A Clifton mainstay diner and breakfast spot is closing after more than five decades on Ludlow Avenue.
The Proud Rooster, known for its big breakfasts in a timeless setting, is closing with the retirement of longtime owner Bob Doll.
Known by many and self-proclaimed as Clifton's "Chicken Man," Doll's retirement at 81 years old comes after a lifetime inside the restaurant starting when he was a teenager.
Doll began as a bus boy and preparer for what was then one location of Cincinnati's chain of Hitching Post comfort food breakfast restaurants. In the late 1970s, it became a spot of its own as the Proud Rooster.
Michael Anagnostou, the owner of neighboring Ludlow Wines, said little had changed since those days − in the best ways.
The restaurant remained cash only in a day and age where fewer people carry around change. The booths and counters are some of the same from when they first opened. And of course, the chicken was cooked up fresh by Doll every day.
Even at 81, Doll was dipping, flouring and deep frying hundreds of pieces of fried chicken a day by hand. Family and friends had been encouraging him to retire for years, but Doll said he'd rather work, Anagnostou said.
"It's going to feel real different not having him around," Anagnostou said.
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