Aug 15, 2010 By James Pletcher Jr. 3 min read

Grace Miller won’t say how long she has been in the restaurant business. “I started flipping hamburgers in the Hilltop Dairy Bar,” that her mother owned, “when I could hardly see over the counter.”

That spurred a life-long love of cooking and expressing it through a series of restaurants and bars she has owned or operated for several decades.

Her most recent venture is the Paradise, housed in the former Skoric’s restaurant at 516 Bute Road, Uniontown.

Open daily, the Paradise offers a variety of foods, including two signature dishes: Miller’s Peachy Pecan Chicken and Skoric’s fried zucchini.

The chicken dish is from her own recipe and includes peaches and pecans. “Mark (Skoric) spent two days teaching me how to make the fried zucchini,” she said.

The menu includes a series of appetizers, soup of the day, salads, subs, sandwiches, entrees, drinks and desserts.

Earlier in her career, Miller managed the Uniontown Country Club for about three years and then went on her own to open Rose’s. Later establishments she has operated include Giuseppe’s Pizza, Nina’s Restaurant on Lebanon Avenue, Michael J’s at 30 E. Main St., Marco’s in Connellsville and she currently owns and operates the 19th Hole and Patton’s Bar.

“I love Uniontown. It’s a good market. People here have always been great to me,” Miller said.

She and her husband of 44 years, James Miller, opened the restaurant on July 16 without fanfare. “I want to make sure everything is going smoothly,” Grace Miller said, adding that a recent power outage nearly shut the facility down for two days.

Her husband owns JRS Refrigeration “so he takes care of all our cooling needs here.”

She will employ about 30 people at the Paradise and is in the process of buying the building that houses the restaurant/banquet facility. “I will have about $400,000 tied up in this when I’m finished,” she said.

In addition to the restaurant, the Paradise offers a second-floor banquet room capable of seating about 70 people for a variety of events ranging from wedding parties to anniversaries, birthdays and others. It can be entered from inside or outside the building.

The Millers also are putting finishing touches to a separate bar area in the building. “That won’t be open for about two weeks,” she said.

Smoking will be allowed in the bar, but not in the restaurant, she added.

“We have four acres of ground here and a pavilion that we’d like to do something with in the future. We plan on having takeout and local delivery in the future, too,” she said.

While Miller does most of the cooking, she is supported by kitchen staff and Roxanne Pratt of Uniontown, a long-time employee who serves in a variety of capacities including bar manager, waitress and cook.

All foods, Miller said, are prepared in the homecooked style. Weekend specials are available.

“I love cooking. It’s like an art with me,” she said, adding that one of her specialties is flavored butter.

The most recent offering was blackberry butter.

“We also have homemade rolls,” she said.

Miller, a Uniontown native, works hard to buy most of her products locally.

“Sometimes it’s a little pricier, but I hope (local vendors) will come to me to sell local goods.”

The Paradise is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and until 7 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call 724-970-2226.