Stewarts: Looking for the world's best Hot Dog - look no further!

38.4192° N, 82.4453° W

That’s it!  The coordinates of Huntington, West Virginia.  Just head that way.  If you need more help than that, just look at where West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky come together and “viola”, you have found her. 

Look, if you want Ribs, you hurry to the Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati, Ohio! 

If you want Hot Dogs, you hurry to Stewarts in Huntington, West Virginia. 

I grew up in Barboursville and Huntington, West Virginia.  In my life, Stewarts Hot Dogs has always been there, and they have always been the best.  Just as four generations of Mandt’s have operated Stewarts with a now fifth working in the business, five generations of my family have enjoyed their Hot Dogs and Root Beer since 1932. 

That means that my Great Grandparents, my Grandparents, my Parents, me and my Children have all had Stewarts’ Hot Dogs and loved them.  One of the first memories of my life was my parents stopping at Stewarts on the way home to Barboursville on Saturday after the movies, and the five of us, sitting in the car, while the Stewarts Car Hop waited on us. 

Although my children grew up entirely in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, I introduced them to Stewarts very early in life, when we would come to Huntington to visit the grandparents and other family. It became a ritual on the drives to Huntington for them to wish we were already there so we could go to Stewarts.  Once we arrived in Huntington it was the first place the wanted to go even before Grandma’s house.

John Mandt, Jr. on the right, fourth generation operator of Stewarts Hot Dogs!   

What’s so special about a Stewarts Hot Dog? 

In two words, “THE SAUCE!’ 

If the only Hot Dogs you have experienced are on the streets of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and countless smaller American cities, then you don’t know greatness in Hot Dogs. In fact, Stewarts Hot Dogs were so unique from the very beginning, just like Elvis, they spawned numerous imitators over the years.  Some imitators, even copied the orange colors of their Stewarts locations, but they didn’t fool those of us that knew the real deal.

In 1932, John Louis Mandt and his wife Gertrude opened Huntington, West Virginia’s first “drive-in restaurant.  The rest is history.  It’s a magnificent history that is indicative of the “American Dream” of hard work, attention to detail, and service to community. 

http://stewartshotdogs.com/

John Mandt, Jr., Operator of Stewarts Hot Dogs waiting on customers at the West Virginia Hot Dog Festival

You can have your “Chicago Hot Dogs, your Coney Island Dogs, your Pittsburgh Originals, just give me four juicy Stewarts Hot Dogs and a Root Beer and life is surely good.

WEST VIRGINIA WOULDN’T BE “ALMOST HEAVEN” WITHOUT STEWARTS HOT DOGS!

 JimWalkerWhitefishMontana@gmail.com

PonteVedraMan@yahoo.com

https://twitter.com/PonteVedraMan

/contributor/pages/82/063/bio.html

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/556425/jim-walker

http://www.facebook.com/JimMWalker