Charleston HDJ Review - Hog and Dog

Located in the former home of Tudor's Biscuit World on Bigley Avenue, this brand new HDJ has dared to set up shop 100 yards from a Charleston institution; Chris' Hot Dogs. Not that Chris' has no competitors close by, (The Grille, three doors west of Chris' and Freeman's Restaurant which is across the street and a few doors west), but to open up a place that is all about hot dogs and BBQ - two mainstays of Chris' - is suicide. Unless of course, your product is good enough to lure customers away.With that belief in mind, I walked into Hog and Dog expecting a really good hot dog.

I didn't get it.

This dog is weak all around. The weenie was grilled so much that it had a tough skin on the outside that was difficult to break with incisors alone. The bun was mediocre, the chili was tasteless. The slaw had chunks of green peppers in it.

Out the abundance of fairness and with deference to the newness of the place, I'm gonna give Hog and Dog a 2.5 Weenie score.

I know that there are people that have fallen out of love with Chris' who will probably try Hog and Dog, but I can't imagine that they can honestly prefer this weak effort to the classic that is served just a few steps away.

I will also point out that the menu and atmosphere leads me to think that Hog and Dog are somehow related to these two places - both of which served a better dog than this one.