Charlotte restaurateur celebrated for food and service

KEN KOONTZ | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Rudean Robinson-Harris, owner of the former Rudean’s Restaurant and Bar for six decades, was the center of attention at a reunion party that drew more than 200 people.

If you don’t know Miss Rudean, you ain’t Charlotte.

That was the sentiment of 200 or so former patrons, family and friends of Rudean Robinson-Harris who recently gathered at Club Nile to celebrate her life as a business owner, parent, sibling, community advocate and activist.

“Miss Rudean,” as most knew her, came to Charlotte from rural South Carolina as a 9-year-old when her widowered father moved her and eight siblings after her mother died and he was looking for a better opportunity to raise his children. To help support the family, she began selling hot dogs, hamburgers and sodas at age 16. She got a business and beverage license and opened Rudean’s Restaurant and Bar in 1957 and operated from several single locations as urban renewal and neighborhood development forced her to move over nearly six decades before finally returning to the original location at the corner of Keller Avenue and Beatties Ford Road in west Charlotte.

Robinson-Harris, now age 86 and facing health challenges, joined Rudean’s patrons as well as longtime morning operations manager Ida Wilson, creator of the recipe for Rudean’s Chicken Wings. A former patron, Phyllis Mack, helped Wilson plan the reunion. 

Nichelle Harris, Robinson-Harris’ daughter, shared 20 minutes of stories and narratives about her mother, what she meant to the community and the selfless hours she spent serving people in need.

“I remember those Thanksgivings that we didn’t have dinner until she had loaded up our van with all kinds of stuff that we helped hand out to needy families,” Harris said. “Same thing on Christmas. We played with our toys after we had helped her distribute gifts around neighborhoods. She was giving, loving, caring.” 

Said Jaci Robinson-Ross, Club Nile’s co-owner with her husband Herbert and the reunion’s host: “It was given that Miss Rudean would do that.” 

Robinson-Ross, whose mother and Robinson-Harris were friends, met her husband at Rudean’s and dated under her watchful gaze. 

“My mother loved y’all, all of y’all,” Harris said. “She struggled some and did well, too. And she was devoted to giving back to the community and people like y’all who supported us.”

After all the tributes, monetary gifts and hugs, DJ Johnny C cranked up the music and a party broke out. The only thing missing from the buffet were Rudean’s Chicken Wings, but nobody complained. They came to show Miss Rudean some love with fond memories.

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