South Charleston HDJ Review - Nina's Hot Spot

Sitting by itself between McCorkle Avenue and 2nd Avenue on the aptly named Short Street, Nina's Hot Spot is the latest incarnation in a location that has hosted dozens of different businesses over the years, all of them some version of a bar. We had already taken note of the new place and its hot dog signs  but thought it best to wait to see if the business had legs before scheduling a Weenie Wonk visit. But after getting a tip from a couple of readers that the hot dogs were legit, we decided to check it out. 

And we're glad we did. 

Now we typically shy away from hot dog joints that operate inside gambling parlors, and a business with a  woman's first name and "Hot Spot" is usually a dead giveaway that it's primary focus is gambling, but a look inside the front door showed a comfortable lounge-ish space with a long bar. The gambling machines were there alright, but they didn't dominate the room like they do in most mini-casinos. And this day at lunchtime, no gamblers were present.

We knew from the sign outside that hot dogs were on the menu, but once inside it wasn't clear if there were any other kitchen offerings. We saw no menus, but when we asked the bartender for hot dogs he quickly took our order. Two please, with chili, slaw, mustard and onions. 

On this day lunch service was a one-man operation, but that didn't slow us down much. In a few minutes our hot dogs were delivered, sitting two abreast inside a styrofoam clamshell with a foil liner. Immediately we noticed fleck of green in the slaw, a tell-tale indicator that it was house-made (food service slaw is made from mostly cabbage cores and is therefore white, chunky and tough). A quick taste confirmed it; finely chopped, sweet and creamy. 

The chili was savory and its texture was perfect. It lacked much spice, but still paired well with the slaw. The all-beef weenie was lightly grilled and obviously good quality. 

The bun brought both bad news and good. The bad was that it was lightly toasted instead of steamed. The good was that the bartender said he toasted the bun because it had just come out of the refrigerator and he didn't want to serve a cold bun. This kind of intentionality and care goes a long way in our book.

The overall heft of the hot dog was satisfying and it was quite delicious. Long-time readers know that we can't give Five Weenies to an HDJ that doesn't steam its buns, but that was all that held this hot dog down. We'll give Nina's a strong 4.5 Weenie score.  

South Charleston HDJ - Betty Lou's Diner

"Have you heard the news ?

It's all over town
If you ain't heard it boys
You better sit down

"I got the story here
It's hot off the press
Brace yourself now
And take a deep breath
Grab a hold of something
Hold on tight Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight!"

Ever since hearing and reading about this new restaurant opening a few weeks ago, I have been humming this Bob Seger song to myself. Perhaps that's what has fueled my eagerness to check it out, or perhaps it was because the namesake "Betty Lou" claims to have "legendary" hot dogs, and claims to have sold 1.5 million of them from her former location in Cedar Grove. Whatever it was, I was indeed eager to go and finally today I had the opportunity.

The new diner is at the top of the hill on Central Avenue in South Charleston, and occupies a building where another HDJ dwelt several years ago. You can read an early review of that HDJ here if you are at all interested.

The building has been completely renovated and now looks every bit like a real WVHDJ. From the obligatory checkered floor to the photos of pop culture celebs from the 50's to the changeable letter Coca Cola menu board, this looks like the real deal. Further encouragement was found on the menu in the list of standard hot dogs toppings: Chili, slaw, mustard and onions. If I had to look further for encouragement, it could be found in the limited menu that had hot dogs, pinto beans and little else. Hot dogs and pinto beans? How much more West Virginian can you get?

When my hot dogs arrived I felt even more encouraged: The slaw looked almost perfect in texture: finely chopped and not a bit runny. I couldn't wait to taste it, so I took a bite from the top side but the taste didn't seem to match the appearance. Thinking I had just missed and perhaps bitten into air, I took another and large bite: Still no taste. OK, there was a taste, but it was so slight as to not be there at all.

OK, well I have had hot dogs before with lifeless slaw and they somehow still worked, so I took a real bite from the business end of the dog. Better, but still a little weak. I dug out some chili and found it to be fairly typical Upper Kanawha Valley (the region from whence Betty Lou is said to hail) chili with a slight chili powder twinge but not much else.

And oh yeah, the weenie was waterlogged. So much so that the liquid soaked throught he bottom of the bun of the second hot dog before its turn to be eaten came around, nearly resulting in a catastrophic bun failure incident.

Now I never had a single one of the 1.5 million hot dogs that Betty Lou claims to have sold prior to today, nor do I know of anyone who ate one of them. But if what I experienced today is any indication of her efforts heretofore, it is difficult to understand how that kind of volume could have been achieved. Perhaps Betty Lou ain't what she used to be, or maybe she entrusted the keys to her kingdom to the wrong weenie chef. Whatever the explanation, Betty Lou's Diner gets a so-so 3 Weenie rating on this day.