Since 2021
A café, not a waiting room.
Nutmeg opened in a 1,400-square-foot room on Dayton-Lebanon Pike with a simple brief: high-quality food and coffee, and a place to take a step back.
The European model
Savory and sweet, breakfast through lunch, in a small-plate format. Made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, panini, salads, house soups, quiche, and pastry from the case. Nothing is meant to keep you longer than you want — or rush you out before you're done.
There are no televisions. Soft music, conversation, a book if you brought one. When the café opened, the promise was a break from the world. That is still the job.
The cinnamon knot was baked in as a signature from the first week. The almond torte has its loyalists. The Ohio Farmhouse sandwich and a nutmeg-dusted latte do the rest.
The coffee
Mascara Bros
Three brothers — Mike, Matt, and Tim — started roasting in 2022 after finding a 1950s photograph of three brothers standing in front of a company truck. Small-batch, single-origin beans, roasted for freshness, pulled here as espresso, drip, and the drinks of the month.
Mascara Bros is a part owner of Nutmeg. The partnership is the point: a neighborhood café with a family roaster behind the bar, not a generic house blend on a timer.
Visit Mascara BrosOn the air
Good Day Dayton sat down with the café in 2025. The caprese croissant got its close-up. The room did what it always does.
Watch the segmentCome by
Tuesday through Friday from 7 to 3. Weekends 8 to 2. Closed Mondays. If you want the pastry case at its fullest, morning is kinder than the lunch rush.