Teays Valley HDJ Review - L&R BBQ

This little restaurant, that has recently changed ownership (and its name) is hidden back in a little cove alongside Route 34 near Hurricane High School. You will probably smell it before you see it, because out front is a high-capacity smoker that seems to be always emitting a large quantity of delicious smelling hickory smoke.

Not knowing that hot dogs were on the menu when I stopped, I had set my taste buds for pulled-pork. But since I rarely get to Teays Valley at lunch time and didn't know when I'd be back this way to do a review, I thought I might as well get the hot dog special, especially since it was called the "WV Special" and the ingredients were listed correctly. At $2.25 a dog, these would be on the pricey side, but would they be worth it?

One very encouraging sign that the hot dogs might be good was that the menu offered their hot dog chili in take-home quantities.

So I ordered the special, straight up, and in a flash my hot dogs had been delivered to my table. Honestly, at first sight I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of slaw on top of the hot dogs, and a little turned off by the onions that were chopped a little too coarsely for my tastes. But all of that prejudice vanished when I took the first bite.

OK, first, the chili: Yes, I think I will take a tub of that to go. I will eat it on hot dogs, spaghetti, heck, on saltine crackers if I have to. This stuff is tasty. Rich, complex and perfect texture. A pronounced chili-powder taste, but not too spicy otherwise. Just delicious.

And the slaw? Heavenly. I was at first a little concerned by all of the green flecks, thinking they were grated bell peppers, but it didn't taste like it. This slaw goes perfectly with the complex chili and even though it was piled high on the bun, it did not overwhelm the chili. It is sweet and perfect in texture. The two were just great together.

The onions were mild enough that the large size didn't hurt, and the slaw was such a beautiful texture that they kind of sunk into it and didn't fall off like coarse onions are often wont to do.

And there was the weenie. OK, you know that we usually get all googly about weenies around here, but this weenie made the whole dog better because it had obviously spent some time hanging out in the smoke house out front. The smoky-grilled goodness took this hot dog from being really good to Five Weenie great.

These hot dogs are so good, it's probably a good thing that I don't get to Teays Valley at lunch time very often. But then again, there's always dinner...

Eleanor HDJ Review - The Baker's Table

In the town of Eleanor along Roosevelt Boulevard sits The Baker's Table, a little bakery/eatery that
serves up lots of sweet goodies and down-home comfort food. I'm not sure how long it's been open, but it seems to have a pretty loyal following. Having heard good things, I decided to stop in and check out their confections, but that was before I found out that there were hot dogs on the menu. After seeing this, my plans changed.

Now if one is going to sell hot dogs in Eleanor, one must be aware of the competition, chiefly the Eleanor Dairy Queen. The DQ has an enormous fan base, hot dog wise, and it sits just a few hundred feet away from The Baker's Table. I surmised that in order for TBT to sell enough hot dogs in this location to make it worth ordering buns, they must have a pretty good dog. Surmised and hoped.

My hopes were tempered when the waitress told me that "everything" meant "anything you want," but really couldn't give me a list of choices. After a bit of pressing, she finally listed "sauce, slaw, ketchup, mustard, bacon, cheese..." so I stopped her and asked her to bring me two with "sauce", slaw, mustard and onions.

While I waited on my hot dogs I mused over the waitress' use of "sauce" instead of the more common Kanawha Valley term "chili." (Regular readers know that "sauce" is the preferred term for North Central WV and along the Oho River, but most of the rest of the state calls it "chili"). One of the possible explanations that came to mind was that perhaps the sauce was very liquidy, which sometimes explains why the term is used out of character, or that perhaps the owner is from Huntington and doesn't know any better.

When my dogs arrived, the first thing I saw was beautiful, fine grated and creamy coleslaw neatly applied and in a generous helping. I eagerly sampled a taste and was surprised that it was a bit bland. I could tell it was very fresh, as the cabbage flavor and aroma was pronounced, but little other flavor could be detected.

Digging deeper, the "sauce" mystery deepened because it was not at all thin and runny as I expected it might be, but as dry as it could be. The flavor was almost exactly like Taco Bell's taco meat, or what I make at home to go over a taco salad, a concoction with only three ingredients: ground beef, water, and a package of Old El Paso taco seasoning. This is not the first time I have encountered the taco-meat hot dog, but it is the first time in a place that called it "sauce."

