First Visit: JJ's Red Hots

This review might surprise you for two reasons. Actually, maybe three:

1. What am I doing at a hot dog joint?

2. Why would I say "meh" about a place that is a Charlotte favorite?

3. Why am I saying I'll try it again?

 

Ok. I went to the hot dog joint because I live with two people who will eat meat, no matter where it came from. Do they discriminate between "humanely-raised" meat and other? No. Do they love ground meat with seasonings and anything else that might get swept up from the floor? Yes. But also, I'd heard so much about JJ's and how great it is, and that they have a veggie dog that even non-vegetarians would eat. So why not?

On to the "meh" part:

First of all, I pretty much think the joint is inappropriately named. I really should be "JJ's Hot Dog Fixin' Joint." Because, based upon my veggie dog and the guys' meat dogs, I'd have to say the hot dog is really just a filler. They have several choices on their menu for how you want your dog decorated, and it's clear that it's pretty much all about that. In the case of our dogs, it's all about mustard. Ballpark mustard, actually. We all ordered the first item on the menu, the JJ's "No. 1 Red Hot." To me, it makes sense to order that item because it seems that's where this whole venture of theirs probably started. They use Sahlen's Hot Dogs, which I've never heard of before. 

When I visited the Sahlen's website, I found that this company has been around since 1869, and they boast about their "signature smokehouse flavor."  What we got was mustard. Mustard and mustard and mustard. The guys were not impressed with the smoky flavor of their hot dogs (they didn't detect any), and I'm still not sure what the veggie dog actually tasted like. 

Now, I am a lover a mustard. Don't get me wrong. In fact, I've been known to snarf down 2 or 3 Hormel Wrangler or Nathan's hot dogs with nothing but ballpark mustard on them. But those dogs are fatty and have a robust flavor and texture and snappy skin that can hold up to a nice, thick line of mustard. These dogs couldn't cut it. They are meant for a finer hand, I think. 

I'll try it again. I'm not sure when and I'm not sure what I'll have. I don't know if I'll throw out my questions about the sources of the meat and just eat a meat dog or sausage, or if I'll try the veggie dog again but with different fixin's. I will try it again because hundreds (maybe thousands) of people can't be wrong. I'm willing to guess that we just chose the wrong dogs. 

Oh. And we like the hot dog with the roasting fork. Cute.