Rise Deluxe. Rise from the ashes stronger than ever.

If you were like us last week, you had no idea why Deluxe suddenly closed down. Even stranger was how it quickly reopened, with almost no notice in between. We had sadly given up on our old restaurant-friend, so imagine our joy when it came back, like a phoenix from the dead. However, not all of us were ready to celebrate. Deluxe’s closing/reopening divided our staff, bordering on a full-blown family feud. Yet, we all still wondered: what gives? Staffer Amara Banks pushed past her personal dislike for the restaurant to seek the answers we all needed.

MoHi residents were given their first gifts of the holiday season right after Thanksgiving break: Deluxe’s closing. Of course, we were all surprised by the abrupt shutdown of the Broadway diner, and wondered about the owner’s motives. But just as we began to speculate, we found ourselves puzzled again in front of Deluxe’s wide open doors. Only two days after its closing Deluxe was back open for business as if nothing had happened.

A conversation with Rashad, one of the managers, revealed the truth behind the turn of events: Deluxe was supposed to be renovated and would’ve become a different restaurant if the plan went through. After its closing, however, the restaurant received a significant amount of protest from the community. “Deluxe means a lot to the people,” Rashad said in an interview. The response was so overwhelming that they decided to keep their doors open.

We had written the eulogy too quickly; our favorite local will not be going anywhere as long as its “adoring” community continues to vouch for it. The lawns are still uncovered and the weather is in the 50’s—Deluxe being replaced with a different restaurant would only have been too strange for the MoHi community to handle.

CAAAAWWW via Shutterstock