W.Va. Hot Dog Joint Review

Sam's Hot Dog Stand

Gauley Bridge

I stand corrected. I erred when I said that the Marmet Sam's was the chain's most eastward location. An alert reader sent the tip that there is a Sam's located inside the Sunoco station in Gauley Bridge and that they had excellent hot dogs with a view. I thought it sounded like a worthwhile place to check out, so my wife and I set out on the 80-some mile round trip up Rt. 60 to the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers. A hundred yards upstream from said confluence, on the bank of the New sits the Sam's location we sought.

An interesting mix of convenience and inconvenience, the Sunoco station has inside a convenience store, a Subway and a Sam's. Convenient because it's all under one roof, but when you order your food you have backtrack to the front door checkout to pay, then back to the counter for your food. The process seems a little customer un-friendly, but the personnel were friendly. We soon had our hot dogs and settled into a booth with an amazing view of the New River (the irony, which I will point out for those non-local readers , is that the "New" considered to be the oldest river in the world). There is also an outside deck where you can dine alfresco, but the heat kept us inside.

Despite the view, the hot dogs were pretty much standard Sam's fare. Good chili and mediocre slaw. Missing from this location were the waterlogged weenies I am used to finding at Sam's. I did not witness how they keep their weenies warm because I was off to pay for my meal on the other side of the store, but I'm betting it was some type of dry heat and not a hot bath.

Overall the quality was on the low side for a Sam's: 3.5 Weenies.