# Your best experience eating a hot dog **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360 "2019-08-28T15:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/121 "2019-09-11T00:47:27Z")
A place in Astoria, Queens, NYC called The Dog House. My god they knew how to prepare a dog. And served a huge variety of dishes each with its own selection of additional elements, sauces, etc. They went outa business last year. [Course, they shoulda paid their damned taxes…](https://astoriapost.com/new-york-dog-house-closes-years-tax-struggles) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/122 "2019-09-11T02:54:48Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > My first college girlfriend. This response goes equally well with being taken back to a memory of a taste or smell and also with your best experience with a hot dog. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/123 "2019-09-16T14:22:51Z")
No pickles (for godsake), no ketchup (unless you’re under 12 years old), no cheese, no chili…just Bertman’s Original Ballpark mustard. First served at Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium and now at Progressive Field. Its a hotdog, people. You put brown mustard on it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/124 "2019-09-16T14:33:41Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > I am surprised, nay, stunned that no one in this thread has of yet mentioned the hot dog that made D.C. famous, the [half-smoke.](https://washington.org/visit-dc/dc-signature-half-smoke-all-you-need-to-know) Some may quibble and call this a sausage. It is not. It is a hot dog through and through. > > The first one I ever had was outside of the long gone Ha’ Penny Lion in midtown. We had been drinking beer and futilely trying to pick up girls for a few hours up until closing time. Having all struck out, we decided to slam a few “street dogs” and go home. We were new to DC, and had no idea of the dog heaven that awaited. Adorned with only some yellow mustard, some chili, and raw onions, we bit into them and completely forgot about the sexless night that awaited us when we got home. I am by no means a hot dog expert, but I’ve had them in NYC and Chicago, and pretty much everywhere else I’ve lived, and I’ve never found half-smokes like the ones sold in D.C. anywhere else. > > ETA: **TruCelt** and **P-man** , are you sure you live in the DC area? 🙂 To me, half-smokes really were more of a sausage than a frankfurter. My dad loved them and it never occurred to me as a kid that they were unique to the DC area. We’d just get them from the hot dog stands along the Mall when taking out of town relatives down to the Smithsonian. That notable butterfly cut does go well with just mustard and onion. But it seems like every one I had was just a little too scorched for my taste. I think my dad liked it that way and so that’s how he bought them. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/125 "2019-09-16T14:46:30Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > (unless you’re under 12 years old) this has to be the dumbest thing to be concerned with. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/126 "2019-09-16T18:03:28Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > Its a hotdog, people. You put brown mustard on it. -sniff- Purist. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/127 "2019-09-16T19:14:22Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > To me, half-smokes really were more of a sausage than a frankfurter. It appears they are not emulsified which rules them out as hot dogs, as far as I’m concerned. They sound good, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/128 "2019-09-16T19:23:11Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > No pickles (for godsake), no ketchup (unless you’re under 12 years old), no cheese, no chili…just Bertman’s Original Ballpark mustard. First served at Cleveland’s old Municipal Stadium and now at Progressive Field. Its a hotdog, people. You put brown mustard on it. Every time an old relative/acquaintance from Cleveland visits me, they bring me a bottle of that fucking mustard. Yeah, yeah, I grew up on it too, at all those Indians games, and it’s lovely stuff, but I’ve got, like, EIGHT BOTTLES in the basement pantry. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360/129 "2019-09-17T02:47:23Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > I am surprised, nay, stunned that no one in this thread has of yet mentioned the hot dog that made D.C. famous, the [half-smoke.](https://washington.org/visit-dc/dc-signature-half-smoke-all-you-need-to-know) Some may quibble and call this a sausage. It is not. It is a hot dog through and through. > . . . > ETA: **TruCelt** and **P-man** , are you sure you live in the DC area? 🙂 Are you sure YOU are from here?!? ‘Cause a half-smoke ain’t a mere hot-dog my man. Them’s fightin’ words. The man asked me about hot-dogs, I told him where the best hot-dogs are to be found. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-experience-eating-a-hot-dog/839360.md?page=6)