Dapper Dog Kielbasa Special

Just in case you don't know, July is National Hot Dog Month which for me means hot dog overload, including several events to be announced. Along with Hot Dog Of The Week on Serious Eats I'm going to crank out some bonus posts of dogs I've enjoyed over the past year or so and haven't gotten around to writing about.


First up is Dapper Dog which I initially wrote about a while back when they first opened, but recently went back and was psyched about the quality of the dogs. They seem to have upped their game with more sophisticated toppings, and are using high quality garlicky all-beef dogs, no natural casing but all perfectly split & grilled.


The highlight of my most recent visit was their Banh-Mi esque Kielbasa special with cucumber, cilantro, jalapenos, and spicy mayo. The crunch of the sausage combined with cool cucumber, cilantro, mayo and the flaky Sarcone's bread was awesome.


The use of hoagie roll rather than hot dog bun works with the sausage, the meat/topping/bread ratio still in the right zone and makes sense conceptually, more vietnamese kielbasa hoagie than hot dog.

Their new weekend location in Garden Variety is terrific, you can grab beer at the Foodery across the street and wolf down some dogs. Things were hopping when we were there.. I would look for Dapper Dog to be a solid presence in the Philly hot dog / street food scene for years to come.

Dapper Dog
Fri & Sat at 2nd & Poplar
Lunch at Temple U. 13th & Norris (only during school year)
Lots of special events - follow them on twitter for updates

Hot Dog Madness - New Mexico Chile Dogs, Italian Dogs in Toms River, and Philly's Dapper Dog

Drawing For Food correspondent Caroline Russock recently came back from New Mexico with some fantastic photos of Albuquerque's Dog House Drive In, a route 66 truck driver counter joint packed to the gills with "rough and tumble dudes who looked like they've been baking in the New Mexican desert for their entire lives" and known for their hot dogs.



The Dog House serves foot long, split and grilled beef & pork dogs served on toasted rolls and slathered in red New Mexico style chile. Also on the menu - frito pie and green chile cheeseburgers. Read the full story on Serious Eats.



Dog House Drive-In
1216 Central Ave SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505) 243-101

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Finally had my first authentic Italian Hot Dog at Joe-Joe's in Tom's River and it was awesome. A real New Jersey style Italian dog is deep fried and served on either a half or quarter loaf of "pizza bread" (a unique product made by a few old-school bakeries in North Jersey) and topped with peppers, onions, and deep fried potato wedges. Awesome.



A lot of places sell a watered down version that's basically a hot dog on a sub roll with hash browns and sauteed peppers. Which is fine but doesn't compare to the places like Joe-Joe's or Jimmy Buff's that specialize in Italian Hot Dogs. Do yourself a favor and check out what might be the country's least well known and most delicious hot dog variation. Read the full article on Serious Eats.


Joe-Joe's Italian Hot Dogs
2039 Route 37 E
Toms River NJ
(732) 270-9720

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I tried several times to catch Philadelphia's Dapper Dog cart at lunch at their main spot on the corner of 3rd & Poplar (across from the Standard Tap) but they were closed due to rain or technical difficulties. I was about to give up on them until my buddy Nick stumbled out of a bar and right into the Dapper Dog cart and stopped by with a pile of hot dogs.


The special (and my favorite) was a grilled dog topped with mounds of mashed potatoes and grilled scallion. Sounds weird but it wasn't bad, especially since the potatoes were damn good themselves. The beans on the "michigan" chili dog turned me off a bit but damn do they give you a lot of toppings for $3.50. Mac & Cheese dog was decent, some serious carb-on carb action to soak up all the alcohol in your system.


Other toppings include tomato sauce, pepperoni, asparagus, fried eggs. After 2am you can get one with anything (or everything) on it for 5 bucks. As well as setting up in Northern Liberties on weekend nights, Dapper Dog does a lot of street fairs and special events, follow their twitter and facebook for info. For more on Dapper Dog check out the feature on Serious Eats and a write up over at Don't Buy All The Hot Dogs.

Dapper Dog
2nd & Poplar
Philadelphia