North Charleston HDJ Review - Huskey's Dairy Bar

After a bit of a dustup over on the  West Virginia Hot Dogs Facebook page a few weeks ago. we decided to go re-review Huskey's Dairy Bar in North Charleston. The reason for this re-review -- in addition to the fact that it’s been many years since we’ve reviewed Huskey's --was that several people took exception with our statement that another nearby HDJ was not as good as Huskey's. Several people chimed in on that discussion and said that Huskey's was not good anymore since the owners had changed.

This is a claim we hear often about HDJs that change ownership, and sometimes it is accurate. So just in case it was true, we decided to pay another visit to Huskey's to find out for ourselves.

Bottom line up front, those people who said Huskey's was not as good as it used to be are dead wrong. In fact, it might even be better.

The first thing that Huskey's gets points for is the proper toppings listed on their menu for what everything on a hot dog means: Chili, slaw, mustard & onions, just like God intended. The next thing for which we'll give them giant kudos is the perfectly steamed bun on which they laid the rest of their toppings.

Next let’s talk weenie; Huskey's is unafraid to use a smaller diameter weenie to allow more room for their other toppings. We have found over the years this is often the mark of a HDJ that is serious about its hot dogs. Some lesser HDJs put too much emphasis on the weenie and leave no room for toppings, which is usually a sign that those toppings don’t deserve the room anyway. Not so with Huskey's; these toppings are nearly perfect. The chili, while not terribly spicy, is perfect in texture and deliciously complex in taste. The slaw was great and a perfect complement to the chili, and it was lovingly applied in a perfect quantity. Lastly the onions were chopped well: Not too fine to be runny, not too large to be obnoxious. They stayed put when taking a bite out of the dog and were aromatic and delicious.

The only negative thing that I can say about Huskey's hot dog is their use of the dreaded Styrofoam coffin. We would prefer our dogs wrapped tightly in wax paper or plastic so it continues to steam the bun and keep it soft, but given that the bun was so perfectly steamed, the coffin did no harm this time.

We're going to give Huskey's a 4.5 Weenie rank and reaffirm our statement that it is definitely the best hot dog in North Charleston.