Beckley HDJ Review - Berkshire's Old Fashioned Frozen Custard

Just because you say it doesn't make it true. And if you say it, you'd better be able to back it up.

Not only does Berkshire's Frozen Custard brag that they have the best hot dogs in town, but the sign claims they have the "World's Greatest Grilled Hotdogs." Quite a claim. I only visited the Eisenhower Drive location, but I presume all the Berkshire locations in (there is one in Princeton and another in Beckley) make the same claim. As of this writing I haven't visited any HDJs in Princeton so I can't be sure that Berkshire's isn't the best hot dog in that City, but I am quite certain there is at least one place in Beckley that has better dogs even if you don't count Tamarack.

The menu lists "Regular Hot Dog" and "Ballpark Hot Dog" for ten cents more. I didn't ask what the difference was and just ordered a regular. Using the language of the menu I ordered a "chili and slaw" dog and had to specify mustard and onions - a good sign that this wasn't going to be a "best in town" kind of hot dog. And it wasn't.

Berkshire's chili tastes more like good and meaty spaghetti sauce than hot dog chili, but with the proper slaw it could work. Unfortunately the slaw they serve is coarse, tough and tasteless food service slaw. It didn't suit the chili at all. The grilled New England Style bun was tasty and the all-beef weenie was nicely grilled, but this was not a great hot dog worth bragging about.

Berkshire's gets 3 Weenies out of five.

Berkshire's does, however, have great, great frozen custard. The cone was dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. The presentation of the ice cream in the cone was artistic and the taste was better. And the vibe of the place is much more suited to ice cream than it is to hot dogs.

Beckley HDJ Review - King Tut Drive In

I've been getting email about King Tut Drive In practically since I began this blog. Interestingly enough, many people told me that King Tut was the best place in Beckley to get a hot dog, but not many claimed that it was the best hot dog they'd ever eaten, or the best in West Virginia or any outlandish claims like that. All of this lukewarm praise didn't exactly make me want to rush down to Beckley, pay $6 in turnpike tolls and who knows how much in gas to sample lesser dogs. So I waited until I had other business in the Beckley area before trying it out. It took longer than I thought it would to get there, but I finally made it. King Tut is a classic drive in restaurant with a larger than average canopy that covers an area large enough for 20 cars or so. The menu is much larger than you might expect with items that seem ill-suited to in-car dining like ribs, beans, salads and stuffed baked potatoes. They also have pizza and lots more. The carhops are courteous and the service is quick. "Everything" hot dogs at King Tut include chili, slaw, mustard and onions. The chili had a complex taste, but was more bitter than spicy. It was also nearly absent. Only because my wife had ordered a "chili bun" (no weenie, just chili and slaw) was I able to taste enough of it to really make a judgment. The slaw was very good, nearly a dead-ringer for that award winning stuff they sell at The Swiftwater Grill; very tasty and prepared with care. The New England Style bun is grilled (although mine was nearly burnt) and the weenie is big and seemed to be all-beef. Ranking this dog is difficult: I always award an extra half point to drive-ins, but the overdone New England Style bun renders that bonus moot. The good slaw was rendered moot by the mediocre and lightly served chili. So, standing on its own merits this dog only deserves a 3.5 Weenie rank. I really wanted to love King Tut's hot dogs because it's such a cool little place. I found myself wishing, however, that I had ordered something else off the menu. The large crowd that was there the evening I went testifies to the fact that there is good food here, just not great hot dogs.