After four years of luring food lovers to Dayton, Ky., for some of the best German cuisine in Greater Cincinnati, Tuba Baking Co. will close its doors for good on June 27.
“…the time has come for us to make the very difficult decision to end this chapter of Tuba,” the restaurant’s Facebook post read. “We want to be able to spend more time with our kids and give to them the time and attention they have so graciously sacrificed for us to even get this far.”
Drew and Valerie Rath started Tuba as a farmers market stand and opened its original brick-and-mortar location in Covington. In 2022, they relocated to Dayton.
Rath decided to specialize in Swabian cuisine after a DNA test established his connection to 16 generations of grain millers from Aldingen, a town in Swabia.
Together, he and Valerie created a European-style tavern serving German-style beers, some locally brewed, as well as schnitzels, pot-bellied pretzels and traditional flammkuchen, an oblong German-style flatbread made with rye and spelt sourdough and topped with gruyere, sweet onions and speck.
In 2022, I included Tuba on my list of Greater Cincinnati’s Best New Restaurants.
In the post, Rath said his goal with Tuba was to “serve authentic and thoughtful scratch-made German dishes, incorporate our native Cincinnati styles where we could, make it affordable enough for anyone to eat here, and shine a spotlight on our beloved Dayton, KY community. I think we have accomplished that and so much more,” he said.
The Raths encouraged its customers to keep stopping by until their final day of service.
“We are going to spend the next several weeks until we close our doors Saturday June 27th, celebrating all the years, dishes, drinks, and laughter we’ve been fortunate enough to share with y’all,” their post read. “Please stop by and help us to celebrate this transition the proper way; joyfully.”