Cedar Grove HDJ Review - Video Village

We would have never, ever found this little HDJ if a reader hadn't emailed us.

In the out of the way town of Cedar Grove, inside an obscure little storefront attached to the Exxon station, in the back of the video rental section of the store, there is a food counter where you can order typical roadside fast food items like pizza, hot dogs, cheese poppers and hot dogs. I was told that this place had good hot dogs, but when I walked in I was skeptical. I nearly walked out because it didn't look like there was any food service inside. Then I saw the video section and remembered that the reader had said the place was called "Video Village" so I walked into the video rental area. There I found the food.

Ordering one with everything (I had to specify "no ketchup") I took my dog to my car before unwrapping it. I was still skeptical about the quality of hot dogs that this little out of the way place might serve. To say my expectations were low is an understatement.

Unwrapping the dog buoyed my hopes momentarily, as the hot dog was topped with a large helping of gorgeous looking slaw. But then, sticking out from under the toppings, I saw one of the teeniest weenies I had ever seen on a real hot dog. It was so small in diameter that it looked like a mistake. My low expectations returned.

But to my surprise, in spite of the teeny weenie, the hot dog actually tasted pretty darn good! The chili had a good texture and a complex taste - a little spicy, a little tart. The slaw was sweet; just about as sweet as any I have ever tasted, and perfect in consistency. The chili and slaw worked well together and made me forget all about the teeny weenie, momentarily. I wondered what the little thing tasted like so I tried a taste independent of the toppings. It tasted fine. It was just little.

Now I guess it could be argued that having such a small weenie allows more room in the bun for toppings, and if you have good toppings then it can certainly offset the lack of a substantial sausage. But there is something kind of disturbing to see a weenie that small on a WVHD, so we'll deduct points for the shortcoming.

The Video Village, that little hidden hot dog joint that could, overcomes it's hiddeness and it's teeny weenie to score a 4 Weenie rating. With a suitable sized weenie it would have been a 4.5.