Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990 TAG: 9006270201
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
First thing Monday morning.
Right after I finish this chili hot dog and home fries.
And this cold Budweiser.
Yes, Ernie will tell you he's hanging up his apron and leaving his namesake bar and grill on City Market. He's even turned over his griddle and spatula to the 28-year-old hands of Mark Poff - the sale of the restaurant was official last January.
So why is Ernie still the first one there Monday through Saturday at 3:30 a.m.? Why is Ernie still slapping backs and flipping burgers (with Swiss and grilled onions, on a toasted Kaiser roll)?
And the real burning question: When will Ernie wave his final good-bye to the neon sign that bears his name?
When pigs fly and potato cakes sour.
That's the word from the skeptics anyway. They still remember when Ernie announced his "retirement" from the Boiler Room, the landmark diner he started in 1949.
"My mind tells me to stay, but my body says I've gotta go," Ernie told a reporter in 1984.
Cruel hoax. Less than two years later, Ernie's body was at it again. Same food, different place around the corner.
Pretty much the same customers, too - and then some. Saturday mornings at Ernie's are so packed that Ernie will sometimes hang the "closed" sign on the door until he can catch up.
What's Ernie telling reporters this time around?
"I turn 65 in August, and it's just gotten to be too much for me," he said last week. "I can't keep this up much longer."
Familiar story. Despite the fact that Ernie just bought himself a fancy new Cadillac for traveling, and despite the fact that everyone knows his penchant for breaking away to bet on an occasional horse or dog race, even he admits that leaving the business is tougher than it sounds.
Officially, Ernie's been working for Poff since he sold the business to him. And he's cut back his work schedule - from 90 to 75 hours a week.
"Yeah, technically Mark's my boss now," he says, letting out one of his trademark guffaws. Since January, Poff's been paying Ernie $600 a week to teach him everything he knows - from how to slice a potato to how to brew up a batch of his soupy pinto beans.
"I reckon I'll help him as long as I'm able," Ernie says. "If people know I'm gone, they'll stop coming in. People are just funny that way."
That's not ego talking, either. Just the facts.
Poff, whose former work experience includes 11 years with CMT Sporting Goods, readily admits he couldn't make it without Ernie.
Most business owners work years before they make any profit, he said. At Ernie's, Poff made money his first month.
"I feel real lucky," he said. "Most people selling their business would have taken the money and left. But Ernie wants to make sure someone will keep his name up."
And that means teaching Poff all the finer points, the tricks and the short-cuts. And, of course, the recipes.
"The first couple weeks, I just watched," Poff said, admitting that Ernie could slice six potatoes to his one.
"There were a lot of little tricks to learn. Like with onions, he cuts them up before he washes them - it makes them fluff up, and the flavor's not so strong.
"I would've never thought of that."
But face facts, Mark. Even though you've learned most of the regulars' names by now, they still have a hard time believing you can make a go of it. Poff had never even been in Ernie's place before he was thinking about buying it.
"I guess there are still skeptics," Poff said. "The bottom line is it's gonna be real hard to live up to him. He's an institution."
And even if he can't live up to Ernie, there's the distinct possibility that he can still live with him.
As Ernie says, "Well, I'm not sure I won't be helping him a fair amount.
"He's gonna need me - real bad."
by CNB