Lewisville HDJ Review - Scruples Restaurant

As everyone in West Virginia knows, Lewisville has become home to hard-left leaning democrats and pagans (the religion, not the motorcycle gang). With a demographic that could be best described as "Aging Hippies" there are probably more people who voted for George McGovern in this town than anyplace in the state. Lewisville prides itself on being progressive and seems to attract like-minded people. To further this identity the town council recently voted to add a motto to the "Welcome to Lewsiville" signs: Beginning July 1st, the town will be officially known as "The Little Town with the Big Conscience."

Scruples Restaurant, coincidentally owned by one of the town council members, also has a motto: "Serving Socially Responsibly Meals with a Sustainable Attitude." The menu is chock full of "fair trade" goods, locally produced organic foods and other things you would expect to find in the commissary at an ACLU convention in Oregon. They have the trendiest coffee, the hippest teas and are always at the cutting edge of the latest food health warnings and admonitions. You can get your Acai Berry & Pomegranate juice cocktail with a side order of wheat grass if you like.

On the surface, Scruples might not sound like a likely candidate for a hot dog review, but this is West Virginia - where Mountaineers are always free and hot dogs are obligatory.

Now unless you have been under a rock for the past month or so, you have heard about the hot dog choking controversy: the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for a redesign of the shape of hot dogs as to eliminate the possibility of choking small children. You can read about it here.

So Scruples Restaurant, home of all things knee-jerk, has joined the fight against tubular hot dogs. They are now offering their "Hot Dog Safety Wraps" as an alternative to the standard hot dog that they served until just recently. The process begins by grilling paper-thin slices of an organic weenie (a veggie version is also available with sliced tofu franks) and placing them on a fair-trade flour tortilla. A meatless sauce that is reminiscent of DQ Coney Sauce is spread over top and then a dollop of runny and coarsely chopped coleslaw is added. Mustard and ketchup are included on the everything version. Curiously, onions are not an option.

I was prepared to be totally grossed out by this odd little sandwich, but to be honest it tasted pretty good. The individual slices of weenie are grilled and it seems to unlock some extra flavor. The sauce was kind of tasty and the slaw, while I wouldn't want it on a regular hot dog because of its coarseness, was actually very good tasting. The whole thing was crunchy, which adds an unusual sensation to the hot dog experience. It was so surprisingly good, that I changed my plans on how I would write this review. I had first planned to ridicule the wrap and the whole idea of slicing weenies in the name of food safety. but I had to rethink my position after tasting how good it really was. Perhaps I have pigeonholed myself by my dogmatic insistence that hot dogs be made on a soft bun with the toppings applied in a certain way. Maybe I am missing out on a whole new way to do hot dogs. I think that I will use this experience to turn over a new leaf and become more accepting - more tolerant, if you will - the way the good citizens of Lewisville are tolerant and accepting.

So I give Scruples' safety dogs a nice 4 Weenie rank. I think that is a fitting score and nice tribute to celebrate this very special Holiday.