Mark Hopkins, known in the community by his nickname Hoppy is the former owner of the once iconic Stone Lion Tavern, and Father Abraham’s Burgers and Hoppy’s Last Resort in St. Elmo (now Little Coyote).
These days Hoppy can still be found flipping burgers and making biscuits at Hoppy’s North River Corner Market in the NorthShore area. He took over the store in 2020 from one of the previous owners, Fedora Evans, who shared her biscuit and a few other recipes with him so he could continue to serve several of the loyal customers’ favorite.
When the shop originally opened nearly 90-years ago, it was a butcher shop. When Evans bought the building, she started serving breakfast and lunch and now Hoppy carries the torch.
“This is the original butcher table,” he said as he showed me the solid wooden table which he said required the use of a pallet jack to place it in its current location…