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| - As a fan of the East Blvd location, I very much enjoyed my visit to the brand-spankin'-new Ballantyne location. Decorated well, great seating and views of the fountain. And as with the East Blvd location, the overall dining experience is a 3.5 that I am rounding up in hopes that I just haven't had the right dog/side combo yet.
Located in Ballantyne right next to the McAlister's (on the same side as Libretto's and the burger joint that shan't be named), they did a fab job of turning the place into a dog joint. Comfy seating throughout and expedient service. From their FB page, I got a coupon for a free dog (go there now and get the coupon, free wieners are a good thing!), and since I am eating like they are taking me to the gas chamber until my Nutrisystem torture plan gets here, I decided to get 2 dogs and onion rings.
The food:
I had previously had the Chili Cheese Coney at the East Blvd location so I ordered that again, no onions. The dog is good - good char, snappy skin. Bun is fine, but their chili just doesn't get me all atwitter. It's meh. And I wish they had a better melting cheese, as the cheese that is sprinkled doesn't melt, it just kind of sits on top of the chili. I added ketchup, it was fine.
The Whistle Pig - dog with BACON, cheese, onions and mustard - I had them skip the onions and mustard. Big pieces of bacon that covered the entire dog, though rather chewy. Again with the shredded cheese, no melting. Dog was grilled/charred well, bun was fine, bacon and cheese combo (I added ketchup) was good. I liked this better than the chili cheese coney.
Onion rings - incredibly greasy. I mean, I am eating hot dogs and fried sides, so obviously I am not on a health kick, but the onion rings were crazy greasy soaking through the wax paper and coating everything it touched. Thin cut onions with a crunchy, well flavored batter. I only ate a few before the oily taste just became too much.
I do like the dogs at JJ's, so I an going to keep trying combos until I find one I like. A dog, side and fountain drink combo is $5.99, so it is reasonable. They have Coke products to drink (Cherry Coke - YAY!). There is also a pickle bar with some very interesting choices - the quick pickles are yummy.
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