Friday, May 17, 2019

Charleston HDJ Review- Super Weenie

Super Weenie began life as a hot dog cart that sold pretty good hot dogs on the corner of Lee & Capitol Streets in downtown Charleston. You can read our review from 2016 here. About a year ago, it graduated to a bricks and mortar location a block and a half away on Quarrier Street. We didn't mean to wait a whole year to do a review, but time happens and here it is.

With a slogan like "I'm serious about these hot dogs," we expected a great hot dog. HDJs that truly are serious about hot dogs are hard to find (even though many claim to be) but when you find one you know it because it shows in the care given to the various elements that make up a true WV Hot Dog. A HDJ that uses food service slaw, for example, can say they are serious, but any true WVHD fan can see right through their ruse.

We heard through the grapevine that since moving indoors, Super Weenie was making their own slaw, which was a good thing since the last time we reviewed them (while they were still a cart) their slaw was found wanting. So we went in, expecting and hoping that we would find that Super Weenie had found the missing ingredient to make their hot dogs truly super. 

They have.

Slaw purists, note the absence of carrots.
Every part of this hot dog is super indeed. The weenie was perfectly cooked, the chili deliciously complex (if not terribly spicy) and the slaw paired with it perfectly. The new slaw is perfect in texture and in taste: finely chopped cabbage sans core and just a touch of sweet. Onions & mustard did nothing to detract. The only possible thing over which we could quibble is that to get a steamed steamed bun you have to request it, but my bun was warm, soft, fresh and delicious so maybe it doesn't really need it because even without a steamed bun this is a Five Weenie superstar West Virginia Hot Dog . 

Congrats to the Super Weenie team on having a hot dog worthy of your name and your slogan. Arguably, the best hot dog in downtown Charleston. 


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