W.Va. Hot Dog Joint Review

Sam's Hot Dogs - Hale Street

Charleston

The now former radio talk show host, Jerry Waters, told me at our recent rendezvous at Chris' that he preferred Sam's Hot Dogs on Hale Street to any HDJ in town. I told him that I have never had a really good hot dog from there and he implored me to try again. So I did.

This time I opted for the "hot" version. It was much better than any I had eaten there before. The chili has a nice little kick (although nothing like what Marion Countians call a "kick") and the slaw is creamy and a little bit sweet (although nothing like folks in southern WV call "sweet"). The bun was lightly steamed (although nothing like what folks in central WV called "steamed") and pretty fresh (although nothing like what Huntingtonians call "fresh").

The one thing that remained exactly the same, though, as on my previous visits was that the weenie was completely waterlogged. This was my major complaint with this Sam's location before and I have since found this same trait at other Sam's locations.

But in spite of the waterlogged weenie I will admit to Jerry that this hot dog is a couple of cuts above the average. If the weenie were better I'd give Sam's Hale Street another half-Weenie, but a 4 Weenie rating is all I can earnestly award right now.