Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 18, 1993 TAG: 9305180037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
\ The Buck Mountain Grille is pure 1990s. Herbal tea and Jack Daniels. Hummus and New York strip.
Doug and Evie Robison, who own the usually packed Wildflour Cafe and Catering at Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke, today ease into a new project.
At 5 o'clock they'll start serving dinner in the renamed Parkway Restaurant, a landmark on U.S. 220 south. Breakfast-through-dinner operation is expected within a week.
The Robisons kept the freestanding art deco Parkway Restaurant sign by the road and put the new name on the building front. They're sending the same multicultural message with the menu.
The Buck Mountain name comes from the country road that intersects 220 within sight of the restaurant. The menus include Hunting Hills Brunch, a fried-egg sandwich named for the nearby upscale residential area; Dragon's Tooth, an eggplant dish in the spirit of a popular hiking area; and the Won Ju Chicken Sandwich, which takes liberty with the name of Roanoke's Sister City in Korea.
Buck Mountain's steaks will come from Mason & Hannabass Meats on Roanoke's City Market, and Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea has blended a Buck Mountain coffee. Local art and crafts will be displayed.
\ Tom and Doris Wickline built the 19-unit Parkway Motel in 1950 and added the restaurant nine years later. Doris Wickline said the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway entrance didn't exist when they built the motel, but "we anticipated it in our choice of a name."
She said the location was successful, drawing locals as well as tourists traveling the parkway. Today, the place is on the valley's third-busiest route; according to the Virginia Department of Transportation, 25,000 cars pass Buck Mountain daily.
The Wicklines, who still live near the property, ran the motel and restaurant off and on for 23 years. They sold it several times - when Doris Wickline grew tired of 16-hour days - but got it back when the new owners tired of the business or had other problems.
The place was closed in the mid-1980s and in 1987 sold to Parkway Enterprises, headed by Roanoke restauranteur Philip Montano.
Under the Wicklines, the Parkway Restaurant was known for its ribeye steaks. A later owner offered free glasses of wine and pitchers of beer and all the steak you could eat.
"He finally had to stop the offer because he got so many young people from VPI they were about to eat him out of house and home," said Doris Wickline.
Two years ago, John Poole and Carol Smith of Hagerstown, Md., reopened the restaurant and motel and offered a general menu that included a Friday night seafood special.
Poole still lives in Maryland, and Smith found the dual operation too much to handle alone. She will continue to operate the motel, but she and Poole signed their lease-purchase agreement for the restaurant over to the Robisons.
\ This is the third time the Robisons have recycled a restaurant business; the second time was in Roanoke.
A little over two years ago, the Robisons took over the former Castleman's restaurant at Towers. It was fully equipped, including a cappuccino machine that will be moved to Buck Mountain.
At Wildflour, the Robisons offered a vegetarian menu, rich desserts and fresh-baked bread.
They also provided desserts for Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea and sold breads through the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op.
Baked goods now are 25 percent of Wildflour's business; catering is 8 percent, they said.
Wildflour, which can seat 42 tightly, began with four employees and now has 22. The bakery that used to turn out a dozen loaves, some of which was given away before it grew stale, produces a 100 loaves a day and is at capacity. New equipment has been added to meet Buck Mountain's demands.
\ Evie Robison, who is in charge of menus and baking, said the couple didn't intend to set up another restaurant. They wanted a bakery site, but they kept being drawn to the Parkway.
Once they almost signed a lease and then got cold feet, she said.
Finally, they agreed on a lease with an option to buy the property and spent about $25,000 getting it ready to open.
Doug Robison said they approached this restaurant the same as they did Wildflour: "We've put everything we own out on a limb."
The interior has been painted white and tall booth dividers have been cut to shoulder level to add openness and a full view of the outdoors.
The restaurant seats 100. Doug Robison will cook breakfast. Chef Steve Van Metre will take over for the other meals. Evie Robison will join the Parkway crew in early evening after she leaves Wildflour, which she will continue to manage.
Their children, West, 5; Shaena, 12, and Amelia, 8 - regulars at Wildflour - also are likely to be at the Parkway, their parents said.
When Doug Robison quit his job 12 years ago and the couple went into business for themselves, he recalled that they were just "hoping we could make the mortgage."
But Wildflour was profitable by its third month, Robison said. They finished buying it last month.
Their goal is for the Parkway to be profitable in six months.
"I'm kinda nervous," said Robison.
by CNB