Is Lynn's Paradise Cafe Reopening?

Rumors have started recirculating this week that the shuttered Lynn's Paradise Cafe is reopening. "I heard 'on the street' that Lynn's Paradise Cafe has started calling a few of the old employees to come back and start working soon because it will be open again by Derby [May 4]," Sue H. (foodie, 198 posts) wrote on the Louisville Hot Bytes forum. In a subsequent post on that thread, Suzi Bernert (foodie, 799 posts) replied, "I heard from one of her [owner Lynn Winter's] vendors that she had everything marked for auction and then changed her mind. There have been cars parked there and people inside the last few times I drove by."

An anonymous tip to this website made the same claim, saying it came from someone who works for a food provider. While she hasn't been contacted, a former Lynn's employee said she too had heard the rumors (although she's not sure if she believes them), adding that she heard the planned reopening date was April 1.

A voice mail message was left on Winter's mobile phone on March 13 at 2:36 p.m. This story will be updated should she comment. Lynn's Paradise Cafe has continued to update its Facebook Fan page, sharing its macaroni and cheese recipe just last week.

UPDATE March 15, 11:44 a.m. Lynn's Paradise Cafe Responds to Reopening Rumors: No

Within hours of its shutter on Jan. 12 after 22 years in business, rumors started flying that the iconic restaurant's closing was just a publicity stunt. If it was though, it backfired: news reports on the closing brought the controversy over its tip-out policy to an even greater audience. At the time, the rumored reopening got no media play, which instead focused on Lynn's refunding purchasers of its gift cards (exactly how many Louisvillians were walking around with unused gift cards in their wallets anyway?). While Lynn's general manager Patty Schnatter told WRDB 41 that four reasons—none related to the tip-out controversy—contributed to the closing, neither she nor Winter ever publicly said what those reasons were.

What are your thoughts? Share them in this legally binding clicky poll or in the comments field.

·All Lynn's Paradise Cafe coverage [~ELOU~]

[Photo: Courtesy Facebook/Lynn's Paradise Cafe]