Several years ago a number of people reminisced about the restaurants which have, for the most part, come and gone since 1970, after the college left and all the downtown restaurants which catered to them had disappeared. Except Shorty’s.
A few people could remember some of the restaurants which have occupied the restaurant venue in the old Barbee building, the massive structure on South White Street between Roosevelt Avenue and Wait Avenue. The first was the Pizza Barn with picnic tables run by Barry Green, and Jean McCamy recalls it “was darn good pizza while it lasted.”
There are fond memories of Kenny Powers’ restaurant in the late 1980s. “Kenny’s Place had the best ribs in ten counties,” Ed Morris wrote, and Beverly Whisnant recalled, “Kenny Powers and his sister had good squash casserole.”
Todd and Michelle Skipper operated Burkenstocks there for a time after Kenny Powers left, and then they moved the restaurant up the street to the old Holding drugstore building. There have been at least three restaurants in the Holding building after Tommy Holding moved the drugstore to Wake Forest Plaza. Jimmy and Alice Ray opened The Fountain and sold the first mixed drinks in town. Later, or maybe earlier, someone whose name I’ve forgotten opened The Apothecary.
Bob and Elizabeth Johnson bought the Barbee building in 1999, and they have seen a lot of restaurant owners set up shop, operate and leave. They shared the following list: the Philly Bistro, the White Street Café, Ferrari’s Italian Restaurant, the Four Seasons Café, Skipper’s Seafood Bar & Grill and the current occupant, Backfins Crabhouse. There was one, name lost to memory, which featured unfinished wooden booths which were sure to pick all the exposed polyester clothes and sometimes puncture the skin.
Across the street, Las Margaritas has staying power and is always popular. The first restaurant in that spot was the Brewer’s Droop, a wonderful name, followed by Buckley’s. There may have been one or two more.
Gretchen Wilkinson remembered the Pizza Patrol, a really popular take-out only pizza shop which Melanie Chalk and her mother ran for a while in part of the Wilkinson building basement, sharing it with the Brewer’s Droop.
If you can remember any more restaurants downtown, add it in the comments section.
