I’m thinking Chicago and Montreal are the cities where sausage is king. Maybe Vienna too, but they do terrible things to cocktail parties, which is saying something. But I guess I don’t know. So, what are the holy cities of the hot dog?
“a mighty hot dog is our lord”
They were from LA.
My personal favorite is the origional Nathans in Coney Island New York. They have a crispy skin and are delicious with sauerkraut and brown mustard.
My second favorite is any place in the south where the hotdogs are smothered with mustard,onions,slaw and chili.
Sounds like an IMHO question…
I’m a big fan of Nathan’s, too. Especially the chili dogs. But New Yorkers don’t treat the Tube Steak with the reverence that Chicagoans do. I usually describe the City of Big Shoulders to other Noo Yawkuhs as a town that has hot dog stands the way we have pizza joints here in NYC.
And, as a city where the toppings rarely go past brown mustard, kraut, and that horrible onion/tomato dressing, we stare in awe and envious bafflement at the things Chicagoans put on their franks.
Montreal, eh? That’s a new one on me. I did have an excellent German sausage (bauenwurst, perhaps? coarse-ground meat and lots of garlic) on a roll in Toronto, once. There’s this little cart thet’s usually right outside the train station…
Chicago, absolutely, first and foremost.
Also Buffalo and Rochester and, yes, Toronto.
Here in Milwaukee you can buy a beer in a hardware store, and Wisconsin of course is the Cheese Capital of the world.
But you can’t buy a good hot dog here to save your life.
But if you want bratwurst, really good bratwurst, man this is the place to be.
The hot dogs from the Montreal Forum are the best that I’ve ever had. I hope that they are still available at the Molson centre.
Nobady has said it and nobody’s likely to, but I’m not afraid to speak. Norfolk, VA is King-of-HotDogs. Yes, I mean it. If you don’t believe me, come on to Norfolk some Monday through Friday and meet me at Tony’s Hot Dogs. The Dog o’ the Gods. Really.
Hot dogs had to get popular somewhere, and that would be at the St. Louis Worlds Fair.
As to the holy city…that would depend on what you want on the dog. Nathan’s is a great nomination for the basic kraut and mustard set. Chicago provides a world of variation (OHare Airport sells more hot dogs than any other location in the world). Los Angeles is home of the one fast food chain that features the dog (Weinerschnitzel).
Since the hot dog is so basic and the debates around it must center on the condiments applied I’d have to agree that this is IMHO material.
Where I live (Lund, Sweden) there’s this little specialty sausage called Knake. It smells like canned dog food, but it’s actually not that bad tasting. You don’t eat it with a bun, just some mustard. Obviously, Lund doesn’t qualify as the Holy City of the Hot Dog, I just wanted to share. MPSIMS anyone?
Chi-Town is not the Second City when it comes to dogs… specifically Clark Street Dogs & The Wiener’s Circle.
In one of his books (?More of the Straight Dope), Cecil delves deeply into why ketchup is not a suitable hot dog condiment. In that column, he calls Chicago the holy city of the hot dog. I plan on using this as flimsy justification why this should remain in GQ, but if anyone wants to move it, be my guest.
Here’s Cecil’s column:
Why is there no ketchup on a properly made hot dog?
And with that, this thread is off to IMHO.
I’ve gotta add Copenhagen.
On just about every corner there is a wagon selling these skinny long red hot dogs that are absolutely addictive.
Nobody who hasn’t tried them will understand this. Anyone who has will merely nod in agreement.
the greater worcester, MA area is a little-known slice of hot dog heaven. there are two competing joints: coney island hot dogs and hot dog annies.
coney island has a three-story art deco neon sign featuring a disembodied hand holding a hot dog that drips neon mustard globules down the front of the building. inside, men (always mostly Greek, when i was goin there regular, one of the guys was a Greek Orthodox priest and wore his collar to work) would line buns up their arms, fill em with kayem franks sizzled to perfection on a big ol griddle, slather em with triple-ground chili sauce they’d dip out of a incredibly dirty-looking pot, chopped onions, and mustard. if you wanted em any different, you had to tell the guy at least twice. last time i was there they were still under a buck. worcester people like chocolate milk with these treats.
hot dog annies is in leicester, next door. they are known for incredibly smoky hot dogs and this wonderful minced-oniony barbecue sauce they put on em. they have other stuff there but this is what everybody orders.
some people like coney island, some hot dog annies. im a coney island man myself, but i wouldnt say no to hot dog annies, neither. one last thing: coney island was immortalized in a zippy the pinhead sunday comic last year. yow!
You’ve got my nod in agreement, and my shameful admission that they were one of the top three reasons why I returned to Copenhagen for a second vacation.
[sub]But they’re so GOOOOOOOOOOOOD.[/sub]
Buffalo has the charcoal-broiled hot dog, cooked to perfection at Ted’s and imitated by several hot dog stands in the northern suburbs. There’s also the “Texas hot,” another Buffalo greek restautant phenomenon. Rochester is home of the white hot, which is … a white hot dog.
No world tour of the great hot dogs of the world would be complete without a visit to Los Angeles. Pinks on La Brea is world famous for their dogs, and with good reason. They’ve been around for like 65 years now (which is like since the beginning of time in Los Angeles), and are an institution here. Their hot dogs are truly amazing, and I don’t say that easily. My personal favorite of theirs is the “Guadalahara Dog”: a dog topped with sour cream and diced tomatos. Yum yum!
I understand Oki Dog is also supposed to make a great hot dog, but after eight years in L.A., for some reason I still haven’t made it there.
My vote is for Chicago. Sure, in almost any large city in the US (and lots of the rest of the world for that matter) there’s a few really good hot dog joints. But in Chicago it’s an institution, and you can walk up to the smallest weiner stand and ask for celery salt on your dog and the vendor won’t bat an eye. I know of no other place where this is true.
mmmmmmmm…celery salt…
I am a quasi-heretic as I live in Chicago and like the sweeteness a little ketchup adds…I know…pity me!
But Chicago does have the best if you are referring to a “classic” hot dog; frankfurter(kosher preferably), steamed poppyseed bun, lots of stuff…
I like Irvings’ and the vendor who sets up next to the Mercantile Exchange…he puts crack in his simmering water I am pretty sure…
but I’ll take a good char grilled Johnsonville brat on a hard roll with sauerkraut and good German mustard over a hotdog any day! mmmmmmm…