Charleston Area Hot Dog Joints - Blues BBQ

On Jefferson Road, halfway between South Charleston proper and Southridge, you will find a little place that has very good barbecue ribs & sandwiches and a surprisingly good hot dog. Blues has long been one of my favorite quick lunch stops and is one of the few places around town that have bratwursts (they will fix one up just like a WVHD complete with chili & slaw if you ask). I've never had their ribs but their BBQ sandwiches are as good as any I've had.

But the matter at hand is the Blues BBQ version of a West Virginia Hot Dog, or perhaps I should say "versions" plural because they have two different kinds of chili that makes the dogs different. I tried one of each. The regular-strength stuff is tasty - a bit sweeter than average. The spicy is bland tasting but has a sneaky slow-burn. My guess is that the burn comes from added chili powder and maybe some cayenne pepper. Whatever it is, I was still feeling the burn twenty minutes later.

"Everything" at Blues means ketchup, mustard, onions, chili & slaw that is a bit coarse for my tastes. It's also a bit dry but about the right consistency for a BBQ sandwich (yeah, West Virginians eat slaw on those too). The bun seemed to be steamed because it was very gooey even though my "eat here" order wasn't wrapped up. It was so soft, in fact, that my weenie actually began to fall through the bottom of the bun before I was half through. This might be a negative for some, but give me a gooey dog everytime.

Overall I give Blues high marks for their dogs. I think the regular chili version is a top-ten in my book.