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Alice Paris (right) and Mary Hoback just opened the Corner Bar and Grill this Oct. 8.

The Corner Bar and Grill is open for business-the most recent restaurant that has tried to make a go of it in the place that launched the now next door Mac n' Bob's restaurant in the 80s. So what makes Mary Hoback and Alice Paris more likely to succeed than other recent attempts?

Hoback decided in 2004 to go from her job as a paralegal at the then-First Union Bank to start up her own catering and personal chef business. Among working other part time jobs, she started a business off of Apperson called "A Pinch in Tyme."

"It went against my nature to sit in a cubicle, to stare at a computer ... I needed the exercise and the face-to-face interaction," Hoback said. It also helped that she loved to cook-her dinner parties were a favorite among friends, Paris said. Hoback had to give up some frills and cut down to basics to start out on her own-Hoback cuts her own wood and now lives where she has well water. Besides being a Roanoke College grad, something else ties her to this particular location: her grandfather and father, the honorable Judge Hobacks, both had offices during their tenure in the old courthouse (now Roanoke College offices and classrooms) across the street.

Alice Paris's long history of working and managing restaurants in the Roanoke Valley should fare well in Salem, too. "It's a laugh a minute," the longtime restauranteur joked about herself. She started her career at the Coffeepot off of Brambleton 23 years ago. Downtown Roanoke frequenters will recognize her from the Tavern on the Market-she used to manage it, and she most recently worked behind the scenes at Montano's on 419.

The Corner Bar and Grill is in the process of applying for their ABC license, and is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.