Grafton HDJ Review - Dairy King

I continue my review of the Grafton area HDJs with another stop along Route 50 with a trip to the Dairy King, which sits within several yards of the Dairy Queen (ironically) and Biggie's. Dairy King is a classic walk-up ice cream stand, offering the usual ice cream treats, shakes, sodas, hot dogs, burgers, and the like. There are five gazebos scattered along the back of the parking lot with ample seating for families or groups.

Hot dogs here go for a .99 cents, so they're easy on the wallet. The service was fine. No doubt they get plenty of business based on their location, as they are the closest ice cream stand / HDJ going into (or out of) downtown Grafton.

Slaw is not available at all here at the Dairy King, so for this review I went straight for the other standard items (you know the routine: chili, onions, mustard). The chili here just goes off in a totally different direction than one would expect from a WVHDJ. What struck me right off the bat was the chunkiness of the chili beef. It didn't have the finer ground that is customary for traditional WVHD chili/sauce. Moreover, it has the medium ground you would find in a homemade spaghetti sauce. Speaking of spaghetti sauce, it had the bright red color of --well-- spaghetti sauce. And, as you may have guessed, it also had the taste of spaghetti sauce...only with a strong peppery flavoring, ala Texas Pete, or the like.

The sauce was thin enough that it soaked through the bun, which combined with the water-logged weenie made the bun fall apart at the bottom, making for a fine mess. The onions were wickedly strong and coarsely chopped, which according to your personal preference is either a good thing or grounds for a sad day. All told, these dogs just don't work.

Based on the lack of slaw and the mismatched chili ingredients, it would be safe to rank the Grafton Dairy King at two weenies.