Hot dog!

August 28, 2012 9:06 AM

Hawk Krall loves hot dogs, sampling and illustrating the nation's finest encased and embunned meats from Tijuana to Maine, and everywhere in between. Hold the ketchup, please.
posted by theodolite (39 comments total)

A hot dog covered in pimiento cheese? This is literally the best thing ever to come out of the country's second best Carolina.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:26 AM on August 28, 2012 [5 favorites]

Posts like this are the wurst.
posted by argonauta at 9:27 AM on August 28, 2012 [3 favorites]

Call me a traditionalist, but that hot dog in a hard taco shell from Flint, MI is a freaking abomination.
posted by jimvinson at 9:28 AM on August 28, 2012

Gray's 4 lyfe!

I don't really understand the complex relationship between Papaya King, Gray's Papaya, and Mike's Papaya. I do know it involves a blood feud between Paul Gray and the earstwhile Papaya King in 1973. A feud that lasts to this day. I consider myself a Gray's partisan, and would not set foot in a so called Papaya "King" store. I used to live down the street from a Mike's, they served a sausage egg and cheese on a tiny hamburger bun starting at 4am that cost 50cents, I'm sorry they seem to be disappearing, but happy that Gray's can take over their turf.

Ideally you want a sabrett dog topped with guldens and sauerkraut. I'm not really sure who eats that strange onion in red sauce concoction. It seems like a throwback to an earlier period in hotdog evolution. We've since reached the pinnacle of development in the hotdog arts with the combination of mustard and kraut. I no longer get violent when I see people putting ketchup on their dogs but I do believe they are making a terrible terrible mistake. They are not bad people, simply uninformed.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:41 AM on August 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

Man I worked at a place where I shared a door with Papaya Dog's kitchen and, uh, don't eat at Papaya Dog. Even though I did. All the time.

Although fuck if I can pass by Gray's Papaya without getting an ever-more-expensive pair of dogs.
posted by griphus at 9:44 AM on August 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

Was expecting reviews of hot dogs (the sausage); got reviews of hot dogs (the sandwich).

Am disappoint.

Nothing can equal the Chicago dog; it is useless to try.

However, since a Cincinnati Skyliner is a wonderful thing... maybe I should look again.

But I still want to see reviews of the best hot dog (meat) available!
posted by IAmBroom at 9:46 AM on August 28, 2012

Best hot dog ever, BTW, is at Hap's in Salisbury, NC. The shop is so tiny that the street number is a half. A couple of their hot dogs off the grill-tip with chilli and mustard and an ice-cold glass bottle of Cheerwine is my perfect lunch.
posted by thecjm at 9:46 AM on August 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

I was just discussing unbelievable vintage recipes like hot dog crown roast earlier today.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:47 AM on August 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

That crown roast looks like something bonobos would cook up.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 9:52 AM on August 28, 2012

that hot dog in a hard taco shell from Flint, MI is a freaking abomination.

While obviously a natural casing dog with mustard and sauerkraut is the One True Dog, I sometimes have hot dogs around the house without any buns. There is, however, always a supply of (soft) corn tortillas. I eat tacodogs on a semi-regular basis and, while it's not a Hot Dog in the way that Ellio's isn't Pizza, it can still hold its own as a foodstuff.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:54 AM on August 28, 2012

Hold the ketchup, please.

I think we can hold the editorializing in the FPP as well. Mmmkay?
posted by Splunge at 9:59 AM on August 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

There really needs to be a campaign by the sauerkraut council or whatever trade group people who make sauerkraut have to educate people about sauerkraut so people stop dicking around putting random things on hotdogs. Everyone here should run out and buy some right now. Don't get that Ba-tampte New Kraut if you want the full experience, it is fine on its own, but not great on hotdogs. Get the Full Kraut sold in a bag.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:05 AM on August 28, 2012

Well of course thecjm, you can serve anything with Cheerwine and it's the perfect lunch. I did most of my hot dog and Cheerwine lunches at Yum-Yum in Greensboro when we went to visit family. Sadly, I really want a Cheerwine now and the food truck that serves them here in DC isn't anywhere close to me.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:08 AM on August 28, 2012

Sauerkraut is all well and good on a hot dog but its proper place is on a brat, beside a Leinie.
posted by theodolite at 10:11 AM on August 28, 2012

I don't really understand the complex relationship between Papaya King, Gray's Papaya, and Mike's Papaya.