The taco meat and chili weren't terrible together, though, so there might have been hope for this hot dog, if not for the bun. New England Style lobster roll buns that had been dry-toasted and not - as most New England Style buns found in WVHDJs would have been - buttered and grilled. The crunchy bun was not at all satisfying and detracted over all from the hot dog.

We're going to give The Baker's Table a 2.5 Weenie rating. I'm not sure if it deserves 2.5, as I might have been unfairly influenced by the delicious frosted cookie that I grabbed at the register.

If you are in Eleanor with a hankering for a hot dog, my advice is to head over to the DQ, or better yet, jump across the bridge to Winfield, go a mile or so up old Rt 35 to Dairy Freeze.

Sam's Hot Dog Stand in Teays Valley is no more...

...it has ceased to be.

The little pocket of Huntington in Putnam County, the Monty's Pizza/Sam's Hot Dog Stand, has closed up shop.

Folks in the Hurricane-Scott Depot-Teays Metropolitan Statistical Area will have to jump on I-64 to St. Albans or Barboursville to get their spicy sauce fix.

As for Monty's...no real loss there. Graziano's and Husson's offer much better pies.

Putnam County Hot Dog Joint: K-Mart Snack Bar

For one reason or another, I find myself in the Teays Valley K-Mart about 3 or 4 times per year, usually to grab some needed or forgotten item on my way to Charleston or back to Huntington. The last couple of times, I noticed a large placard at the snack bar advertising Nathan's Famous franks, but I didn't have the time to grab a dog and give it a review. Well, a few days ago, I was in no hurry and asked if the dogs could be topped with slaw (they could), so I figured that it was their turn to face the scrutiny of a WVHotDogs.com review.

My expectations were low, as big box store snack bars have gone down hill since the demise of G.C. Murphy and Woothworth's. This K-Mart did little to reverse the trend.

I ordered a hot dog with chili (this place is east of Hurricane), slaw, mustard, and onions. I had to go to the service desk to pay, so I didn't see the preparation of the weenie. When I got to the car and unwrapped the weenie, I was shocked, appalled, and dismayed. The weenista had taken it upon herself to give me ketchup instead of onions. Here is a rule of thumb for all HDJ employees: if the customer is above age 15, assume that they did not ask for a hamburger/french fry condiment on their weenie. The lady was nice and all, but it would be hard to recover from this sin.

The bun was neither stale nor fresh, but was unsteamed. Since they are not located in Cabell County, I won't be so hard on them, but a little steaming, as is standard in the Metro Valley, would have been in order.

The Nathan's weenie truly carried the dog, even though it seemed to have skin on it and appeared to have been on some sort of dry heating apparatus for some time. It really did have a nice flavor that Cavalier, Kahn's, etc. cannot touch. That being said, I must at this time invoke the Chris James Doctrine that, with a proper WV hot dog, toppings making cheap weenie taste like a million bucks, not the other way around.

The chili was standard food service canned slop. I suspect that it was a beanless Hormel or some other brand that would have made for a passable bowl of chili for lunch on a cold winter day, but it tasted like crap on a hot dog.

The slaw seemed to be either homemade or at least a close facsimile thereof. It was very creamy and adequately sweet, but someone went overboard on the celery seed. That being said, it was still pretty good if someone had a taste for such a style of slaw.

Overall, we are looking at a 2.5 weenie joint at this K-Mart, entirely due to the Nathan's tubesteak and the so-so slaw. Without weenie, we'd be in the 1.5 weenie range. With bad slaw...I don't even want to think about it.

Second Chance Review: The Hottest Dog

At WVhotdogs.com, June is a month of second chances.

One HDJ in particular has shown a willingness to take constructive criticism from a bad review and attempt to improve the quality of their West-by-God style dawgs, The Hottest Dog. Since it is located in Hurricane (ie the halfway point 'tweenst Charleston and Huntington), Stanton and I agreed to meet at THD and see how they have been progressing.

Weenie: actually too flavorful. The sausage had an overpowering flavor of high-quality beef. What's the problem? Well, one of the things that makes a WV dog distinct from those offered up in NYC and Chicago is our focus on the toppings, and not the weenie, as the centerpiece. WV hot dogs developed out of a need to make a cheap, low quality protein stick taste like a million bucks rather than an effort to enhance the quality of a well-seasoned frank.

