hefner re-evaluate his priorities. Swann said he plans to keep mostly everything the same now that he’s leasing to buy the restaurant, but stressed that his attention will be actively focused on the quality and uniqueness of his menu items.

“We want to do things that you can’t get in New Carlisle,” said Swann, adding that he values customer opinions on what items they’d like to see on the menu.

Those on social media will note that Swann has actively engaged Wot-A-Dog’s Facebook followers by collecting their votes to decide new menu items, and wrote that the new creations could be named after their nominator. Visitors will still enjoy the classic American drive-in fare of burgers, dogs, and shakes, but Swann hinted that he could start offering pizza as well.

Swann has been running the Fire Pie Pizza food truck out of Troy since 2013. The 1993 Tecumseh graduate went to college for engineering but then set his sights on the culinary field, and attended a Chicago culinary school where he worked his way up from dishwasher to chef. He’s been in the food service field for 15 years now, and maintains a passion for the quality and taste of his food.

“We’re going to listen to our customers, take suggestions, and focus on making the food really good again,” said Swann.

Former Wot-A-Dog employee Jessica Blake is re-joining the restaurant’s team, and is set to run the front-of-house operations this season. Blake said there are over two dozen car-hop bays that will be in service this year, along with patio table service, call-ins, and takeout.

Blake said they still plan to hold weekly cruise-ins every Monday beginning May 16, which will feature DJs, raffles, prizes, and of course—classic cars.

Swann said he remembers trips to Wot-A-Dog as being special treats of his childhood, as his parents would often bring him there for food. He said the location was originally a Dairy Dream in the 1960s, and became Wot-A-Dog in the late-70s.

He plans to open the restaurant seven days per week beginning soon, and maintain hours from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m.

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