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New in Town: Binky's Burgers & Fries, Goober's 52, Last Resort club, all on Deacon Boulevard
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Frances Draughn (left), the manager of the Last Resort club, speaks at a committee meeting at Binky’s Burgers & Fries on Deacon Boulevard.
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Published: August 25, 2009
Floorboards from an old bowling alley are being turned into tables at Goober's 52 restaurant and old family photos grace the walls of Binky's Burgers & Fries.
Developer David Parks said he hopes that his funky, eclectic vision for two restaurants and a club will have Deacon Boulevard humming with Wake Forest University students and a cross section of fun-loving adults from across the city by mid-September.
Parks, the owner of Goober's 52 restaurant in Mount Airy, has been working with Wake Forest University to renovate three vacant buildings along Deacon Boulevard.
In February 2008, Wake Forest announced long-term plans to develop 67 acres along Baity Street and Deacon Boulevard. The university said that it envisioned a mixed-use project with the feel of a village that included stores, offices, residences and restaurants.
So far, Parks has been encouraged by the response to his work, he said.
When a group of Jehovah's Witnesses met at the Joel Coliseum recently, they came by asking how soon the restaurants would be open, Parks said. The Witnesses said they looked forward to coming back and having some new places to visit.
People have stopped by when they saw Parks out working around the properties to say "thank you'' for what he's doing, he said.
Now that vegetation has been cleaned up along Baity Street, which had been a kind of no-man's land, he said, people are walking around there.
"We actually have people jogging down the back street," he said.
Binky's Burgers & Fries has been open for three weeks in the former Pure Chrome Bar & Grill space.
Larry Ragan, a maintenance technician with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system, was eating lunch at Binky's yesterday with some friends.
Ragan, 47, said he often goes to Greensboro for entertainment, but that he is encouraged by what he sees happening around Winston-Salem. He said he thinks that Deacon Boulevard will be popular with a lot of people, once word gets around.
"In the last five to 10 years, Winston's come a long way," he said.
Goober's 52 will open next week in the space where The Pig restaurant used to be. Parks owns the original Goober's 52 in Mount Airy.
"Goober's is a crazy tie-dye, eclectic, fun-filled place," Parks said.
The food runs the gamut from Jamaican to New Orleans to Philadelphia, he said. There is everything from $350 bottles of wine to plain old beer.
Last Resort, a club for Wake Forest students, can also be rented for corporate retreats and wedding receptions, Parks said. The club, which is in the former Freddie B's building, should be ready to open in about two or three weeks, he said.
He believes in running his restaurants like he would a clothing store, Parks said, meaning that he is constantly changing the look of things so that customers have different experiences.
In developing the three businesses, Parks said that Wake Forest told him to create a place where no one group of students would dominate, but where all could come together.
Parks said that there are lots of entry points for people to experience Deacon Boulevard, from the films he plans to project onto the side of an office building to the open patio at the Last Resort, where students can gather to relax.
"The beauty of it is, it appeals to a diverse student body," he said.
Rachel Cook, a senior at Wake Forest who served on the advisory committee for the development, said that she is optimistic about its future.
One of the things that she likes most about the development, she said, is that it is not just for athletes or student-government types or those who are in fraternities and sororities.
"I think the Wake Forest students have been waiting for this," she said. "I think it will rival UNC's Franklin Street."
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
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