W.Va. Hot Dog Joint Review

Dairy Queen

Buckhannon

I've written before of the charming main street in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A big part of the charm of the place is the old buildings that are so unchanged by time that they could serve as a 1950's movie set with no touch up required. This is especially true of the very cool and way-retro Dairy Queen building.

There is not another old Dairy Queen I know of in the state that is as well preserved as this one. The neon sign is from the era before terms like "branding" made every DQ look exactly alike, with the big lemon-shaped red and white DQ logo. This sign is blue and white with a big ice cream cone jutting out over your head while you stand at the window to place your order. The building does has the red shingle mansard that became part of the DQ brand later on, but other than menus and interior signage none of the modern day DQ look is evident.

The service is old school, too. The young ladies that were working the day I stopped by were delightfully helpful. They cheerfully told me that "everything" was chili, slaw, mustard, onions and took my order enthusiastically. As I left with my order they seemed to earnestly mean it when they told me to enjoy my hot dog. When they asked me why I was taking a picture of their workplace I didn't tell them about this blog, but I did tell them that their DQ was one of the coolest in the whole state. They seemed to be pleased with my answer and said lots of people took pictures of the place but they could never figure out why.

But as neat and different as the restaurant is, the hot dog was fairly predictable and fairly average. The chili tasted like regular DQ Coney sauce with extra meat added. The slaw was the same kind of lowest common denominator food service slaw that most mediocre HDJs serve, with big, chewy chunks of slaw with not much flavor. The bun wasn't steamed and the weenie seemed like one of the small caliber type that I have encountered before in central WV HDJs.

Style points for the HDJ itself pushes the rating to 3 Weenies. It's one of those cool little places I would go for atmosphere and endure a lesser hot dog.