Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 15, 1992 TAG: 9201150169
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Beth Macy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
WALKING THE BEAT OF POLICE EATS
We wanted just the facts. Maybe a quote or two to go with them.And some tips on good places to eat that you'd normally overlook - because the grease on the window, or maybe the broken screen door, kept you from stopping in.
It took some real detective work to find out where area law-enforcement officials meet to eat.
We started out with Virginia State Police Sgt. Larry McMahon, reported to be one heckuva trooper, a road-food connoisseur and a funny guy besides. But McMahon nixed the idea of arranging interviews with state troopers at their favorite diners and hang-out spots.
Not serious enough. Too Barney Fife.
McMahon was determined to leave us with just our own noses to sniff out the spots that serve up police eats. But finally we begged for a single clue.
McMahon sighed. Then he sent us out to The Country Kitchen in Christiansburg.
There were no state troopers at The Country Kitchen the morning we arrived at the Radford Road restaurant, but Christiansburg patrolmen S.E. Lowe and B.P. Roane were there eating breakfast. They sat with their radios at a table marked "Reserved for Police."
Bobby and Dorothy Hawley have been running the place for 13 years, back when they first pledged to turn the former beer joint into a home-style restaurant. "We sorta recruited the police when we opened because it had been a rough place before," their son, Johnny Hawley, said.
Ever since, police from the city, county and state have been gathering at their table for coffee and meal breaks to share information on cases and to "graze at the salad bar," as officer Lowe put it. Though it must be pointed out that the two of them had just finished a plate full of meat and potatoes - not greens and grains.
"We had nutrition classes in the academy, and they went over all that stuff," Roane said. "Course, like all police officers, I threw that in the trash and eat where I wanna eat."
Lowe recalled his time at the state academy in Richmond, having to jog by the Dunkin' Donuts across the street - but not being permitted to go inside. "We don't have one here now," Roane added, joking: "But we're thinking about opening one up."
It seemed like a good enough clue, if a bit of a cliche. So later that day we bellied up to Dunkin' Donuts on Franklin Road in Roanoke, hoping to catch a few officers on coffee break. To no avail.
Ten years ago, they were there in droves, according to owner Ken Walker. "But I heard they're told to stay away, so we only get a couple any more," he said, then harrumphed:
"It's not like in the movies, you know."
We were at an impasse: Where next?
Then we remembered the words of downtown Roanoke patrolman R.E. Cassell, a featured biscuit-eater in last month's column with a knack for knowing good food. Try Paul's Restaurant on Franklin Road, he'd told us.
We didn't find any cops there, either, but we did find crab cakes, authentic Greek food and meat loaf that satisfied three main requirements: "It's good, it's fast and it's cheap," said Beth Maynard, eating with her husband, Jim, and 3-year-old daughter, Cathy.
We continued our downtown cop quest on foot, peeking in the Texas Tavern, a reported police hang-out, as well as Mr. Su's, Sherman's, Guy's Restaurant and Junior Lunch - and seeing not a single uniform among the crowd. We even accosted two city officers in their motorized Cushmans, but both said they bring their lunch from home.
We went back to the state-trooper route, ending up at Troutville's Doc's Deli, where owner Millie Horton caters to her regular crowd of volunteer firefighters, troopers and forestry wardens - with a police scanner mounted on the wall.
Master trooper Jack Wise stops there often, especially on Thursdays for the barbecued ribs special. "Talk about places to eat; well, I ain't missed many," he said, placing a firm hand on his not-so-firm gut.
Near Clifton Forge, the Triangle Country Store has hamburger steaks he swears by. And on U.S. 11 in Botetourt, it's The Greenwood Restaurant, famous for its country-style steak, homemade coconut pies and salt fish - brine-packed whitefish battered and fried for breakfast.
"People come all the way from Roanoke just to eat our potato cakes," added Greenwood waitress Shelba Secrist of the fried mixture of mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, salt and pepper.
Potato cakes are also a trooper specialty at Fork's Country Restaurant in Bedford, where we found officer William Coleman devouring his daily breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast - and lamenting the fact that potato cakes are served on Saturdays only.
"The fast-food places, they may or may not know you, but at places like this they seem to care," he said. Yet another reason why officers tend to favor the home-cooking places where talk is as thick as the fried brains and eggs.
Quite naturally, the restaurateurs favor their law-enforcing patrons in return because where they are, trouble usually isn't. "They're real handy to have in here, especially if a drunk pulls in from the road," waitress Teri Bays said.
Fork's cook Ernestine Brown was friendly but matter-of-fact about all the policemen she's met in her 20 years on the job. Asked if she'd ever been pulled over for speeding, she shook her head.
"But I don't speed, either," she said, smoking a cigarette between the breakfast and lunch rushes. "I don't like to be in a hurry."
Stories about ordinary people who make food an extraordinary pleasure. Conspicuous Consumption is an occasional series about the way Southwest Virginians are eating drinking and cooking.