Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505090014
SECTION: DISCOVER NRV PAGE: DNRV-34 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"World's Greatest Stuffed Peppers," brags the sign outside the Chevron/Turbo Food Mart on U.S. 460.
"World's Greatest Cajun Catfish," it boasts a day later.
The marquee doesn't go unnoticed.
"A Richmond magazine wrote it up earlier this year," said Lisa Linkous, a cook at the Turbo mart.
"I know it by heart," she said of the magazine's words. "'Where can you get the world's greatest catfish? Well if you believe the sign outside the Chevron station, it's in Christiansburg.'"
The restaurant started serving the whiskered fish the week a supplier brought in big filets instead of the normal little strips.
The owner, a fish lover, was coming by to check things out and manager Ray Linkous (no relation to Lisa) knew what to do with that fish: He fried it with some cajun spices. And he's been serving it ever since.
Though some folks, particularly those who call the bayou home, might argue about the catfish's "world's greatest" status, this much is undeniably true: Folks are ordering it, along with sweet-and-sour chicken, meatloaf and other home-cooked entrees that sit heating under the glass just across from the Slush Puppy machine. And they're ordering food at other gas station/convenience stores across the South.
Look under "restaurants" in the yellow pages and you won't find Turbo mart or Food Time. The best kind of advertising for places like this, the owners say, probably is word of mouth.
"Every employee here knows exactly what I want," said Eleanor Young, who picks up her food to go from the Citgo Food Time. Not a super-difficult task, considering Young orders a taco salad almost every day, wrapped in plastic to keep it from spilling in her car on her way to work at Wolverine. She'll switch to homemade soup when they have it, or beans and corn bread, or occasionally goulash. But mostly it's the taco salad.
Breakfast probably sells the best here - more than a hundred biscuits each morning topped with tenderloin or eggs or cheese.
Marlene Jackson of Christiansburg starts cooking them up at 10 'til 5. "I get here before everybody else and get it together," she said. "A lot of folks come in and take it and go. A lot of them say it takes too long to go through the drive in."
At Turbo Mart, biscuits are a favorite, along with macaroni and cheese and potato wedges - or, if you're a frequenter of places that serve potato wedges, "jojos."
"The first time someone called them that, I said, 'Excuse me?''' said Ray Linkous, manager of the Turbo mart.
Same with Lisa Linkous. "Now I know. I've grown accustomed to whatever people call them. I just say, 'How many? Six or 12?'''
If you're looking for dessert, the Texaco Handy Mart in Narrows is the place to be. The staff there offers homemade cakes and cobblers - peach, apple and cherry.
"The recipes come from some of the employees, handed down through generations," said Betty Wimmer, deli manager.
She usually sells two big pans of cobbler per day.
The rolls - which "come from a mix but we make them bigger" - also are a specialty, Wimmer said.
At the Dublin Express Stop, it's the pizza that sells. "The crust comes frozen, but it's a good crust," said Chris Hampton, the owner. "Everything else we put on fresh, just the way the customer wants it. This ain't no frozen pizza!"
The Express Stop is on U.S. 11 near New River Community College, so it's frequented by students and factory workers alike.
Sandwiches are the specialties at West End Market on U.S. 221 in Floyd.
"The best thing we serve is the hot Italian sub," said manager Pansy Wimmer. Staff members echo their consent. Pepperoni pizza is second.
The store is across the street from Cross Creek Apparel, whose employees make faithful customers. The store sells apples in the fall, peaches in summer. And homemade tuna salad most of the year.
The Travellers' Cafe, next to the BP station on Tyler Avenue in Radford, is more like a truck stop; as a result, it has a food bar and serves burgers and biscuits around the clock.
Hamburger steak is a customer favorite.
The Floyd Express, on East Main Street in Floyd, specializes in chicken you can smell a block away. "My wife can smell me before she sees me," said manager Roger Hollandsworth. The store also sells potatoes - jojos, french fries and curly fries. And breakfast, starting at 4:30 a.m.
"We have biscuits, sausage, steak and ham. We keep it simple," Hollandsworth said.
Who eats here? "Anybody and everybody," he said.
And that includes the fish.
Along with a line of groceries, the Floyd Express also sells live bait.
by CNB