CityView Magazine

36 August 2021 BY BILL KIRBY JR. W hen it comes to that "finger- lickin good" fried chicken, Steve Paris can tell you all about it. He learned from the Colonel. "He was a Southern gentleman," Paris says about meeting with the late Colonel Harland Sanders, who began selling his "secret recipe" fried chicken in 1952 at his roadside restaurant in North Corbin, Kentucky, and soon franchised what today just about everybody knows as Kentucky Fried Chicken. Dena Fasul Potter throws up her hands, with a reminder to Paris that the Colonel could be a bit brusque. "He cursed like a sailor," she said with a smile. Dena Fasul Potter should know. She's the daughter of the late Nick Fasul, who, along with Paris, brought the first KFC on Aug. 2, 1961, to what then was known as the Hillcrest Drive-In Restaurant atop the hill on Bragg Boulevard. 60 years of 'finger lickin' good' e Paris & Potter Management Corp. this month celebrates 60 years of bringing 27 KFC restaurants to the Cape Fear Region, including seven in Cumberland County, and the first in 1961 to North Carolina. All of it came about when Nick Fasul owned the old Milk Bar on Bragg Boulevard and his nephew, Steve Paris, 23, had arrived here on June 5, 1956, from Lyrkia, Greece, the little village outside of Argos. Paris lived with the Fasul family on Dick Street downtown and worked at the Milk Bar, where hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and milkshakes were staples on the menu of the popular restaurant replete with curbside carhops. Nick Fasul subscribed to Restaurant South magazine and came across an advertisement for anyone interested in joining the KFC franchise. Fasul inquired, Paris tells the story, and the Colonel sent 'em off to Lynchburg, Virginia, to a restaurant called Lendy's to sample the chicken. Arthur Samanis, Katherine Fasul and Steve Paris at the Hillcrest Drive-In Restaurant in 1962. (Photo courtesy of Paris & Potter Management Corp.) Nick Fasul, who owned the old Milk Bar on Bragg Boulevard, came across an advertisement in Restaurant South magazine for anyone interested in joining the KFC franchise. FEATURE

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