Let’s eat out

There was a time in the 1960s and early 1970s when you could get a hot dog at Shorty’s downtown or drive a couple miles toward Raleigh to get a hamburger at Benny’s Drive-in. That was the restaurant scene. When the college left in 1956, so did all the restaurants which catered to the students. Since then, and slowly, with numerous stumbles – who can remember all the restaurants that tried or closed for various reasons in several locations along South White Street – the restaurant and fast food picture has improved.

And now we are about to have a fast flowering with at least six or seven establishments in the works.

Start with what we know for pretty sure, which is that a Panera Bread restaurant is planning to build in the 3.04-acre Carolina Ale House Parking lot at the corner of the N.C. 98 Bypass and Northpark Drive. The Wake Forest Planning Department’s Technical Review Committee looked at the plans on April 21. Moshakos Wake Forest owns the existing restaurant and land and is pleased with the arrangement because, as Assistant Planning Director Charlie Yokley said, it will replicate what the two businesses do in two other locations. Yokley also said the Carolina Ale House has more parking than what is currently required under the Unified Development Ordinance, which seeks to reduce the size of parking lots.

There are also two other restaurants which are planning to open soon. The Trattatoria Italiano by Bruno (the owner of Bruno’s in Wakefield) is reportedly ready to open as soon as an inspection is approved. It is at 1248 South Main Street in the building that formerly housed The Fig restaurant.

The second is Boku, slated to open this spring in a new building on Heritage Links Drive that will also house Wine 101, which is moving from its present location on Rogers Road. Wine 101 should open in its new location before June. Boku, when it opens later this summer, will serve Asian/fusion street food, according to the menu for the first Boku which is in Raleigh.

We also know there will be a second Wake Forest Wendy’s, and this one will be on South Main Street. The site, just south of the Valvoline station, was recently cleared and the three houses razed or burned by the Wake Forest Fire Department as part of their training drills. West Coast Wings is open now in the Wake Forest Crossing shopping center.

Then there are the possibilities: Chipotle, Freddy’s Burgers and iHop. They, along with a jewelry store, could be the tenants in a building on Retail Drive across the bypass from the Carolina Ale House. Nothing has been announced officially and construction has not been approved.

And, by the way, you might want to drop into Shorty’s soon for a taste of history because it is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year.

Shorty’s will be featured during Friday Night on White on June 10 and Bill and Chris Joyner plan to have a tent in the street. They will have a raffle for a grill, an ice cream maker and an insulated cooler and will have Shorty’s T-shirts for sale. The word is they will also sell the hot dogs for 15 cents, but that is unconfirmed. Bill is talking about getting a neon sign like the one that hung in the window for years: “Meet me at Shorty’s.”