Tasty Tuesday: T & L Hot Dogs

If it’s Tuesday, then it has to be Tasty Tuesday! This week we went to an iconic restaurant, T & L Hot Dogs. We’re going to not just take a look at the hot dogs, but the rest of the menu.

Michael thank you for letting us come today and checking out your location. T & L has been here a very long time and is part of the community.  Let’s go back to the beginning and tell me quickly how this all came to be.

Mike Henderson: “It just happened by chance, a mutual friend of my dad and I asked us to put to put a hot dog shop in front of the sign shop in downtown Bridgeport.  We hesitated, we thought, ‘why not, we’ll try anything,’ but in two years we closed the sign shop and opened up a ton of new hot dog shops. Its been really good to us.  Currently there are 7 locations.”

You explained this earlier that hot dogs are part of the culture here in West Virginia.  What makes yours a little different?

Mike Henderson: “The sauce is a Greek recipe and came over at the turn of the century, it came over because it was an affordable things for the miners to make with the hot dogs.  It’s about as economical as it gets.”

One of the things, and you’ve been doing it for a long time, I even believe this is an anniversary, it is the car cruise.

Mike Henderson: “So we do the car cruises at our Rosebud Plaza location at the other end of Clarksburg and its the 25th anniversary of putting on those events.  They are every Saturday night from May till September. They are free to the public and can have anywhere from 50-200 cars out on certain nights if the weather is working for us.  We have live music many nights during the summer, and we always have some sort of music in the parking lot with door prizes and things.  It draws a big crowd and is free and has involved over the years.  And we have just added that to our Weston location too.  We are doing free cruises everyday at the Rosebud plaza in Clarksburg, and the Weston store in Garden Plaza.

So let’s get into the menu.

Mike Henderson: “We have a variety of a different hot dogs. The original hot dog is what everyone knows about, but we also have a Chicago Dog or New York Dogs, we do a Kielbasa Dog.  But probably the best kept secret that not a lot of people know yet are our Black Angus Burgers.  I think we have the best cheese burgers in Harrison County. They are hand patties every morning, they are never frozen, they are a good juicy cheese burger, and since its Black Angus, you know it’s going to be quality. So that’s something we’re proud of as well.

“We make our own hand-cut french fries, hand spun milk shakes with real ice cream. I always said I wasn’t going to be an appetizer restaurant. I want to prepare our products.”

“We’re not done at this location.  We’re adding a new front porch, and something sweet is going to happen and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Always the best time of the segment is when I get to sit down an enjoy what has just come out of the kitchen, and Michael and his staff put together this amazing lunch. We have the Original with the chili sauce on top, the Chicago dog, and the West Virginia dog with the chili and coleslaw.  But I’m going to first start with the Original. That is really good!

What they are also known for is Black Angus burgers and you can see how, this is a double, how big they are.  Ummm, its really juicy. Very very good.

You can’t have a hot dog or hamburger without fries or tatter tots.  This is also homemade ranch sauce.  Make sure you get this when you order because this is one thing not everyone has. But you can also get tatter tots and these tatter tots not just have the cheese, but also have the chili. Mmmm!

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