ROCK HILL, S..C — Chef Rob Masone will open York County’s first speakeasy on Dec. 13. Elsie’s at Kounter — a tribute to his 98-year-old grandmother — adds a street-front bodega and bar at 135 E. Main St. in Rock Hill.
“She’s just a special lady on many different levels,” Masone says. “Who better to name this new addition for? She’s a rock star.”
His grandparents — Ma and Pop — raised him and his siblings after his parents died. Masone says he got his passion for cooking from his grandmother. He remembers being 5 years old, sitting on the counter as she baked cookies and giving her his 2 cents about what she was doing wrong — even though he didn’t really know.
“Ma has just always been a constant in my life,” he says.
Masone has invested roughly $500,000 into the approximately 1,900-square-foot Elsie’s space.
It marks the second Main Street venture for Masone, who opened Kounter next door four years ago. That restaurant sits in a 22,000-square-foot building that dates to 1901. It is where the “Friendship Nine” sit-in took place in 1961.
Read more here.
VIDEO: Rock Hill restaurant preserves legacy of ‘Friendship 9′
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