Depression Dog

Latest Hot Dog Of The Week on Serious Eats. The Depression Dog is a minimalist Chicago-style dog that's piled high with french fries, almost like a North Jersey- style Italian hot dog, and served in overstock mcdonald's bags at awesome out-of the way hot dog joints with bullet holes in the signs.


Check out Titus Ruscetti's blog for more on Depression Dogs: chibbqking.blogspot.com


I haven't been posting all of my hot dog of the week illustrations here so if you missed any be sure to check them out. Last week I did the NYC Papaya Dog, and before that Hawaii's Puka Dog, and the West Virginia Slaw Dog.

Nick's Charcoal Pit - Again

Chau wrote about Nick's maybe a year ago and kept telling me how great it is. Finally gave it a shot and it was awesome. Now for the purists, some of the stuff on the menu says "BBQ" but this is not smoked, traditional southern bbq at all, but charcoal grilled ribs, chicken and even filet mignon slathered in BBQ sauce. They also do burgers and philly-style sandwiches on Sarcone's bread packed with everything from grilled sausage to tuna steak.

The ribs were really good and tender, wings better than most.. but my favorite thing was the char-grilled, split hot dog covered with bacon and cheese whiz on a kaiser roll. Amazing.

Nick's Charcoal Pit
(Take Out & Delivery Only)
1242 Snyder
South Philadelphia

Hot Dog Prints!

Prints available now! 4 different designs from my Hot Dog Of The Week series. I think they came out fantastic, thanks to the kind folks at Silicon Gallery Fine Art here in Philadelphia.

These are 11 x 14, high quality giclee prints on acid free, archival paper. 27 bucks a pop plus shipping from my website.

Initally produced as illustrations for an ongoing series of hot dog articles for seriouseats.com. I really don't know who wouldn't want one of these in their kitchen.

BUY PRINTS HERE

Dinic's at the Navy Yard

Didn't even know this was here! A real steak and hoagie stand smack in the middle of the Philadelphia Navy Yard. I'm assuming it's somehow related to the other Dinic's- the roast pork stand in the Reading Terminal Market (always terrific and one of the best things about the reading terminal) and the tavern on Snyder (never been there..looks amazing, hope it's still open).

Busted up old picnic tables, dockworkers and union guys... you know it's going to be good. Cheesesteaks and Roast beef on the same menu. The chicken cutlet was delicious. Cheesesteak hoagie with longhots was decent, although I hear the hoagies are the way to go.
Lunch only, closes at 4pm!

Dinic's
15 Kitty Hawk Avenue
Philadelphia Navy Yard
(map)

Kline's Restaurant

On the way home from camping we were hung over and dying for some diner food. Stopped in Cumberland, MD but the only place open didn't serve breakfast, and when we asked the waitress where to go she told us "Mcdonald's". Kind of hard to believe that an old mining town in the middle of nowhere full of old guys in VFW hats doesn't have a diner. Anyway it took an hour but we found the real deal about a mile outside of Cumberland on route 40.

Kline's restaurant is by the railroad tracks under a giant cliff. The "Lover's Leap Lounge" is to the left when you walk in and was filled with previously mentioned old dudes drinking beer at 10:30 on a Sunday morning. The restaurant itself was packed to the gills looked like the real thing. Everything on the menu was around 5 dollars and the food was incredible.



I had country ham & eggs with texas toast and noticed "gravy...75 cents" on the side order menu. Had to see what that was all about and she said, "Oh hon, that's not what you think it is, it's sausage gravy".. even better. Strange because there is no biscuits or biscuits and gravy on the menu. The food hit the spot, real slices of ham, amazing sausage gravy, even the home fries were fantastic and definitely made from fresh potatoes. In fact I'd guess most if not all of the food here is made from scratch.

Kline's Restaurant
1068 National Hwy (US route 40 ALT)
Cumberland, MD 21502

Man Camp Cookin'

Just got home from 5 days of eating meat and drinking whiskey in the mountains. This year we went to Abrams' Creek in West Virginia, way up in the Alleghenies and frequented by people named "Lightning Wolf" and "Rainbow Spider". There's a geodesic dome and bonfires complete with wild drumming and fire dancing.

Also some of the most amazing mountain country where the closest town with more than two buildings is 20 miles down crazy winding roads. Super awesome but you'd better be prepared because it really sucks if you forget supplies and have to go back and hour and half for ice or paper towels or something.



We built a 3-tiered cooking pit with some grill grates from Home Depot jerry-rigged with some stuff from a metal shop. Didn't think it was going to work at all but it did the trick. The first night I put a rub on some ribs and cooked them on the top tier for 2 and a half hours, totally expecting them to be either raw or overcooked and dry but they were right on. The 10 LB pork shoulder was a bit trickier, that thing was cooking for like 6 hours and still raw in the middle, can't win them all I guess.


We also brought a rotisserie and some whole chickens from a farmer's market in the middle of Pennsylvania, poured beer and whiskey all over them, bacon under the skin, stuffed the cavity with onions and celery (and a can of beer towards the end) . Dunked into the vanilla-bourbon barbecue sauce and that was probably the best thing I've eaten in 5 years.



Later that night we were feeling extra awesome and decided to stuff a banana with marshmallows, dump whiskey on it and throw it in the fire wrapped in foil. The marshmallows foamed up and melted into the whiskey and banana like a pudding. Unbelievable.