THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602090057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
WELCOME TO the Malbon Bros. Citgo station on General Booth Boulevard where you can get a tank of gas, a soft-cloth car wash and a Boss Hog B.B.Q.
Yep, Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes is right. There's a new day dawning in America with a lot to be optimistic about.
And there's no better example than the Malbon Bros. barbecue emporium with food mart, gas pumps and and an ultimate wash with spot-free water rinse.
I mean it's all there, ain't it?
You can do about everything except the laundry at Malbon Bros. Citgo, and several of the boys have even tried washing their selves in the car wash while wearing Malbon Bros. B.B.Q. T-shirts.
But come on inside here and let's say howdy to Mark Malbon, who has put up tiny barbecue advertising signs on his gas pumps but is prevented from more extravagant advertising by the city of Virginia Beach.
Thus zillions of folks are unaware that the ultra fancy Citgo station actually houses a barbecue restaurant right on premises.
But let Mark Malbon, the manager, say howdy.
``Howdy.'' Mark is not only sociable but also has the distinction of finding a new way to do 'que.
Yes, come over here and shake hands with Virginia's first barbecue and cheese omelet. It's the perfect morning starter with hash browns and toast at $2.99.
How did such a remarkable combination come about. Here it is in Mark's own words:
``We were sitting here one morning and I said to Jody . . . Jody's the cook, `Jody I feel like a barbecue omelet.' And that's what she did. Made me a omelet. It was so gooood we put it on the menu.''
Still reeling from the knowledge that one could eat a genuine barbecue and cheese omelet and drive through a car wash at the same time, I was further astonished by Mark's culinary discovery.
But he comes by his genius with barbecue naturally. In these parts, the Malbons are to hogs what Bunker Hunt is to oil. Mark's older brother Billy has been cooking barbecued hogs for many moons. And his cousin Thomas owns a catering business capable of serving barbecue dinners to 5,000 people at a time without spilling a drop of the secret sauce.
The family once owned a spread of 1,100 acres about a mile away from the Citgo station (which is between Dam Neck and Strawbridge shopping centers) and sent a quarter of a million hogs to slaughter each year.
They sold the prime real estate in 1984 and have been counting their money since. ``This is a lot easier than working on the hog farm,'' Mark said. And, of course, the whole neighborhood smells better, too.
We may have the only barbecue restaurant/Citgo station in creation here. The restaurant has its own kitchen where Boston Butts (sounds like a catcher for the Red Sox don't it?) are cooked in a convection oven.
The hog shoulders are basted with Brother Billy's secret barbecue sauce, which has a vinegary taste, then run through a grinder. They sell it by the pound or the sandwich with the Boss Hog (an 8-ounce beauty with a sesame seed bun about the size of a child's catcher's mitt) being most popular.
Nacherly, they serve baked beans, cole slaw and hush puppies. I mean get re-yahl, does this look like a tea room to yew?
I dunno what Mark will do about his sign problem, which is similar to the one experienced by a friend of mine in North Carolina who was denied the right to erect an electric neon display of eight dancing pigs, each 6 feet high, on the roof of his barbecue place.
Fortunately, there were no restrictions on Christmas decorations, so my friend Luke ``Big Pig'' Fallon astonished the city fathers the next year. His Christmas scene featured Santa in a sled drawn by plastic hogs resembling 90-pound porkers, one with a red nose.
About February, when the city councilmen complained about the continued presence of the Christmas porkers, Luke assured them the display would come down. ``Take it down, presently,'' he said.
And did, in late August. Just before the chief of police arrived with a ladder. By November, it was time for the Christmas decorations again. It all seemed to work out nicely for him.
Dunno whether it would work for Mark or not. But it might be worth a shot. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Charlie Meads\The Virginian-Pilot
by CNB