For more than 60 years, Asheville’s famed Ritz Restaurant has dished out the fried chicken, fish, beef stew and veggies. But that soulful chapter is ending tonight when the eatery at 42 Market St. closes at 9 p.m.

A new Jamaican restaurant, One Love Two, will soon open in that space on The Block, the city’s historic African-American business district.

“It’s the end of one era and the beginning of another,’’ said Barbara Johnson, who has managed The Ritz Restaurant in recent months and will continue with the upstairs private Ritz Club, which will remain open. She remembers dining there as a high school student in the 1950s.

The Ritz was founded in 1946 by the late Erline McQueen, who operated it for decades. The structure is much older, and was once a Black Masonic Temple and later a boardinghouse where baseball great Willie Stargell lived during his days with the Asheville Tourists minor league ballclub.

In 2001, the faded building was bought and restored by Asheville lawyers Eugene Ellison and Howard McGlohon, who continue to own it. McQueen, who died in November at age 95, “just loved having that Southern food on The Block,” Ellison said. “She would always test it and tell you if it was OK.”

Asheville native Ray Spells has been going to the restaurant for years. “It’s sad to see The Ritz close down, but there will be a good restaurant coming in to take its place,” as he grabbed lunch Wednesday afternoon.

The Ritz joins now-closed classic spots such as The Hot Shot in Biltmore Village, Bill Stanley’s bluegrass and barbecue spot, and the Babe Maloy’s, Wink’s and Buck’s drive-ins on Tunnel Road. The Ritz Restaurant will be open noon-3 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. today.

Originally published online here: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880213130