Slaw: dramatic improvement, but like a Sophomore in college, there is still much work to be done. It was kind of creamy and kind of sweet and kind of chunky. Just not a whole lot of anything, including flavor.

Chili sauce: First of all, since the sign behind the counter says "sauce" and the cashier said "chili," the diplomatic way to approach this highly sensitive issue is to say "chili sauce" and take the beating for being a fence-riding wussy.

That being said, the chili sauce was not very good. I believe it is the standard-issue Coney sauce from corporate HQ in Portland. The best way to describe is as being very similar to DQ's industrial grade chili/sauce only with real beef, instead of the Queen's synthetic meatfoam.

Onion rings: Pretty good, although portions were small. I also am not a big fan of mandatory side dishes (the side is included in the price of the dog). Sometimes I want a dog and nuttin' else.

Price: They try to spin it by pointing to quality and volume, but charging $4.25 for a WV hot dog is the sort of sin that, if done in Old Testament times, would have resulted in a steady shower of fire and brimstone. Basically, you end up getting two or three hot dogs worth of hot dog for the price of...three hot dogs. Too bad I usually only eat one dog at a time.

Last time, Stanton gave them a harsh-but-fair 1.5 weenies, and that score does improve by a bit due to their taking of slaw criticism to heart, but not much. They now earn 2.5 weenies and absolutely no nominations for the upcoming Weenie Awards.

Go there to get that specialty dog that you fell in love with when you went to college in Chicago, lived in New York, or studied abroad in England, just don't hit the Hottest Dog expecting a great WV-style dog, because you simply will not find one there. Unfortunately, that is exactly what most people in the area are going to want---nay---expect. And that, coupled with the high prices, may be why Stanton and I only saw a couple of customers during our hour there during peak lunch time.

Putnam County Hot Dog Joint: Carmen's Diner.

No one could argue with the suggestion that there ain't much in Scary, a little town about half way between St. Albans and Scott Depot on Teays Valley Road. One thing the place does have going for it, however, is a little mom 'n pop restaurant called Carmen's Diner. I was recently in those parts for business, so I decided to sneak away from work and check 'em out.

Carmen's has all of the grub that one would expect from a greasy spoon in Appalachia: burgers, fries, onion rings, spaghetti & meatballs, fried bologna, bbq sandwiches, and hot dogs. Well, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out what I wanted.

After I ordered my hot dog, I noticed that the fridge contained a box from Cavalier Meats, which got brownie points with this Huntingtonian. The weenie was indeed fresh and tasty, as can be expected from all of SS Logan's meat products.

The bun was nice 'n gooey. No problem there.

The sauce was some of the finest that has ever been served in West Virginia by a place that didn't have the name "Sam's" in the title. It contained lots of high-quality ground beef and was seasoned with just the right touch of chili powder and salt. While I like mine a little spicier, this was still a top-notch product that could win awards and make someone a lot of money if properly marketed.

The place was as charming as any other hot dog joint that I have visited, including M & M and Austin's. The gentleman (I assume it was Carmen) was about the nicest guy that I've met in Greater Charleston and, if I could have, I woulda stuck around for another half-hour to chew the fat about life, the universe, and everything.

So far, you must be thinking "wow, this sounds like a sure-fire 5 weenie joint." Well, I've left out one critical component of a WV hot dog: the slaw. I can say, without fear of hyperbole or BS, that Carmen's had the worst cole slaw that I have ever eaten. It had the flavor of lightly salted cabbage that had been soaked in water overnight and aroma of a bachelor's freezer. The smell---scratch that---the stench of the slaw managed to completely overpower everything about the dawg that was great. With slaw that bad, I have to give the place 3 weenies, which is a damn shame considering that even mediocre slaw would have put this joint at the very top of Putnam County hot-dogdom.

To the management: you've done so much to make a great hot dog joint, don't poison the well with rancid slaw.

