Another bonus for National Hot Dog Month, I thought I'd feature some of my favorite stuff from other hot dog blogs. I really love reading about new and obscure hot dog joints, trucks and carts in parts of the country you rarely hear about in the "mainstream hot dog media". Some of these guys really put me to shame in terms of scouring for real deal out of the way stuff and posting as often as every day.
Somehow related to
Frank - a newer gastro-dog type joint in Austin - this group of dudes have been uncovering awesome hot dogs in California, Seattle, Portland and Minnesota for a few years now.
One of my favorite posts from them is on
Mike's Chili Parlor, a sort of Cincinnati-style Greek chili parlor/dive bar in Seattle (??) that's been there since 1922. They've also done some great posts on old-school Coney joints in
Sioux City Iowa.
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THE GREAT BIRMINGHAM HOT DOG TOUR
Even though these guys
dissed me for "blowing through Birmingham" and "miss(ing) the best hot dog stands in our city" when I stopped at
Pete's and Gus's for the Serious Eats / Rachael Ray
America's Best Hot Dog article.. I love this blog and really wish I had found it BEFORE visiting Birmingham.
You'll notice that almost every B-Ham hot dog joint serves some variation of the "Special" which consist of chili or loose meat, sauerkraut and "sauce" which is sort of a cross between barbecue sauce and NY red onion sauce. One of their favorites is
Sam's Super Samwichs.
Another terrific spot is
Ya-Ya's, a roadside stand that serves
the Q Dog that's sort of like a barbecue version of the special with kraut, sauce, and pulled pork.
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SMOKIN' CHOKIN' AND CHOWING WITH THE KING
Not strictly a hot dog blog, but Chibbqking serves up some awesome hot dog coverage in and out of its home base of Chicago. One of my favorite food blogs hands down.
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| minimalist chicago dog from hot diggity dog / chibbqqking |
Author Titus Ruscetti (aka King T) has been tirelessly documenting Chicago dogs, especially the Minimalist or Depression style that involves natural casing dogs and big piles of hand cut fries on top of the dog, from no-frills spots like
Gene's & Jude's and
Redhot Ranch.
Outside of Chicago, King T has been checking out
Coney dogs in Duluth, Minnesota and cranking out
massive, epic posts from recent travels to Wisconsin involving American Legion burgers, brats, and frozen custard.. oh and also more Coneys and pork tenderloin sandwiches in
Indiana - wow.
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THE HOT DOG I ATEA serious mega-blog with at least 10 contributors, these guys have been EVERYWHERE from Scranton to New York, Tahiti to Chicago.A few of the authors seem to be from New England and find some awesome spots like this hot dog stand at
Carvers Farmers Market in Massachussets serving up
Danish Dogs topped with pickled cucumbers, remoulade, and crispy fried onions.
Another killer post from these guys is a report from Argentina featuring some "panchos" buried underneath 7000 different kinds of "mayonesa" in typical south american fashion as well as some real deal sausages in Buenos Aires. Great stuff.
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A great blog with general hot dog news and original reviews of hot dog spots graded for Food, Atmosphere, Value, as well as Side Dishes rated by his wife"Side Dish Jody" who doesn't like hot dogs. Mostly Michigan based (they love Yesterdog) but talso travel to Florida, Wisconsin, and even Pennsylvania. "Hot Dog Guy" Paul seems to be big on Chicago - style dogs outside of Chicago, including
Mel's in Florida with this awesome hot dog car out front and
Johnny B'z in Michigan that does Chicago style dogs on New England buns.
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WEST VIRGINIA HOT DOG BLOGOne of the most thorough and hardcore purist regional hot dog blogs out there, WV hot dog blog author Stanton is adamant that west virginia hot dogs (WVHD) are NOT so much about the brand or quality of the dog, but the love and care put into the classic elements of a WVHD - cheap dog, steamed bun, mustard, and homemade chili and slaw.
The blog is especially brutal towards any HDJ's (Hot Dog Joints) that get even close to "gourmet", use
English buns (top-split), or even dare to call something a "slaw dog" (authentic WV hot dogs should automatically come with slaw) I'm not this much of a purist.. but I do LOVE west virginia hot dogs, and agree that it's the sort of classic thing that shouldn't be messed with.
A lot of the best WV dogs come from Dairy Bars like
Dee's Tasty Freeze and
Skeenie's (considered the Quintessential WVA hot dog) or even in the back of
grocery stores, smoke filled
video poker parlors, and
barber shops. Hot Dog culture in WVA is ferociously unpretentious, and every time I read this blog, with hundreds of posts going back to 2006, I want to drive down there and spend 3 weeks hitting as many of these places as I can.
• www.wvhotdogs.com****HOT DOG STORIESAnother fantastic regional blog, Hot Dog Stories almost exclusively features trucks and carts in New England, mostly Massachussets. The author is a former hot dog vendor himself, and really gets into the history of each cart, talking to the owners and even shooting short videos.
My all-time favorite post -including a terrific
video interview- is about
Larry Joe's New England Fire Pit, a truck in New England that cooks dogs over hickory wood, run by a guy who trained at the legendary Boston Speed truck that's been awarded the best in the country several times, but now run by a new owner. So if you want to eat the real thing you might want to head to Larry Joe's rather than the "new" Boston Speed truck.
I also love all the "only in new england" semi-hippy hot dog stands like
Snappy Dogs who serve natural casing Pearl brand dogs topped with homemade toppings like zucchini relish along with home-made nutella whoopie pies (whoa) to take home. Also this guy is trying to
visit a different hot dog stand every day for the month of July.
• http://hotdogstories.com/ ****
HOLLY EATSNot a blog, but Holly Moore has been writing about hot dogs on his site for over ten years. It's almost impossible to find a place that he hasn't written about, especially on the east coast. He's been in the food business for a long time, as a writer, business owner, and even helped to develop the Big Mac.
Holly Eats is packed with tons of photos and short and sweet reviews of almost every notable hot dog joint you've heard above and a bunch that you haven't. So many places I'm dying to try like the Easton, PA style dogs at
Jimmy's and
Richard's Drive-In , or Schell's in Reading that serves dogs topped with BBQ. Holly was also the one to turn me on to the religious experience that is
Charlie's Pool Room.
There's long gone, legendary Hot Dog Joints like
Syd's in NJ, living on only in memory and Holly's Site. Check out the full list of
Eateries Gone By for a serious lesson in the food history of Philadelphia, New Jersey and beyond.
