Hot Dog Blog

Georgia hot, Coney Island, dog, footlong, frank, coney, frankfurter, redhot, sausage, weenie, wiener. To paraphrase Shakespeare, a hot dog by any other name would taste as sweet. (After I had titled and mentally written this part of the blog I went looking for pictures and stumbled upon The West Virginia Hot Dog Blog which uses the Shakespeare quote in a different context as well as containing my title. But tough toenails, I am already committed to this.

Every life needs one great purpose. I've found mine... the search for the perfect hot dog. Here are my credentials: up until about age 11 I refused to eat hamburgers - we had to go to places with hot dogs. Which was a bit easier in the 1960s (I guess that's just one credential. Well, I'm always eager to sample the local hot dog fare when traveling. Slaw dogs in Georgia, the Wienerschnitzel chain out west, Whistle Dogs in Canada (with bacon, cheese and relish!) and the Indiana Trinity: Dog 'n' Suds, B&K and Peru's pride, Mr. Weenie). Finally about 1974 I was at my best friend's dad's hog farm trapped without food and his mom showed up with hamburgers - most likely a planned technique of indoctrination (at least they were from the obscure and long gone chain Drummer Boy). Anyway, my search at present has yielded the area chain Freddy's Frozen Custard. It not only has hot dogs, it has three varieties - a Chicago-style and a chili cheese dog in addition to the classic HD. All three are worthwhile; the Chicago dog is a bit of culture shock, it's "dragged through the garden" and includes (if I recall correctly) mustard, onion, relish, pickle, tomato and sport peppers (which get removed from mine, because WHAT the HELL is a 'sport pepper'???). But the plain ol' hot dog is what I'm here to celebrate: toasted English bun, and with relish, ketchup and the classic zigzag stripe of mustard, it's too pretty to eat. SNARFFFFFFFF... oops, almost too pretty. Order me another, willya? Even if you only eat a hot dog or two a year, make it one from Freddy's!!

This is far too fascinating a subject for one post, I could fill the entire internet with hot dog ramblings, except I type too slow. Reveries of campfires and Eckrich cheese dogs... the search for one remaining A&W that can still cook a good coney dog... the worst hot dog in town (available at KSU sporting events)... damn, is it it suppertime yet?