Putnam County Hot Dog Joint: Hittin' the Ground Runnin' at Sam's Hot Dog Stand--Teays Valley

A little taste of Huntington has recently opened in a strip mall along Teays Valley Road: a new establishment that is a franchisee of both Monty's Pizza and Sam's Hot Dog Stand. While I will pass on Monty's Pizza (give me Pizza Hut, Hussons, Lorenzo's (RIP soon), Graziano's, or Gino's first), I am a complete mark for Sam's hot dogs, so I knew I'd have to check this place out at some point. I have heard that individual Sam's locations can vary dramatically in quality, especially the further east one traveled, and I wanted to see if this location was more 8th Street or Charleston.

Much to my surprise, Sam's-Teays Valley is doin' right by the Sam's Hot Dog Stand brand.

I was taken aback at first by the $1.49 per dawg price point. That is about a quarter more per weenie than usual, but nothing too shocking like over at The Hottest Dog.

The friendly dog jerk (or is it dog tender? or maybe dog artisan?) got right to work on the assembly station and insisted on making me another dog when I commented to myself that I had forgotten to ask for spicy sauce. Friendly service is always a great way to win repeat customers (and brownie points from weenie critics).

The dog had all of the usual components of a Sam's dog: the spicy sauce, the uber-chopped (if slightly dry) slaw, and a Huntington-fresh bun. However, it can be said that ol' boy hooked me up, big time. He added sauce and slaw by the shovelful, really piling it on. Lots of great tasting toppin's also make me happy. While I'm not saying that this guy is quite up their with Yann and the guy from 8th St, but he sure knows how to dress a dog.

The atmosphere was pretty cool, too. It was kind of cramped, but it was arraigned much like many of the cramped restaurants in small towns throughout West Virginia that have served up some of the best fast food anywhere. Furthermore, the fact that the place is also a pizza joint helps sell a trip to get some great hot dogs to those that are insisting on something other than good hot dogs (ie Northern Panhandlers).

While I reserve the right ot re-review this joint after it has settled in for a few months, right now I have to give this place 4.5 weenies. It is the single best example in terms of atmosphere and toppin's-hookup at a Sam's Hot Dog Stand (my favorite chain) and should be honored as such. Hopefully, they can keep it up.

New Name, Same Taste - The Hound House in Culloden

A coworker told me about a new hot dog place he'd seen over the weekend. He said it was on Route 60 in Culloden and it was called "The Hound House," so off I went thrilled to find a new HDJ in Culloden that could apply some market pressure on Hillbilly Hot Dogs.

You see on my previous visit to the Culloden location of the Lesage/Huntington based Hillbilly Hot Dogs I found that there was precious little to be thrilled about. The hot dogs were dull, the chili was weak and the slaw was uninspired. The decor was cool but the food was not. So I am thinking that another HDJ in the area, if it offered quality hot dogs, would force Hillbilly to step it up a much needed notch. Competition is usually a good thing.

But on my way through Culloden when I came to the place where I last saw Hillbilly's, instead I found The Hound House! I found out from the new owner that Hillbilly's has been out of business for quite some time, and that there have been two other HDJs in this building between Hillbilly's and The Hound House.

So, is the Hound House an improvement over the past tenants? Well, it's different, but I'm afraid it's not better. The slaw is a little better than Hillbilly's, but the chili isn't quite as good. The bun wasn't steamed or heated. The weenie was unremarkable. The decor that was so fun and irreverent as Hillbilly's is now just lifeless.

The Hound House does offer entertainment in the form of pool tables in the back room ($1 per game). Other than that, there's really nothing much to report about this little out of the way HDJ. As for a rating, well, since Hillbilly's garnered 3 Weenies and since The Hound House is pretty much the same, we'll leave the 3 Weenie rating in place.

Putnam County Hot Dog Joint: Worst. Dogs. Ever. at Teays Valley Foodland

As you might expect, the gang at WVhotdogs.com gets bombarded with friendly recommendations regarding the quality of hot dogs at all sorts of locations across the state. Sometimes those suggestions pan out, but other times we are left scratching our heads.

Some of my friends in the Teays Valley had told me that the Foodland on Teays Valley Road makes decent hot dogs, so I figured that I'd at least give it a shot. These are friends that I have always trusted.

No more.

The Foodland is, of course, a supermarket and not really a hot dog joint, per se. The dogs come from their deli area located in the back of the store. When I pulled up to the deli counter, I first noticed that the weenies were floating in a greasy bath. While I like my dogs boiled and am not totally adverse to them hanging out in hot water for a bit before being served, I was reminded of why I would rather not actually see them doing so before hand.

