For the longest time, it seemed as though the hot dog culture in the greater Clarksburg area had reached a level of complacency. There hadn't been any new pure or worthwhile hot dog joints of note in some time. There wasn't much to write about for the longest time, and to be honest the weather and my work schedule weren't very cooperative.
I was a really disappointed to find that one of the better HDJs in the area, Hometown Hot Dogs of Clarksburg, had shut it's doors in the latter part of last year. The building that once housed some WVHD greatness had fallen into "good hands" for selling insurance, if you get my drift. However, I was suprised to find out that the crew from Hometown had actually packed up and moved to the other side of town, smack dab between the East View section of Clarksburg and Anmoore. The new name was Smiley's Hot Dogs, and all seemed right with the world. The slaw was fresher than ever, the service was great, and the chili was hearty as ever. But alas, it was a short-lived comeback. By the time I had started to pen a review of the new digs, Smiley's shuttered it's doors sometime before Christmas of 2010. Personally, I'd chalk it up to a very poor location.
So as I looked and looked around Clarksburg some more. Surely I had not covered all of the good HDJs around, had I? Luckily, I found Stealey Lunch. Just a few blocks down from where the old Hometown Hot Dogs stood was this inviting new establishment nestled in the corner of a building along one of the busier thoroughfares in town.
Stealey Lunch had a crisp, clean interior with lots of space. There wasn't much in the way of atmosphere or decor, but nonetheless the smells of deliciousness permeated the walls to make one forget this negligible "shortcoming" (if you want to even call it that). The menu features a multitude of choices for lunch, ranging from hot dogs, sandwiches, chicken, salads, and the like.
The hot dogs are listed as "slaw dogs", but they do come as a West Virginia hot dog should by the numbers (you know the routine...chili, slaw, onions, mustard). But to say that these hot dogs meet the standards for quality. For starters, the weenie was incredible scrawny. Cook it one minute too long, and it could've been a toothpick. The chili had hint of "tomatoey" to it, which surprisingly was the only highlight of it. There wasn't anything wrong with the chili, mind you. It just was devoid of any other real flavor. The slaw was also in the "okay" category, unfortunately. This iteration of slaw included hints of carrots for some reason. Carrots are okay, but when used as a hot dog topping they are best left off. My final beef was with the bun. It tasted as though a stale bun had been warmed over (badly). After a few minutes of cooling off, the bun became chewy, which is never a good sign.
While I'm always glad to see hot dog joints make their home in the north central area, I still find myself disappointed by the effort put in to the product. Stealey Lunch seems to "want" to put out a good hot dog, but doesn't have the goods to "execute". I'd like to say the potential is there, but who knows? Maybe some simple tweaking will liven up these otherwise boring dogs, but until then I have to give these a 3 weenie rating (and I'm spotting them about 1/2 weenie here).
