Friday, August 10, 2007

Beckley HDJ Review - Berkshire's Old Fashioned Frozen Custard

Just because you say it doesn't make it true. And if you say it, you'd better be able to back it up.

Not only does Berkshire's Frozen Custard brag that they have the best hot dogs in town, but the sign claims they have the "World's Greatest Grilled Hotdogs." Quite a claim. I only visited the Eisenhower Drive location, but I presume all the Berkshire locations in (there is one in Princeton and another in Beckley) make the same claim. As of this writing I haven't visited any HDJs in Princeton so I can't be sure that Berkshire's isn't the best hot dog in that City, but I am quite certain there is at least one place in Beckley that has better dogs even if you don't count Tamarack.

The menu lists "Regular Hot Dog" and "Ballpark Hot Dog" for ten cents more. I didn't ask what the difference was and just ordered a regular. Using the language of the menu I ordered a "chili and slaw" dog and had to specify mustard and onions - a good sign that this wasn't going to be a "best in town" kind of hot dog. And it wasn't.

Berkshire's chili tastes more like good and meaty spaghetti sauce than hot dog chili, but with the proper slaw it could work. Unfortunately the slaw they serve is coarse, tough and tasteless food service slaw. It didn't suit the chili at all. The grilled New England Style bun was tasty and the all-beef weenie was nicely grilled, but this was not a great hot dog worth bragging about.

Berkshire's gets 3 Weenies out of five.

Berkshire's does, however, have great, great frozen custard. The cone was dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. The presentation of the ice cream in the cone was artistic and the taste was better. And the vibe of the place is much more suited to ice cream than it is to hot dogs.

3 comments:

Christopher Scott Jones said...

Maybe the FDA or the FTC should start regulating false claims about hot dog superlatives...

Elvis Drinkmo said...

Man, everytime I come over here I get hungry as hell.

The more additives and grease the better.

LKT said...

I love Berkshire Old Fashioned Custard. I have terrible stomach problems every day and all day and this place has the best blueberry shakes in the world. They have truly settled my stomach down. The other thing I love about Berkshire is Miss Ranesha and Miss Amy. They are two lovely young woman who work there. They have prepared shakes for me this season with such perfection. They are compassionate and very kind young ladies and they make the best shakes in the world. Today was the end of the season and that truly makes me sad. I will miss them so much. My stomach always hurts but these two special young ladies make shakes that literally have calmed my stomach down. These two ladies have been very sweet and wonderful young ladies just like the shakes they make. They are the best. I want to thank Mr. Berkshire for hiring these wonderful, kind, and compassionate ladies. These ladies are what I call" Angels" Miss Amy and Miss Ranesha. I will always love Berkshire because this place brings customer service and compassion to a new level for me and my husband. Thank you again Miss Ranesha and Miss Amy for making this place somewhere to go when you want something great to eat and something great to drink. Also I thank them both for their astounding compassion and kindness towards us during this season. We love you both very much from Lisa and Matt! I hope we have the pleasure and blessing of seeing you both next season. Big hugs to both of you always! May God bless you as much as the both of you have blessed us. We just love Berkshire !