The dog was prepared quickly and with a smile, which is always nice, and the price was right ($.79, by far the least expensive dog that I have reviewed thus far). but it goes downhill from there.

The bun was a straight-outta-baggie special and, as you can imagine from my earlier description, the weenie was less than stellar (this might have been a psychosomatic taste reaction as much as anything, however).

The sauce was thick-but-fluid and consisted of finely ground beef in a tomatoey base. Its flavor was very very sweet (too sweet, in fact) and a strong undertone of green pepper (imagine a crappy Manwich). 2 weenies.

The slaw was essentially sugared cabbage chunks with little mayonnaise. Sweet cabbage + sweet sauce = bad idea. One or the other, please. 1 weenie.

The best part of the dog was the mild onions and the mustard (which cut the saccharinesque taste of the dog thankfully and dramatically). It's never a good thing when the best part of a WV hot dog is the yellow mustard.

Overall, this is one hot dog to avoid and I only give it 1 weenie. Even at $.79, I still felt ripped off. Go to the nearby DQ or, better yet, hit up the Tudor's Biscuit World just down the road if you are in TV and want a dog. If you only have a buck and can't afford a dog at either of those places and are tempted by the the price, I would still recommend rummaging around in the gutters for dimes or just going hungry. Whatever you do, don't get their dogs.

Putnam County Hot Dog Joint: Good Dogs at Tudor's--Teays Valley

When it comes to the holy trinity of West Virginia cuisine, there is much debate over who makes the best hot dogs and the perfect pepperoni rolls. People from the north, south, east, and west all have their general opinions while each town has their own specific preferences. Do dogs have sauce or chili? How much? Over or under the weenie? Is the slaw to be sweet or tangy? Does it have slaw at all? Does a proper pepperoni roll have cheese? Does it use stick or sliced 'roni? Should they be large or small?

There is, however, little debate over who has the best entry in terms of biscuits (the third component of the triumvirate of deliciousness), Tudor's Biscuit World. Previous reviews have discussed the presence of Dairy Queens in nearly every town in WV. Well, where there is a DQ, there is also often a Tudor's.

It is kind of hard to describe a Tudor's biscuit to someone not from the area. Imagine a biscuit from a major fast food chain, only like 1000x times better. They make gigantic homemade buttermilk biscuits from scratch (and I mean from scratch) and thick slices of bacon, sausage, and/or ham (like you would use at home) on them, real fried eggs (not that reconstituted egg-based product found at the national joints) and the best tasting cheese this side of the government commodity truck (by the way, I challenge anyone to make a better sandwich cheese than the US government. No, I'm not kidding.). If you don't believe me, go to a grouping of fast food joints by an interstate exit any morning. You will see a few out-of-staters at Mickey D's and BK and a shipload of people with WV tags at Tudor's.

In addition to God's own breakfast biscuit, Tudor's also serve lunch. As is the case with any self-respecting West Virginia establishment, hot dogs are among the items on their after-breakfast menu. While the biscuits are pretty uniform from Tudor's to Tudor's, these dogs can vary greatly depending on the franchise owner. For example, this site reviewed a Tudor's in Charleston a few months ago that had relatively pathetic dogs. And then there is the Teays Valley Tudor's.

Judging from the previous review, I really wasn't expecting too much from this dog. Boy was I in for a pleasant surprise.

I walked into the restaurant and noticed right away that the hot dog with "chili, slaw, and onions" was $1.49, a bit on the pricey side for a WV hot dog (though not as overboard as The Hottest Dog a few miles up the road in Hurricane). However, as soon as I placed my order, my spirits were lifted as I saw the kitchen staff go to work creating my dog. They were toasting the bun and grilling the weenie when I was distracted by someone carrying a tray that had a pigsworth of bacon. By the time that I regained my bearings, my dog was ready. So far, I am impressed by their service and thoughtfulness.

While I consider bun-tasting to be a somewhat extraneous endeavor, I am by no means opposed to the practice. It did make for a nice highlight flavor for the dog's overall taste. Same goes with the grilled weenie: unnecessary but appreciated. My main concern is that the bun and the sausage are of a particular quality, and I must say that both were superb on this particular hot dog ad get a 4 weenies score.

