Downtown Charleston HDJ Death Match Round 2

The Fresh Seafood Company

Today we have yesterday's survivor (just barely) Diana's Snack Bar on Summers Street taking on The Fresh Seafood Company's Capitol Market location.

I couldn't believe it had been six years since I reviewed the Fresh Seafood Company's hot dogs, but it's true and you can read that review here. The review is so old that it pre-dates our Weenie Ranking system! I guess it was easily time for a re-review anyway.

So how will Diana's mediocre hot dog hold up against a place that sells hot dogs as an "oh, by the way" offering?

Well, first off, at least Diana's assembles your hot dog for you, where TFSC makes you do it yourself. Unfortunately this hasn't changed since the last review and it still irks me.

But as far as taste goes, TFSC beats Diana's by a country mile. Every part of this hot dog is superior; the bun is softer, the weenie is tastier, the chili is better. And then there is the slaw:

TFSC slaw is the same slaw that they serve as a side dish with their seafood platters and it is scrumptious. The only negative about it is that it is grated far to coarsely to be considered perfect hot dog slaw.

Tree huggers won't like the fact that TFSC uses not one, but TWO styrofoam coffins - one inside the other - to package their orders.

As I wrote above, the last review of The Fresh Seafood Company's hot dog pre-dated the Weenie Ranking System, so I thought I would take this opportunity to assign it a score: 4.5 Weenies. If the slaw was finer and I didn't have to assemble it myself it probably would be a Five.

But as far as the Death Match goes, no doubt about who the victor of this round is: The Fresh Seafood Company at Capitol Market.

Next up: TFSC does battle with Town Center Dairy Queen.

Charleston Downtown HDJ Death Match Round 1

Round 1 pits Diana's Snack Bar against Donna's Cafe. Donna's Cafe sits in the building formerly known as "The Carbon Building" at the corner of Kanawha Blvd and Leon Sullivan Way. Most people know it best as the home of the bronze statue of a man standing in its entryway. The Cafe sits just inside the lobby.

Diana's Snack Bar sits across town, at the corner of Brawley Walkway and Summers Street.

Diana's Snack Bar hot dog (left) is served in a coffin, while Donna's Cafe (right) wraps theirs in paper.

 First, the similarities: Both HDJs think that ketchup should be included on an everything dog. Both use standard buns.

The Good: Diana's hot dog has a better presentation - A few darker green cabbage leaves are left in the coleslaw to give them a fancier, garnished look. Donna's bun is buttered and grilled and has a nice flavor. Donna's hot dog had far more of everything on it.

 The Bad: Donna's slaw tasted old and musty. Unfortunately, as noted above, there was a lot of slaw too, which served to increase the overall oldness and mustiness. The chili had the same musty undertone. Diana's slaw was rather tasteless and the chili was served far too sparingly to know what it tasted like. 


The Winner: Almost everything about Donna's hot dog was lackluster or worse. Diana wins almost by default, but I do not expect her hot dogs to live much longer. Any decent hot dog is going to vanquish Diana's Snack Bar - probably in the next round when it will face...


The Fresh Seafood Company at Capitol Market.

Downtown Charleston HDJ Death Match - Game On

At WVHotDogs.com we believe that the single most important questions that we face as a society is "who has the best hot dog in town?" 

In our relentless pursuit to provide the best, unbiased opinions on this most important question we have decided on the "Death Match" approach: One Hot Dog Joint against another, with the winner surviving to take on another challenger. This process will be repeated until there are no more challengers and the winning HDJ will be crowned as the champion. 

Our first Death Match is for Downtown Charleston HDJs, with "Downtown" being defined as the area bounded by Kanawha Blvd to Piedmont Road, and from Clendenin Street to Morris Street.Today's match up was originally  originally was scheduled to pit Diana's Snack Bar against The. Blossom, but the latter closed up for good after Friday's lunch service, so Diana's wins by default.

Rather than postpone the match, we'll bring in a substitute for The Blossom: Donna's Cafe - thereby pitting two women-owned HDJs against each other in a hot dog cat fight of sorts.

Results to be posted later today.