THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512050101
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: ON THE TOWN
SOURCE: SAM MARTINETTE
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
When I last visited with Tony Mirabile Jr., his Tony Jr.'s Hot Dogs was located a block from his father's old store on Lafayette Boulevard.
Now Tony Jr.'s permanent kiosk, inside a fenced compound, is across the boulevard from his late father's store, still in operation, facing the caricature of his father, the self-acknowledged ``Hot Dog King.''
The tangled web of the various Mirabile family hot dog operations - Tony's mother and brother operate a store on Newtown Road in Virginia Beach, and all three stores are separate - is another story, and before you call me with yet another version of who started what, this column is as much about musical dreams, missed opportunities and lost familial love as it is about dogs and chili.
Inside the kiosk, Tony Jr. is surrounded by as many creature comforts as he can cram in. In addition to a television, VCR, stereo, space heater, a grill for the tough-skinned dogs the family has sold a million of over the years, and a steamer for the rolls, sits a key item: a drum pad.
If Tony Mirabile weren't selling hot dogs, he would prefer to be pounding the skins in a jazz band, popping the 4/4 rhythm behind sax and keyboard players, dancing the brushes across the cymbals with the same effortless grace he uses every day to spread mustard and chili across the dogs.
Between customers he's tapping the circular drum pad to the accompaniment of a drum instructional video. Mirabile knows that practice, practice, practice is the way to Carnegie Hall, as the musician's adage goes, and if he hasn't been there himself, he has spent time in the neighborhood.
``I went to New York and spent six months at the Drummer's Collective, studying everything from Latin to funk under stylists like Peter Erskine of Weather Report,'' Mirabile says. ``I grew up around jazz, in the shadow of my cousin (percussionist) Jimmy Barbour, and listened to Miles Davis and Chick Correa as a kid. If hot dogs are in my blood, then music is in my heart.''
Mirabile has played with jazz and show bands in the area but wants more time to go on the road with Virginia Beach-based Joel Futterman, whose keyboard skills are much sought after in Europe.
``I played with a lot of local musicians,'' he says. ``But here the musicians seem to have a lot of pre-conceived notions and ideas. In New York they gave me more objective feedback about my playing. I know I had the ability inside me, but I worry about the time I'm wasting.''
Clouds of steam envelope Mirabile as he pulls two rolls, stuffs them with dogs, lathers mustard, chili and onions on (no relish here, thank you), and pulls an old-fashioned eight-ounce Coke from the drink cooler.
``I know at one point in my life I have to pursue it,'' he says, ringing a tune on the cash register. ``I'm passionate about music. There's a voice inside that runs like a riff.''
In the meantime, Mirabile sells his dogs across the street from the business he grew up in, now owned by his father's second wife. He admits he was estranged from dad at one point but says they reconciled during the period before his father's death. Tony Jr. once had a dream of running the old business but thinks that isn't likely any longer. His dreams these days have a musical nature.
``I've spent all my life in the hot dog business and maybe one percent in music,'' he says. ``But music is 100 percent in my heart.''
Tony Jr.'s Hot Dogs is located on the corner of Lafayette Boulevard and Lens Avenue, and parking is available inside the compound. Hot dogs are $1.45, and he is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. He has a second operation in Portsmouth on Afton Parkway.
I had a tip about a place called Mediterranean to pass on. Located in the former Arnold's Sandwich Shop on Hampton Boulevard across from Old Dominion University, the place served excellent Mediterranean sandwiches, such as the Shish Taook - marinated chicken chunks served with lettuce and a spicy sauce on a pita - and the trusty gyro. When I went back last Wednesday to arrange an interview I was told the place was closing on Friday. The good news is that it was owned by the folks who have Baraki's at the Waterside, and you can find Shish Taook there. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Tony Mirabile Jr. has been around the hot dog business all of his
life.
by CNB