Phil Fillios, one of the Skyline owners, said he and his brother, Nick. were alerted Friday night by the Middletown Division of Police that Vance planned to eat dinner there Saturday night.
When Vance, his wife, Usha, their children, and his mother, Beverly Aikins, walked into Skyline, the restaurant was crowded with regular customers, Fillios said. Vance told him to make it “business as normal.”
Fillios said Secret Service agents were stationed by the front door, the restroom hallway, kitchen door and outside the restaurant.
Fillios said the Vances ordered spaghetti and cheese coneys and Usha, a vegetarian, ordered black beans and rice. He said customers paid for the Vances’ meals.
Fillios called Vance, 40, a 2003 Middletown High School graduate, “a common folk person” who posed for pictures, talked to customers, left the restaurant and got back into the motorcade.
He was “very honored” that Vance chose Skyline to eat dinner with his family.
Ann Rich arrived at the Skyline at about the time the Vance family was ready to leave.
She was approached by a Secret Service agent who asked her to wait to go inside until Vance and his family left.
“I just wanted to get me a three-way,” she said.
Rich said she had a quick conversation with Vance when he left the restaurant. She called Vance “a very nice young fella.”
Last week, a partnership on an ice cream mixing Skyline and Graeter’s Ice Cream ingredients was a social media buzz.
A spokesperson with Skyline confirmed with WCPO TV that a collaboration is in the works between the two Cincinnati businesses.
“Yes, Skyline is excited to be working on a fun collaboration with our spice blend and Graeter’s ice cream,” Skyline’s spokesperson wrote in an email to WCPO. “We all know Graeter’s makes everything delicious and creating a unique ice cream blend takes time.”
The Skyline spokesperson told WCPO the ice cream flavor is currently in the research and development phase, but the companies hope it could be ready next year.
This wouldn’t be the first time Graeter’s has worked with another hometown brand. They’ve worked on a Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Milk Stout and Key Lime Pie Ale with Braxton Brewing Co., according to WCPO.
Vance said on X he was not a fan.
“President Trump and I will stop this,” Tri-State native and Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance said on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the news.
Vance had a rare day off Saturday from the campaign trail with the election two weeks away.
On Sunday, Vance traveled to Waukesha to deliver remarks aimed at turning out Wisconsin’s large number of Catholic voters for former President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Vance is scheduled to deliver remarks in Peoria, Ariz.
On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was in suburban communities in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan for a series of conversations with former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming.
Democratic vice president candidate Tim Walz was expected to be in New York City Monday at two different campaign receptions.
In 2022, Vance announced he was running for the U.S. Senate during an raucous rally event at Phillips Tube Group Inc. in Middletown. He narrowly defeated Democratic congressman Tim Ryan for Ohio’s open seat created when U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, retired.
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