I think it's like the dictionary situation. Due to a trademark slip-up, anyone can now sell a "Webster's Dictionary". To get the real article, you would need to make sure it's a "Merriam-Webster Dictionary".
posted by Egg Shen at 10:22 AM on August 28, 2012

Hang on, what if I want to open a Merriam-Webster Papaya?
posted by griphus at 10:24 AM on August 28, 2012

I would eat at Merriam-Webster Papaya. Seems like it would have a more sedate atmosphere where I could really savor my purple drink without all the shouting you get at Gray's. A place to unwind and enjoy the finest hotdogs.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:28 AM on August 28, 2012

Merriam-Webster Papaya used to be really good, but the general usage of their "hot dog" changed over the years and now it seems like pretty much anything in a oblong bun goes.

/prescriptivism
posted by gilrain at 10:31 AM on August 28, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm going to Flint, MI, for a conference in October. I will sample a taco hot dog.
posted by oneironaut at 10:40 AM on August 28, 2012

So a couple of years ago, an artist I follow on Facebook made a post roundly condemning his local Sonic drive-in food chain for for offering a product called the "Coney Island hot dog". He, a Northeast native recently relocated to the Midwest, was apparently laboring under the belief that said dish would be a hot dog covered with sauerkraut and mustard. He was furious to discover that it was, in his words, a "chili dog".

This led to an extended Facebook dog fight, where his followers tried to explain to him that the New York/New Jersey definition of a Coney Island held no sway in the Midwest, and in fact there were varieties of Coney Islands all over the country: Southwestern chili dogs have spicier chili and are served with brown mustard or no mustard at all; an Arizona Sonoran dog is a chili dog with bacon and salsa; the Cincinnati Coney has cheese and the city's particular style of chili; Michigan alone has three types of Coney Islands documented--the Detroit, the Jackson, and the Flint; and so forth.

Pretty soon people were posting about all the different style of hot dogs in the US that they'd had: Seattle-style (topped with cream cheese), Carolina-style (chili, slaw and onions), Chicago-style (beef dog in a poppy-seed bun, topped with chopped onion, sweet relish, fresh tomatoes, and sport peppers), Kansas-City-style (pork sausage in a sesame seed bun topped with brown mustard, sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese), Newark-style (served in a pizza bread pocket), Jersey potato dogs, Manhattan bagel dogs, upstate New York 'white hots', Maine 'red snappers', and more.

The artist didn't seem to take any of this well at all, and after trying to defend his position that the sauerkraut Coney Island was the One True Coney Island, he stopped posting. The rest of us started merrily trading recipes and recommendations of places to try different hot dogs and Coney Islands.

From where I sit, hot dogs in the US are emblematic of Vulcan philosophy as it is found on Earth: infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Such a humble sausage to provoke such creativity, such regional pride, such a spectrum of deliciousness! I'm so glad to see the post. We are all better Americans, better people, when we celebrate the variety inspired by the lowly hot dog. If we can come together over different hot dogs, what else can we come together over?!


(make mine Cincy-style, please!)
posted by magstheaxe at 10:54 AM on August 28, 2012 [3 favorites]

You got three options in RI for a transformative Hot Dog experience -

1) NY System - this is actually a generic term, available at mom'n'pop places all over the state - grab a coupla saugies (veal and pork dogs), all-da-way. Steamed bun, meat sauce, celery salt, maybe some diced onions and mustard if I'm feeling fancy. Ironically has nothing to do with NY. Order with a side of more wieners.

2) Spike's Junkyard Dogs (now A Thing in Massachusetts, too) - french bread bun, quality kosher dog, zillions of toppings. Big Daves, with saute'd onions, swiss and thousand island is unbelievable in its majesty. Order with a side of poodle fries (unseasoned, fresh cut curly fries).

