Chef Liz Valenti Brings Dayton’s Restaurant Resilience to the Forefront of Ohio’s Hospitality Scene

By Alexis Larsen, Dine Out Dayton Correspondent, December 4, 2025

Dayton’s restaurant community continues to shine on bigger stages and Chef Liz Valenti’s recognition as an Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance (ORHA) Ambassador of the Year makes that clearer than ever, putting her in an exclusive club among Ohio’s most influential culinary leaders.

The 2025 ORHA Industry Awards next week where she will be recognized highlights not only her leadership within the Miami Valley Restaurant Association (MVRA) and across Ohio’s hospitality industry, but also the strength, unity and generosity of Dayton’s independent restaurateurs.

Valenti insists this moment belongs to the community around her.

“I was completely surprised when I learned I had received the ORHA Ambassador of the Year Award,” Valenti says. “In my heart, I believe that this honor truly belongs to the independent restaurant community of Dayton. I almost felt embarrassed to be singled out, especially when I have been so deeply inspired by my fellow restaurant operators.”

Her instincts to redirect credit are deeply characteristic, especially in a year when her heart and generosity have been on full display. In recent weeks, Valenti and her team at Wheat Penny Oven & Bar prepared and delivered hundreds of free meals for families facing food insecurity, including nearly 1600 meals in one days. Her intention was simple: meet people where they are, and nourish them with dignity and care.

“We are so grateful to have an opportunity to give back to our neighbors and anyone that is experiencing food insecurity,” she said.

Liz is also a vocal and engaged supporter of the MVRA, working alongside restaurant owners throughout the Miami Valley to raise up the entire independent dining community, a network defined by collaboration, creativity and shared purpose.

She frequently highlights fellow leaders such as Kelly Andary of Blueberry Café, Cassaundra Spaziani of Giovanni’s, Bill Castro of El Meson, Adrian Shergill of The Last Queen and Emily Collins of The Root Beer Stande, operators whose generosity and integrity she says guide her own work.

This award places Valenti in a very exclusive club with a group of statewide hospitality leaders whose impact stretches far beyond their own kitchens. In 2023, ORHA honored Chef Elizabeth Wiley, former owner of Meadowlark Restaurant and Wheat Penny Oven & Bar, with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and inducted Dan Young of Young’s Jersey Dairy, Rick Malir of City Barbeque and Rodney Wasserstrom of The Wasserstrom Company into the Hall of Fame. These are individuals whose decades of leadership have shaped Ohio’s hospitality landscape. To now see Liz’s name alongside honorees of this caliber underscores how influential Dayton’s culinary scene has become and how profoundly her leadership resonates across the state.

For Valenti, and for her business partner Dave Rawson and their teams at Meadowlark and Wheat Penny, the honor reflects core values they live every day: integrity, hospitality, accountability and sincere big-hearted care for the community.

Valenti is clear that she feels this isn’t just her award. Instead, it is a statewide acknowledgment that Dayton’s restaurant community is generous and full of heart and talent which continues to rise, inspire and lead. And in Liz Valenti, Ohio gains not only an ambassador, but the embodiment of what hospitality truly means.

Alexis Larsen is the Miami Valley Restaurant Association’s Dine Out Dayton Correspondent and is The Dayton Dish food columnist for the Dayton Business Journal. Stay tuned for more articles from Larsen who has been covering local restaurants and food and dining for more than two decades. When she’s not out dining and writing on nights and weekends Larsen serves as the Chief of Philanthropy for Five Rivers MetroParks.