Happy Hill restaurant set to re-open

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Story from the Asheville Citizen-Times:

ASHEVILLE — Twenty-four years ago, on April 16, George’s Deli off Leicester Highway opened its doors for the first time. And on Friday, April 16, those doors will close for the final time.

But it’s not the end of the story for this landmark community restaurant. With the death of George’s Deli comes the resurrection of another longtime West Asheville eatery: Happy Hill on Patton Avenue.

Owners Mike and Emily Lawrence are moving their operation to the site of the Happy Hill restaurant, which Emily’s father, George, opened in 1968 and ran until 1981. He then leased it to another family that kept it as Happy Hill for about another decade, Emily Lawrence said, before it became a Mexican restaurant for a time.

The couple’s connection to Happy Hill still inspires neighborhood folks to come out to George’s Deli, an unassuming eatery that’s shares a sliver of a building with an Exxon gas station and serves a menu that’s more diner than deli.

“We wouldn’t have succeeded without the Happy Hill connection,” Mike Lawrence said.

And they’ve done more than succeed. The Lawrences decided about two years ago to renovate and revive Happy Hill at 1400 Patton Ave., across from Groce Funeral Home, because they’ve outgrown the deli’s space.

“We are so excited,” Mike Lawrence said of the move. “We need more room; there is no parking with the convenience store and all the delivery trucks coming in.”