Tudorville HDJ Review - Hot Dog World

I thought they were joking, mistaken or insane when I received the emails about Hot Dog World. "You have to try the Hot Dog Shake" they all said. The first time I simply thought the writer had meant the hot dog and shake, but after about the third or fourth email that said "hot dog shake" I thought I should check it out.

At the end of State Route 41, just before it crosses the Virginia border, sits this little gem of a town that boasts, among other things, the only sanctioned cockroach races in the state (held each year in September in the town fire station). Tudorville is one of those places that isn't on the way to anywhere and Hot Dog World is the only restaurant in town and so it was easy to find.

OK, so here's the thing about Hot Dog World: It really should get a special award for its commitment to hot dogs. They serve nothing but hot dogs and in many varieties and odd configurations. Their sign advertises "Great Hot Dogs" but it also lists "Burgers, Shakes and More" But if you order a "burger" you actually get a hot dog that has a "weenie" made out of an elongated roll of ground beef, fried and topped with lettuce, pickles and mayonnaise! And just like the emailers said, when you order a "Hot Dogs Shake", you get a cup full of a concoction that started out as a regular hot dog until it met its fate in a blender. You pick the liquid that gets put in (I chose Pepsi, but you can also get milk or water) and after a few seconds in the blender it is poured out into a Styrofoam up with a lid. The server recommended that I not remove the lid: "Just just drink it," he said, "it's not pretty."

Honestly, if I had not had so many recommendations I could not have brought myself to drink it, but I trust my readers, so...

After you get past the initial shock of the lukewarm temperature, the flavor that comes into your mouth through the slightly over sized straw that HDW provides is actually very tasty. The chili (I assume it was the chili) was quite spicy and the slaw - or the bun or something white in color - was creamy and nicely sweet. After I was out of the view of the server, I couldn't resist pulling off the lid for a peek at the hot dog puree. I was surprised to see mustard and ketchup (I completely forgot to ask them to leave out the red stuff!) floating to the surface of the sludge like substance.

Overall I have to give Hot Dog World Hot Dog Shake a nice 4 Weenie score. It's unusual, to be sure, but after all, when you eat a hot dog and down it in three bites it turns into essentially the same thing as they are selling. I would imagine that dentally challenged senior citizens would enjoy this hot dog very much.

Hot Dog World is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 364 days per year; closed only on April 1.