Lady’s Island’s Fillin’ Station dinners end next week

When few cars dot the gravel parking lot of the Fillin’ Station, work is going on inside the Lady’s Island bar and restaurant.

Rita Wolfe funneled black pepper into a plastic container next to a stack of raw pork chops in the small kitchen Thursday. She seasoned each piece of meat before covering the container with aluminum foil.

Her husband, Mark, tore open white packages to season potatoes on the outdoor bar on the back deck overlooking Factory Creek.

The couple has been serving popular dinners since soon after they bought the business 18 years ago. The work has gotten to be too much, they said.

Next week will be the last for the Tuesday night crab legs, Thursday night pork chops and Friday steak dinners.

Steaks still be served when live music plays once a month. Hamburgers and hot dogs will continue on Wednesdays.

But time to enjoy the regular offerings is short. The death of a close friend’s husband drove the change, said Rita, who is 60.

“That made you take a look at life,” she said. “I said ‘Honey, that’s enough.’”

“We’re not getting any younger,” said Mark, who is 62. “It takes a lot of time to get everything prepared.”

The owners didn’t set out to operate a restaurant, he said. But they began cooking for the regulars and word spread.

Now doctors, lawyers, retirees, contractors and school teachers rub shoulders inside the low, cinderblock building on Sea Island Parkway.

Preparation begins in the morning, running around to gather any necessary supplies. At 1 p.m., the food preparation begins. Cooking starts at 4 p.m., the meat charred on the stainless steel grill on the back deck.

The Fillin’ Station serves about 80 pork chop dinners on Thursday night — Rita’s night to cook — with two chops per plate. On Fridays, Mark cooks about 140 steaks.

The money isn’t worth the effort, Mark said.

Plates on steak night were $5 when the Wolfes began serving dinner. Now plate of steak, baked potato and corn cost $12.

If someone was hired to handle the load, prices would rise and customers would complain. This way is easier, Mark and Rita said.

There are no plans to sell the business — though customers have offered — only plans to stop cooking. Rita said she could leave the work but not the people on the other side of the bar.

The loyalty is reciprocated.

“We’re going to miss this,” said Rocky Waldorf, who lives nearby on Lady’s Island with his wife, Lucy. “We’ll still come, but we’ll miss the pork chops. Everybody in Beaufort knows about the pork chops.”

Cash with names or short messages written in black marker is stuck to the walls and ceiling around the bar. Most are dollar bills, but one is $100 and another $50 — both from the same person.

Photo collages on the wall show a wedding reception, and another wall hanging recognizes a 50th anniversary.

There is a pool table and jukebox.

Karaoke has also been discontinued. Last week was it.

The Fillin’ Station will remain a place to gather for drinks, the owners and a few customers said Thursday afternoon. A limited menu is tacked to the bar on a yellow posted, advertising pizza, corn dogs and egg rolls.

An expansive back deck, replete with a bar, televisions and sweeping marsh views, is hidden from the road by the small building and tall wooden fence.

An old gas pump outside with a Budweiser logo harkens back to the building’s days as an actual gas station. Waldorf worked the pumps during the 1960s.

On Thursday, he sat not far from a pair of retired nozzles hanging above the bar.

“Everybody loves it,” Waldorf said, sipping a Busch Light. “Because it’s comfortable.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Lady’s Island’s Fillin’ Station dinners end next week."