Greasy Spoons – The Bee Line of Bloomingdale

Also known as the Busy Bee Lunch, this little caboose of a lunch truck has tantalized me on the way to the High Point Brewing company on many a visit. We visited them a few times, and I must say they make a fine chili dog. Enough so that I’d tell you about it. In the shadow of Federal Hill and along the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike in Bloomingdale is the terminus of the “Bee Line,” as the lunch truck is called.

One chili, one works (chili and onions, apparently)

They have some picnic tables under the familiar Sabrett’s hot dog stand umbrellas, and ample parking for eating in your car when the weather isn’t worth enjoying. When the weather is nice, the bubbling creek nearby helps drown out the traffic, and downstream you might see some trout fishermen wading into the water. There’s a thin park along the stream if you want to walk off your lunch.

The menu

They mainly serve good old dirty water dogs, with the usual toppings, but they also serve Italian style; we haven’t tried those yet to see if they fry the dogs or just use the boiled ones. They claim to have the best chili sauce as they all do, and theirs is certainly in the running. It’s got a lot of meat in it, and has a nice smoky flavor. It doesn’t get drowned out by the tomato flavor, and it’s good and chunky like real chili instead of the liquid a lot of places make. They use good old fashioned cheese sauce for the cheese, and raw tangy onions are a nice pairing with their chili.

The scenic view

I’m not sure it’s worth a special trip, but it’s a nice place to stop for a bite if you’re going to hike Federal Hill, home of the infamous Iron Door, or stop by the Ramstein brewery over at 22 Park Place in Butler, for their monthly open house. I’ve talked about them often, what I consider the best micro brew on the East coast for their wheat beers. They have an open house every second Saturday of the month, and sometimes serve food- this time they had roast pork and beef, delicious cured ham, spaetzle and veggies, good German fare to go with their Bavarian-style wheat beers. On the days they don’t serve food, the Bee Line is the place to go. A nice gummy hot dog bun is the perfect sponge to prepare the stomach for beer tasting, and the chili dogs they sling into them make you crave a cold one to wash it down with.

Here’s the spot on Google Maps.