Memorable | One of the Best
Texas Hot
Review by: Roadfood Team
For nearly a century (since 1921), Texas Hot has been serving grilled hot dogs topped with fine-grained mild chili, minced raw onions, and yellow mustard. A brilliant combination of lowly ingredients that add up to lofty Roadfood.
The Texas Hot in Wellsville, N.Y., in the “Lower Tier” of the state, first opened its doors back in 1921, under the helm of Greek immigrants in their twenties, Jim Rigas and George Raptis. In the 1950s, their sons Gus Rigas and Jim Raptis took over. Today — nearly nine decades and tens of thousands of hot dogs later — the third generation, Chris Rigas and Mike Raptis, still make some of the greatest “hots” in western New York or anywhere else, for that matter.
What to eat at Texas Hot
The menu is large — burgers, sandwiches, chicken, homemade pies, dinners and much more — but the hot dogs are the stars. And the fine-grained, mild chili sauce, gracing Zweigle’s grilled franks inside dense buns with minced onions and yellow mustard, is the crowning glory. The sauce is a bit spicy but not hot, with hints of cinnamon as part of the guarded recipe Jim Rigas developed way back in the 1920s. It’s glorious on the dogs and almost as good on the Texas Hot cheeseburger.
French fries are done to a deep golden brown; no need to pick through for the crunchy ones. A chicken salad sandwich was large and fresh-tasting; the onion rings thinly and crisply battered and fried to non-greasy perfection. The Hot bakes its own pies; the apple was terrific topped by chocolate soft-serve that had a real ice-cream flavor.
The beautiful brushed-silver-on-green storefront and the neon sign above the door lead you to a wonderful Roadfood experience that is well worth a long trip; ours was seven hours, and I only wish we could go more often. One thing we haven’t done, as counter patrons on every visit over the years, is enjoy our meal in the high-backed wooden booths that have graced the Texas Hot since the mid-1930s.
Twelve of the Hot’s employees have been on the job for 15 to 41 years, testimony to the pride and spirit the Rigas and Raptis families have created on Main Street in Wellsville.
Original post by Nick Dedi
Directions & Hours
Information
| Price | $ |
| Seasons | All |
| Credit Cards Accepted | No |
| Alcohol Served | No |
| Outdoor Seating | No |
What To Eat
Texas Hot Recipes
Discuss
What do you think of Texas Hot?
One Response to “Texas Hot”
K
March 27th, 2014
My husband and I have been coming to the Texas Hot at LEAST 3 times a week for the past 29 years. Never have we had a bad meal there.
The food always excellent. Home made real mashed potatoes, home made pies, wonderful onion rings, burgers, fries, and of course, the Hots!.
The Hots are by Tobins, and have just the right “hot dog” flavor and are a great carier for the sauce, which has a nice mild chilli flavor (no burning your taste buds out here.)
Fries are hand cut, thin and just crisp enough. The onion rings are lightly breaded and piled high on the plate. One order is plenty for 2 people.
There is a magician in the back, making fresh pies daily, often from local ingredients.. like the blueberries from a local farm. A staple is the graham cracker cream pie, with a piled high merangue.
Of course a restaurant is only as good as its staff, and the folks at the Hot go back for many years with some of the waitresses having worked their for 30 to 40 years or more. They are always friendly, and service is fast with good turnover. On special weekends and holidays there may be a line outside the door, but we never have to wait more than 30 minutes at any time.
They don’t take credit cards, but will take checks.