Blake’s Grill was short-lived. Look for the Durham Filling Station in old Wimpy’s spot.
The grill is hot, but the name is changing.
Where once there was a Wimpy’s Grill, serving up one of Durham’s beloved burgers, Blake’s Grill opened earlier this year. After two months, the tiny burger shack on Hillsborough Road is changing yet again.
Now, look for The Durham Filling Station, which opened this week, serving breakfast biscuits all day and hot dogs and burgers for lunch. Previous owner Blake Hawthorne said he’s decided to leave the restaurant, passing the grill to Alex Franson, the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef with whom he opened Blake’s Grill.
“I’m no longer part of it; I think Alex will do a great job,” Hawthorne said.
Franson said he plans to run the Durham Filling Station in the spirit of Wimpy’s and Blake’s, along with the same staff. The name nods to West Durham’s history as a working class community, he said.
“It’s a great community stop,” Franson said. “(The Filling Station) calls on the blue collar roots and the history of the area.”
Increasing breakfast options
In a few weeks, Franson said he’ll add something Wimpy’s never had: Saturday service.
“I think that the community’s breakfast options are very under-served on that side of town,” Franson said. “Ninth Street has some awesome spots, but there isn’t much on that side of town that’s not a takes-45-minutes-kind-of-breakfast.”
When a legend closes it leaves a vacuum. On the last days of Wimpy’s, the restaurant sold every scrap of food it had, as customers waited over an hour for one last bite for old time’s sake. Even stepping into familiar shoes and serving a familiar menu does not guarantee success. Franson said the grill’s lunch crowd has been steady, but the breakfast following has been harder to build up.
“Lunch is gangbusters,” Franson said. “Breakfast took a bit of a hit. Everyone finds their early morning rhythm. There’s a bit of the community that would love to have Wimpy’s itself back. So would we, but this is as close as we can come to it.”
Franson closed the restaurant for a couple of weeks while he rebranded from Blake’s to the Durham Filling Station. He reopened March 2, the first Monday of the month, as the new restaurant, serving Southern-style biscuits and a menu of roadside Americana.
The Durham Filling Station is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, with Saturday hours coming soon.