3) Hewtin's Dogs - this is the side business of Chez Pascal, one of Providence's better restaurants, famed for its charcuterie. The chef does a hot dog truck instead of a lunch service. Order whatever's on special, and hang on for dear life.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:57 AM on August 28, 2012

Has he been to Top Dog in Berkeley? Because he should go there.
posted by chavenet at 11:00 AM on August 28, 2012

Hawk Krall is awesome! He also does sandwich reviews on Serious Eats. And he designs the posters for LA's "Taco Madness" competition.
posted by cell divide at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2012

Manhattan bagel dogs

Wut?
posted by Ad hominem at 11:06 AM on August 28, 2012

Posts like this are the wurst.

Wurst of the web, to be precise.
posted by chavenet at 11:09 AM on August 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

Do I really want to eat something that is covered in something called "Flo's sauce"?
posted by symbioid at 11:15 AM on August 28, 2012

I think I might need an all-beef dog with grilled bologna and brown mustard, because that's how we roll here in B-More.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:28 AM on August 28, 2012

Pink's in Los Angeles is apparently supposed to be All That.
posted by Egg Shen at 11:38 AM on August 28, 2012

Posts like this are the wurst.

Wurst of the web, to be precise.

I relish them.
posted by cazoo at 12:25 PM on August 28, 2012

I think we can hold the editorializing in the FPP as well. Mmmkay?

*sniff*

*sniiiiiiiiiiff*

I believe I smell a Desecrator.
posted by Aquaman at 12:34 PM on August 28, 2012

Has he been to Top Dog in Berkeley? Because he should go there.
posted by chavenet at 11:00 AM on August 28 [+] [!]

Bock Bock Bird

Saw the regular dog slinger on Durant punch a female customer in the face last weekend after the BGCA. that dude is so calm and peaceful and then he punched a woman. in the face.

Bird Top Linguica Bock Bird
posted by rare_g at 2:57 PM on August 28, 2012

BGCA?
posted by BrotherCaine at 3:10 PM on August 28, 2012

Manhattan bagel dogs

Wut?

posted by Ad hominem at 2:06 PM on August 28


I said, Manhattan bagel dogs!
posted by magstheaxe at 3:51 PM on August 28, 2012

Needs a boomstick.
posted by nushustu at 4:09 PM on August 28, 2012

Has he been to Top Dog in Berkeley?

Wow, I was just going to come in and complain about the lack of Bay Area love, and I see this. You're good people, Chavenet.

Good god, their bratwurst with the spicy mustard! And the calabrese! And they're cheap as hell! I can take my youth group kids out to lunch there, buy each of them a dog, and still eat the rest of the week. So good.

Of course, the best thing about Top Dog is the loony libertarian propaganda covering the walls. Normally, that would annoy me, but in Berkeley, libertarians are actually as countercultural as they like to imagine they are elsewhere, so they get a pass.

Saw the regular dog slinger on Durant punch a female customer in the face last weekend after the BGCA

Heh. "Opposed to the initiation of force," my butt.
posted by Myca at 4:49 PM on August 28, 2012

Of course, the best thing about Top Dog is the loony libertarian propaganda covering the walls. Normally, that would annoy me, but in Berkeley, libertarians are actually as countercultural as they like to imagine they are elsewhere, so they get a pass.

It's always nice to have something to read while slamming down your dog (That Road to Success poster is way more entertaining than your average Goofus and Gallant. How many times will you see Goofus falling to his death inches before he achieves his goal?) But I also like the fact that the libertarian anti-tax sentiment has compelled Top Dog to list its prices with sales tax included.

Seeing that "All Prices Include The Ta/x" sign is oddly really fucking heartwarming.
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 5:49 PM on August 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

And for those that don't know, that slash is my best representation of an anthropomorphic sausage taking an axe to the word "tax."

I'm afraid that sentence had to rhyme.
posted by Doublewhiskeycokenoice at 5:50 PM on August 28, 2012

Sam Losco is a greasy caveman!
posted by anthill at 7:19 PM on August 28, 2012

Egg Shen: I don't really understand the complex relationship between Papaya King, Gray's Papaya, and Mike's Papaya.

I think it's like the dictionary situation. Due to a trademark slip-up, anyone can now sell a "Webster's Dictionary". To get the real article, you would need to make sure it's a "Merriam-Webster Dictionary".

You misspelled "Oxford English Dictionary"... unless you really intended to refer to that pamphlet. ;)
posted by IAmBroom at 1:20 PM on August 29, 2012 [1 favorite]