Blue Top Grill celebrates 70th anniversary
Sep. 27—GRANITEVILLE — One of Aiken County's oldest restaurants marked a major milestone Saturday evening, playing host to dozens of visitors and dishing out almost four hours of free food, music and hospitality.
Blue Top Grill dates back to 1951, having been founded by the late Jimmy and Emmie Overstreet, whose pictures are a fixture on an interior wall and were part of a Saturday display with a variety of mementos helping mark the eatery's 70th anniversary. Customers representing several decades were part of the crowd at 212 Aiken Road, with current owner Renee Lutot running the show.
Lutot chose the word "booming" to describe her old-fashioned eatery during the past year, despite the tumult and disasters that befell some business amid COVID-19 and other challenges. "We had the best customers — best support ever. We didn't miss a lick with all that, and even through the COVID, we've used our window, and when we couldn't have people in here, we were throwing food out that window as fast as we could. Our customers have been awesome," she said.
"Fresh hamburgers" and "fresh french fries" are the restaurant's claim to local fame, Lutot said, noting that the vegetable offerings vary from day to day, to accommodate customers who make a Blue Top stop every day.
Lutot's mom, Linda Smith, was part of the Saturday crew, representing Blue Top's second generation of ownership. She took the helm in 1980 and Lutot followed in 2008.
Lutot now has seven employees, and one of the youngest in the family line helping occasionally at the business is Paisley Byrd, 11, a sixth-grader at Langley-Bath-Clearwater Middle School.
The display of memorabilia included a listing of 1951′s place in history, noting such facts as "Quo Vadis," "The African Queen" and "Strangers on a Train" being among the year's most popular movies and "How High the Moon" (by Les Paul and Mary Ford) and "Unforgettable" (Nat King Cole) among the top songs. Harry Truman was president and the Census Bureau used UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer), the first commercial computer. The world population was about 2.6 billion and the U.S. stood at 157 million.
Karaoke was also part of Saturday's scene, with a soundtrack largely courtesy of Langley resident Annis Barton (in a poodle skirt), Burnettown resident Nonnie Campbell and Martinez, Georgia, resident Joe Moore, in character as Willie Nelson. Moore got the last word, as he sang "The Party's Over," as written by Nelson and made more famous by "Monday Night Football" great Don Meredith in the 1970s.
Among the evening's visitors was Vaucluse native Michele Herron, an Aiken resident with experience in the restaurant business. She described Blue Top as offering a pleasing combination in terms of hospitality, food and prices.
"I've just always been impressed by them. They just do very, very well. The treat the customer right. The prices aren't exorbitant. it's just one of the best places to go, around, and they have specials all the time," she said.
