Ummm, acktually, Epicurious recently had “professional chef hot dog experts” rate a bunch of hot dogs, and the Kirkland one was their top or second to top choice for caseless hot dogs. Their top overall pick was the Nathan’s Coney Island dog with natural casing.
The thing dragging down the in store Costco hot dog experience is that the only topping choices are mustard, ketchup, and sweet relish. I guess anything in the soda fountain is fair game, too. The ones near me rarely have onions, and I haven’t seen sauerkraut in years.
Caveat, I think the food court ones are the same as the 1/4 pound ones in the refrigerated section, and I’m not positive those are the ones being reviewed in the video, as there are at least two different Kirkland all beef hot dogs at my local Costcos.
And, really, at a buck fifty for the food court hot dog (with a soda!), who cares if it’s not the height of tube meat pleasure? It’s a cheap, reasonably good eat.
I agree with this, both at Costco and from most delivery or take out places. They simply do not cook it long enough and the dough ends up flimsy and soggy. I always try to remember to instruct them to bake it well done, regardless of where I am ordering from, and when they comply (not always) it tends to improve the pizza immensely.
The Costco by me has onions, which I would add to the top of my cheese pizza slice. We let our membership lapse during COVID though, so it’s been a while.
The ones near me have onions, but not with the other condiments. You have to ask for it at the counter, and they give you a little tub of chopped onions.
The last Costco pizza I got was exactly an example of this. I watched as the pizza worker boxed a pizza where the cheese was browned, and the bottom crust was dark with a few black spots. It looked really good. Unfortunately that was not my pizza.
Once that pizza was handed off she stuck the peel into the oven and pulled out a pizza that was not quite emerging. The cheese was white; the crust was white; and it was mine. It wasn’t raw, but like you say, flimsy and soggy. That last 1-2 minutes of cooking seems to make a big difference.
Have you seen the price of soda lately? $0.40-0.50/can at Costco, and at \approx $16 for 14 hot dogs + buns, it’s probably cheaper to eat from the food court than at home. Main reason I bring them home (and the reason I’ve been buying them lately) is to be a vehicle for my homemade sauerkraut.
Lol at the “acktually”!
If you’re talking about buying a packaged hot dog from a supermarket, sure, but if you’re buying a hot prepared hot dog you can get higher-end ones in natural casings from restaurants/cafes that specialize in gourmet dogs. My point was that Costco’s hot food is just fine for buying hot food to feed the family and it doesn’t really matter if their pizzas are “mediocre” to some posters.
I just came back from Montreal. I went to Schwartz’s Deli and had their smoked “meat” (beef) sandwich. I thought it was pretty good. Is Schwartz’s considered more of a tourist trap or actually good, authentic Montreal smoked beef (or both, maybe)?
It’s the classic Montreal Smoked Meat, although I quite enjoy Smoked Meat Pete’s which is on the highway leaving Montreal heading back to Toronto. I’m taking my daughter back to McGill in August and will likely hit both spots.
Good to know, thanks. It was good, though the seating options were a little sketchy. They had street fair seating but for some reason were closing it down at like 8:30. I’ll try to hit Pete’s if I’m ever there again.
I find it to be perfectly fine pizza at a cheap price. It’s filling and tastes good, if not amazing. I haven’t had a bad slice but I’m sure they exist. There’s a number of places near me selling a lunch special of a “giant slice and drink” but they all start at $5 and go up to $8; nowhere else to get a slice for $2, much less one of that size.
Agreed. My wife’s office is a couple of blocks away from the Costco. We’ll occasionally bring a pizza home. You just need to specify “well done”.
Ours used to have onions, but not any more. I typically do not get hot dogs at Costco for two reasons:
I really do not like cokes very much, especially Pepsi brands - they’re too sweet. I’d much rather drop a quarter in the machine for a bottle of water.
The hot dogs repeat on me. It’s a decent hot dog (even without chili and slaw), but I do not want to taste it for the next two hours.
I will usually split a pizza slice or a chicken bake.
I don’t get hot dogs (or any other fast food) at Costco because there is almost always an enormous line-up at the counter and the seating area is always full of people and shopping carts.
Nothing will ever beat $10 for an 18" cheese pizza. The hot dog and soda is good, but the cheese pizza is great.
Costco used to have a supreme pizza option, which was nice. They also used to be willing to make a sausage pizza if you requested it. Now its just pepperoni or cheese. But its still a great deal.
