*SIGH*...it's been several years...I'm still not over the loss...

[DurhamDivaInRaleigh]

...of Pan-Pan Diner.

Did anybody else eat there?

On a scale of 1-10 as far as good southern cooking goes, it gets a solid "10". I haven't been to another 10 since. I've been to a couple of 6s or 7s (Don Murray's and Larry's Southern Cooking, respectively) but not to another "10".

[capitalapts]

And how. That was our grad school stress-relief and drunk food oasis. That buffet marked the finest assortment of comfort food in the area for sure. And all the star photos in the dining room! I miss that place lots. It was my first experience with fat-back

[dmccall]

...of Pan-Pan Diner.

Did anybody else eat there?

On a scale of 1-10 as far as good southern cooking goes, it gets a solid "10". I haven't been to another 10 since. I've been to a couple of 6s or 7s (Don Murray's and Larry's Southern Cooking, respectively) but not to another "10".

Why didn't they reopen somewhere else if their business was good???

I don't know about Larry's but Don Murray's has such a horrible history of bad sanitation grades, I wouldn't eat there if you paid me to.

[capitalapts]

that is a good question (why they didn't open up elsewhere).

I never went to Pan-Pan for food during normal business hours, but I promise you, that place was packed anytime after 11PM on Fridays and Saturdays. Good god, Durham Diva, you have my jonesin for Pan-Pan. Thanks a lot!

[DurhamDivaInRaleigh]

From what I understand (it's all hearsay, though) he was upset over the way he was treated by the DOT (I don't think he was initially offered a fair price for his restaurant, while a church up the street that didn't even have to move was offered a million or two) that he decided not to rebuild in Durham (even though it is unfair--it was not Durham's fault or Durham's call--Durham has nothing to do with what the DOT does).

He opened one in Roxboro, NC a couple of years before the Durham one closed, and I only ate there once. I noticed that it was closed last year; I don't know the reason why. I do know that while I heard of people coming as far as Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and some friends of mine even came from Lexington to eat at the one in Durham, I NEVER heard of anybody going to the one in Roxboro.

My claim to fame: I met Aretha Frankin in Pan-Pan.

Capitalapts--I always ate there at dinner time. I hate I missed their breakfast--I hear it was DIVINE.

[StevenRocks]

I wish Pan-Pan would come back. Everytime I pass Hillendale Road I think about it. Honey's is a decent substitute but it just ain't the same.

[NCMike1981]

At least Shoneys is still there, I think it's the only one left in Durham and Wake counties...

Steven one day you have to go to Northgate and take pictures...