Lemon Hill Has An Opening Date


No, not this Lemon Hill.

Remember back a couple weeks ago when we first heard about the new project going into the former (not so) Lucky 7 space in Fairmount? Back when we thought (oh-so-briefly…) that the new concept moving in was going to be called Biddle?

Yeah, well shortly after that we discovered that someone had been premature with the naming and that the place was not, in fact, going to be saddled with that too-cutesy moniker. We were hoping it would be called Welsh & Prensky’s Chicken ‘n Whiskey after partners Mike Welsh (of Franklin Mortgage) and Mitch Prensky (of Supper), but that didn’t fly either. The official name–Lemon Hill–was revealed a few days later, but now we have a few more details, including an opening date.

December 23. That’s the soft opening date for Lemon Hill, which will be a sort of sequel/solidification of the already-operating Franklin/Supper partnership. Right now, the crew from the Franklin write Prensky’s cocktail menus for Supper (word is there’s a new one debuting soon, based entirely around Prensky and Franklin barman Colin Shearn’s shared fondness for heavy metal), and Prensky helps out whenever the Franklin wants to put something on the board that isn’t completely liquid.

But now, the two crews will be coming together in one place, with the guys from the Franklin doing the booze and Prensky in charge of the grub. Right now, the word is that the cocktail board at Lemon Hill will skew more classic than at the Franklin and that the food will be more fun, casual and rustic than at Supper. But when dealing with guys like Prensky, Al Sotack, Welsh and Shearn, words like “rustic” and “classic” tend to be a bit…flexible.

“I take things people already love and try to make it a little bit different,” said Prensky about the “approachable” menu he’s currently writing, rooted in comfort food but envisioned with a fine dining eye. He’ll have a brick oven to play with, but will shy away from pizzas (using it more for flatbreads), and swears that the burger at Lemon Hill will be a patty melt–mostly because Prensky loves patty melts and no one else in town does them to his satisfaction.

Lemon Hill will remain open to the public as it “eases into the neighborhood,” according PR rep Laura Price. A more official grand opening will take place after the new year.

Oh, and as for that name? The joint is named after the mansion-topped tract of Fairmount Park off Kelly Drive that overlooks Boathouse Row. Which is all well and good, but we still think Welsh & Prensky’s Chicken ‘n Whiskey would’ve been an awesome name.