W. Va. Charleston HDJ Review - State Capitol Complex "Vendateria"

With a name straight out of a "Dilbert" strip, the Vendateria is located inside Building 7 of the State Capitol Complex. If you are not a state employee then you will have to go through security in order to eat there (this was the first time I've been forced to empty my pockets of all metal and electronic objects before I could eat a hot dog) and the security guards will also point you in the proper direction to find the Vendateria.

Once you'd found it, you will immediately understand the name: It has vending machines, table and chairs and a full service food window where you can order prepared food like, oh I don't know, maybe hot dogs. The sign over the window says "Virgie's Tasty Treats." I assume Virgie is the name of the vendor who operates the place, unless it's some kind of play on "West Virginia." I really hope not.

I ordered up and found that "everything" includes chili, slaw, mustard, onions and (sigh) ketchup. I had one without ketchup.

Now the person who wrote to tell me about the Vendateria had indicated that he didn't that the hot dogs were very good, so I approached the first bite with some trepidation. My initial thought after the first bite was that someone had slipped up and put potato salad on top instead of slaw. Then I realized that it was indeed slaw alright, but slaw made with more mayonnaise than any thing else. If you like creamy slaw, this is it. Almost to the point of slimy.

The chili was pretty much standard chili for the Kanawha Valley. The only taste that was discernable over any other was chili powder. The chili was very thin and made a wonderful gooey mess of the bun in short order. And speaking of the bun, it was straight out of the bag and cold to the touch. The onions were chopped in large pieces and pretty potent like they had been sitting around for a long while.

Pehaps it is that I had low expectations going in, but I found the hot dog to be reasonably good. I can't help but think that the too-much-mayo-slaw might have been a one-batch mistake, and if not for that and the cold bun then this hot dog would have scored higher. I'm going to give it a charitable 3 weenies. Not great, but close enough for government work.