Wendy & Herb Lohr photograph by Stacey Van Berkel
From the front door of Lexington’s Southern Lunch, owner Herb Lohr can still see what inspired his grandfather to open the restaurant nearly a century ago: railroad tracks.
Back in the day, there was a passenger depot for the Southern Railway practically right across the street from the restaurant’s current location.
Where most people just saw railroad tracks and a depot, 25-year-old Herbert Lohr, Herb’s grandfather and namesake, saw an opportunity. With so many passengers coming through the station, and with several furniture factories operating within walking distance of the depot, the young entrepreneur recognized that all those people needed a place to eat. In 1925, he opened a small short-order grill and called it Southern Lunch, a nod to the burgeoning Southern Railway. The counter-only diner was open seven days a week from 5:30 a.m. to midnight.
“At first it was just hamburgers and hot dogs, and probably chips,” Herb says, “but then he started adding to it.”
When diners walk into Southern Lunch, they’re greeted by a 1950s scene featuring the restaurant and its namesake, the Southern Railway, and by the scent of delicious southern classics. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel
Today, Southern Lunch sits across the street from its original building and has grown into a family restaurant that specializes in seafood and country cooking — so country, in fact, that you might think that its name refers to the food, or the hospitality, rather than the railroad company.
You can still order the original Depression-era “bread burger” — a hamburger patty plumped with bread and other ingredients to stretch the beef — but most diners opt for the more popular comfort foods on the menu: country-style steak, chicken dumplings, stew beef, and chicken pie. They’re all served with piles of vegetables and, often, a very sweet tea.
Herbert Lohr’s grandson Herb now runs the restaurant and has expanded the menu to include favorites like chicken dumplings. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel
Ironically, in this city that’s known for its barbecue, that’s one thing that you won’t find on the menu.
“This may be a barbecue town, but we’ve been here a lot longer than any barbecue restaurant,” says Herb’s cousin, Philip Lohr, who worked at Southern Lunch as a teenager and still eats there often.
Like Philip, Herb grew up working in the family business, beginning at age 12. His father, Fred, took over the restaurant in 1958, and Herb became the third-generation owner in 1981 at age 21. Now, at 65, he’s old enough to have seen multiple generations become regulars. Some customers even make weekly trips from out of town.
Herbert Lohr (standing, in tie) opened Southern Lunch in 1925 to serve railroad workers like Cliff (standing, left) and Dale Leonard (seated, front). Photography courtesy of Southern Lunch
Barry and Lorna Medinger of Salisbury — some 20 miles away — eat at Southern Lunch three or four nights a week.
“I’ve been eating here since 1972, when I worked for the railroad,” Barry says.
That’s more than 50 years of Southern Lunch loyalty, a testimony that would make the elder Herbert smile. Nearly a century after he began his small restaurant by the railroad, it’s still on the right track.
Southern Lunch
26 South Railroad Street
Lexington, NC 27292
(336) 248-5276
facebook.com/southernlunchlexington
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