The slaw, on the other hand, was just barely not awful. It was very dry and neither sweet nor zingy. While it turned out to be quite photogenic and appetizing in appearance, it was basically just a heaping mound of finely chopped cabbage and carrots and tasted as such. It only gets 2 weenies.

Fortunately, the sauce/chili saved the day and erased any thoughts of the boring slaw. The sauce had the texture of a finely seasoned pile of ground beef with just enough liquid to keep it moist. The flavor was spiced, but not spicy, with all of the taste and aroma of a good bowl of chili. There could have been a bit more salt in the sauce, but that is my only complaint. I don't know if this would win the weenie award for best sauce, but it should at least be nominated. 4 weenies.

Overall, I give the hot dogs at Teays Valley Tudor's 4 weenies. The chili sauce and the quality of the bun and weenie more than make up for the crappy slaw. If you are from the Northern Panhandle or Fairmont and do not do the whole slaw thing, then this might be a good option for when you are travelin' through the area. Just ask for a dog with no slaw.

I can't guarantee, however, that you won't hear the cashier yell "one Yankee dog."

Putnam County Hot Dog Joint--Teays Valley Dairy Queen

A few months ago, in this very booth (see photo), a lunchtime meeting was held at the Dairy Queen in Teays Valley. Not since the agreement between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown was made at the Granita restaurant in Islington, London has a meal so shaped the future of the world...

Ok, the hyperbole is about to make me gag, but still, this place holds a special place in the lore of WVhotdogs.com, as it was where Stanton offered me a position with the site as the Huntington-area reviewer and first taught me how to properly taste the ingredients of a WV hot dog (and warned me about the strange looks that I would receive).

Like most cities/town/census designated places/clumps of population in West Virginia, Teays Valley has long had a Dairy Queen. As subdivisions and McMansions have sprung up in the former farm lands along Teays Valley Road (county route 33), the Dairy Queen has gained a sense of specialness and timelessness in an increasingly architecturally uniform area. They use the sign to congratulate local folk on birthdays, anniversaries, etc and have made themselves a popular part of the community.

Foodwise, they offer the standard Dairy Queen selection: dogs, burgers, fries, Chicken Strip Baskets, etc and all of the ice cream treats that have made DQ famous.

As for their weenies, the Teays Valley Dairy Queen's hot dog is a figurative essay on highs and lows. The bun and slaw rock. The sauce (erm, chili, I forgot that I am east of Hurricane city limits) and weenie are not so good.

When I ordered my dawg, I asked for sauce (then quickly blurted out chili), slaw, onions, and mustard, to which the guy responded "a hot dog with everything." He then asked "Would you like your bun toasted?" I'm not usually a big fan of toasted buns, but I suspected that this was par for the course and I went with my when in Rome mentality that guides my way through the world of hot dog toppings and nodded my head in the affirmative.

As I drove back to work, I was quite glad that I had the bun toasted. The smell of the freshly toasted bread made me at least 70% more hungry and nearly tempted to pull over and eat it alongside the busy road.

When i first inspected the dawg, the toasted New England Split-top bun was indeed impressive. I tore off a bit and tasted it on its own. Nice, very nice.

The weenie, on the other hand, was as blah as blah can be. It was the standard deep-frozen weenie that you get at every DQ. Remember the wieners that they served in grade school? It was about like that. I will give them style points, however, for grilling the sausage.

The sauce was your standard DQ coney sauce that Stanton has described in depth many times over. I think they added some spice to liven it up, but I still cannot stand the spongey, Chef Boyardee-esque beef (?) product that they use in their sauce.

Since the sauce wasn't notable, its a good thing that they came through on the slaw. It was sweet (but still with a lil' bit of zing), finely chopped, and piled high. This is exactly the kind of slaw that Hillbilly Hot Dogs needs to make the perfect dog. Too bad it is wasted on such a sub-par weenie-chili combo.

Now to the ratings:

Bun: 4 weenies. It has made me rethink the way I look at toasted split-tops.

Wiener: 1.5 weenies. And it only gets that for the effort that they put into grilling it.

Chili (sauce to normal folk): 2 weenies. DQ coney sauce bites. Hard.

Slaw: 4.5 weenies. One of the best.

Overall: 3 weenies. The bun and the slaw save the day and make it worthy of buying if you are hungry and in the area.