Last week I spent way too much time researching the
Texas Weiner and
Texas Lunch phenomenon for my
hot dog of the week illustration on serious eats. And noticed there are still a whole bunch of Texas Weiner / Texas Lunch style hot dog restaurants all across Pennsylvania.
So on the way to go camping in West Virginia I decided to do a hot dog tour starting with Historic Texas Lunch in Chambersburg, PA... an amazing half-empty small town that looks like it hasn't changed in 100 years except for the Mexican stores and
tacquerias that are filling up vacant storefronts (save that for another trip I guess).
Historic Texas Lunch has been around for 40 years, remodeled in the 80's but still has an amazing diner atmosphere. It wasn't quite what I had expected, the menu was more diner than hot dogs, complete with creamed chip beef on toast, cheesesteaks, chicken croquettes, spaghetti and meatballs. But we came for the hot dogs that were served up in the Pennsylvania Texas Weiner style, split and grilled, covered in
greek sauce, mustard and a massive pile of onions.
The dogs were great but the people looked at us like we were from outer space. Definitely a townie spot minus the usual hospitality. Maybe they're just fed up with city folk with cameras treating their hometown diner like a curiosity. Either way the dogs were decent and Chambersburg is an awesome looking town.
Historic Texas Lunch
108 Lincoln Way W (PA Route 30)
Chambersburg, PA 17201
