‘Sad to see’: Crowds line up for final Green’s hot dog at Charlotte’s oldest restaurant
From the moment Green’s Lunch opened Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., customers packed in to the 97-year-old restaurant clamoring for one last hot dog before the restaurant closed for good that afternoon. The line spilled onto the sidewalk and down the block, as Charlotteans said their farewell to the city’s oldest restaurant.
Over the weekend, the beloved hot dog joint announced on Facebook that it would close on June 28, after serving generations of customers their signature hot dogs with chili, a secret recipe passed down for generations.
People started to gather around the restaurant at 309 W 4th St. before it opened. Perhaps they hoped to skip the line that seemed imminent, as folks have been flocking to Green’s all week.
“I came here the last two days and the line was wrapped around the corner, I didn’t have time,” Rick Sumrall said. He rushed down there before Green’s opened so he could place one last order and see the staff one last time.
Sumrall has dined at Green’s since 1997, when he worked across the street at the U.S. Attorney’s office and would go there regularly for lunch. So regularly, that when his son was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer 16 years ago, he gave the restaurant a prayer card, which they placed on display in the corner.
His son fully recovered, but the prayer card remains.
‘Sad to see another local place go’
Customers new and old gathered for the restaurant’s last day, some saying they were taking the opportunity to come to Green’s for the first time, to get one taste of the food before its too late.
Friends, Karla Martinez and Lauren Hassenzahl, got breakfast together.
Hassenzahl hadn’t been back in five years. Martinez used to work on the trading floor nearby and would come get lunch at Green’s but had not returned in 12 years.
“It’s sad to see another local place go down,” Martinez said.
They brought Hassenzahl’s 2-year-old son, Ben, who received a Charlotte Fire badge sticker from some firefighters waiting in line with them. It was his first and last time at Green’s, they said. He got the pancakes.
Others wanted one last look at a place and people they’ve known for over 50 years.
Dave Cook, 72, was born in Charlotte, and has been coming to Green’s since at least the 1970s. He said the sad part about the restaurant’s closing is that it has not changed since he has been coming here over the decades. The owner, Joanna Sikiotis and her son, Nicholas, feel like family to him.
“I just asked Nicolas if I needed to go wash my hands and put on an apron to help him a little bit,” he said. “And I mean it. I would have helped him.”
What will happen to Green’s Lunch building?
Across from Truist Field, Green’s building’s squat frame sits under uptown’s looming skyline, a reminder of the city’s growth since 1926, the restaurant’s first year in business.
In 2021, the building was put up for sale, but Sikiotis assured customers after the announcement that marketing the building would not impact business. She said she hoped to work out a deal where the business could remain after the sale.
A year later, it was confirmed that Green’s would close at the sale of the building.
Sikiotis said she decided to close the restaurant for a variety of reasons.
“It was COVID, and not finding enough people to help, rumors that we had closed, when we didn’t close,” she said. “When they said that we would close Feb. 1, my business went down 50%.”
Sikiotis said the building is not currently up for sale. Rather, she will be leasing the space out.
Looking at the crowded dining area of her restaurant Wednesday, Sikiotis said the outpouring of support from the community during their last week has been amazing.
“You never know. You might hear from us again,” she said. “I don’t know about a restaurant, but maybe a food truck or maybe bottling the chili recipe.
Historic Charlotte restaurant closures
Among customers waiting in line for their food, chatter of other restaurant closures filled the room.
“They’re closing down all the good restaurants, I don’t know what we are going to do,” said lifelong Charlotte resident, Gail Hemphill, 65.
Robert Hunter, 72, also a lifelong city resident, spoke about other restaurants that have closed recently. “Charlotte’s a great old town with a whole lot of history which they bulldoze every 20 years,” he said.
Multiple other historic restaurants have closed in the past couple of years around the Charlotte area, including 54-year-old Gus’ Sir Beef, 59-year-old Price’s Chicken Coop, 54-year-old Mr K’s and 30-year-old The Charlotte Cafe.
Many of these restaurants cited the pandemic and labor shortages as reasons for their closing.
With the demise of Green’s, the mantle of the oldest restaurant in Charlotte now falls to Providence Road Sundries. It debuted in 1933 in the middle of The Great Depression, some 90 years ago.
But for now, the historic restaurant kept its customers fed for one last day.
Green’s Lunch’s final order
The last person to get a hot dog from Green’s was John Paul Tsahakis. He has lived in Charlotte for 25 years. And for the last 14 years he and has been going to Green’s.
He is a lawyer in uptown and was at a hearing for most of the day. Tsahakis rushed to Green’s as soon as he could, hoping to get there before they ran out of food. He was just in time.
“This family deserves to rest and to be together and take some time off because they’ve given the city a lot,” he said.
Tsahakis hugged Sikiotis’s son, Nick, after he placed the last order ever taken at the restaurant. As for what he got — a Green’s classic, naturally.
“Two hot dogs, all the way.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2023 at 5:03 PM with the headline "‘Sad to see’: Crowds line up for final Green’s hot dog at Charlotte’s oldest restaurant."
