I am among the crowd of college students pouring out of the Saturday night party at Shooters and I, like the bulk of them, feel like I could eat a house. I'm ravenous, it's late and let's face it, not too many places that serve good food are open late in Durham.
But there is one.
After Shooters, my friends and I pile into the Jeep and head to North Carolina's finest fast food restaurant-Cook Out. Our orders include chicken nuggets, corn dog trays, burgers, chicken burgers, hot dogs, "huge" sweet teas and most importantly, milkshakes. After our trip to Cook Out, we head back to campus to do it all over again next weekend.
Nowadays, they say that if it's not online, you don't need to know about it. But that's certainly not the case with Cook Out. Cook Out is somewhat of a mystery-you won't find it outside of the state, and it has no Web site or headquarters contact information. But Cook Out has a lot more to offer than just its enigma of a reputation, and it should be a model for future late-night campus eateries.
Cook Out is the epitome of a fast-food restaurant. The service is fast (thanks to the twin drive-throughs and a walk-up window), the food is hot and tasty (though I've found that it's not as good when you aren't fresh from the club), it's cheap and it's open late. Owner Jeremy Reaves said Cook Out was created for "burgers after midnight." The restaurant has been a success story because of its large variety of milkshakes, its cookout-style food and its unique atmosphere.
And it helps that Duke students, perhaps some of the most frequent patrons of the restaurant on Hillsborough, don't have anywhere else they can drive to and get good food late at night. Despite all the hoopla surrounding the noodle bar that may come to campus, I'm more concerned about what administrators plan to do to replace our beloved Rick's.
There is no place to eat on campus late at night besides McDonald's, and it seems to me that a noodle bar that closes by 10 every night simply won't fill the void. Eating hushpuppies at the remote Tommy's doesn't count either.
I'm not proposing, however, that we try to get a Cook Out on campus, because that would definitely take away from fun-filled late night adventures to Cook Out. All I'm saying is that whatever restaurant we choose to bring to campus should follow a Cook Out line of thinking-mixed with a little bit of Rick's flavor.
First, the food should be affordable. Duke students aren't dumb. We know that our food points are real money-so even though we don't pay out of pocket every time we eat on campus, we still realize that food points don't last forever. This new restaurant shouldn't be the one that leaves us with a measly amount of food points a month before the semester ends.
This new restaurant must stay open late and it should serve breakfast all day. While there are more restaurants that stay open late this year, there is no place like Cook Out or Rick's, where students can go after parties to socialize and eat good food. If administrators are trying to open social spaces to foster community, then eating is a good place to start. Eating unites people; it always has. If Upstairs@The Commons is the new place for students to gather and eat during the day, then we need somewhere we can gather to eat at night.
Lastly, this new restaurant should be accessible by car. Late at night, after partying and having fun with friends at off-campus locations, students should be able to come back to campus to eat comfortably and conveniently. Eating on campus shouldn't always require a bus ride if you live on Central or East Campus. So, this new restaurant needs something Duke seems to be afraid of-a parking lot.
I like noodles just as much as the next Dukie, but I think Duke should really put some thought into opening a late-night restaurant where the people are just as important as the food.
Aria Branch is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every other Tuesday.
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