Zebulon — If Hannah Whitley had time to turn her head while she made hot dogs and hamburgers, she would have seen an elbow-to-elbow counter, and a packed house last Thursday.

The Corner Grill, once Kannon’s Cafe, a landmark at Vance and Arendell and most recently the Hound Dog Cafe, has been open less than a month.

But the lunch crowd has found it easily.

Some came because they know Whitley’s way with food from her work at the Country Kitchen, also in Zebulon.

The cafe also is open for breakfast.

“I would say it meets the same standards that the Country Kitchen had if not better,” said Art Tippett of Samaria. “It just makes you feel at home.”

Tippett ate lunch at the cafe Thursday with his wife Libby.

It was a nostalgic visit.

He used to eat at Kannon’s with his father when he was a boy, he said. Tory Wheless, of Pilot, and Robert Jones, of Sharpsburg, sat at the old-fashioned counter that faces the grill. They were on lunch break from Glaxo-Smith-Kline. Tables behind them were full.

“I love it, delicious food,” said Carlton Driver on Friday. “The people are really nice and easy to get along with.”

Driver was having lunch with his wife Johnny, the clerk at Wendell Town Hall.

“I love people,” said Whitley. “I get to see a lot of friends, people I’ve known for 30 years.”

Her son-in-law and daughter Brian and Tammy Bullock bought the place and now Whitley runs it. Her uncle Wayne Stone closed the Country Kitchen and Whitley was ready for a new job.

“All people are cut out for different things,” she said. “It’s hard work, but I do enjoy it.”