Madison HDJ Review - West Madison Grocery

 A few years ago we put up 55 different posts on our Facebook page, one for each county in West Virginia, and asked people to tell us their opinion of the best Hot Dog Joint in the county. Boone County had only one response: the Dairy Queen in Whitesville. That Dairy Queen is now permanently closed, so where does that leave us? 

Could Boone County be the driest county in West Virginia, hot dog-wise? It seems that way. So when we began compiling data for our West Virginia Hot Dog Trail (to be published in July 2021), we had a conundrum: How does one get to Logan, the hot dog Land of Plenty, from Charleston and points north without going through Boone County? You virtually cannot. So we had to make several trips to Boone County and beat the proverbial bushes until we found a hot dog worthy of a stop on the statewide Hot Dog Trail map.

 And we finally found it. 

West Madison Grocery is about as nondescript as a grocery store gets, and even less obvious as a Hot Dog Joint. It's off the beaten path, in a tired-looking building, in the back of the building, past the aisles of canned meats, dried goods and other things you would expect to find in a grocery store. Also a few things you wouldn't expect in either a grocery store OR a HDJ like a self-serve coffee station that seems to be for customers who just like to come in to chat; like the guys who were sitting near the checkout when we were there. 

But in the back of the store, there is a deli counter of sorts. And they make hot dogs. Darn good hot dogs. 

We were told that an "everything" dog included chili, slaw, mustard onions and -- ugh -- ketchup. This was disappointing, but that was the last disappointment we would experience. This hot dog was terrific. From the heft and softness of the wax paper wrapped hot dog, we could tell it was made with care. From the aroma, we could tell is was going to be tasty. When we unwrapped it, we saw that the slaw was beautifully fine and creamy, and perfectly portioned., When we bit into it, we knew that we had found at least one great hot dog in Boone County. We'll rate this one 4 1/2 Weenies, only deducting a half point because we had to ask for no ketchup. Otherwise, this hot dog could be a Five Weenie classic!

Just in time for it to be included on the Hot Dog Trail, it will help break up the long drive between Marmet and Logan.