Never At A Ballpark

As I sat in the doctor's office, my wife a few weeks pregnant with our daughter, I listened to the doctor review a list of eating and lifestyle changes that would have to be made.  Just before we walked into this appointment, I was aware that certain foods were now off limits for my wife for the next 9 months.  I made the decision that, in order to be more supportive, I would adopt the restricted diet as well.  The doctor starts to list the restricted foods; no sushi, no alcohol, no caffeine, take vitamin, blah, blah, no hot dogs.  That was the exact moment in time that I gave up on my short-lived, but most genuine attempts to be supportive.  No hot dogs, that a deal breaker. 

I realize that the focus of this blog, so far, has been centered on the idea of "homemade" and generally "good" stuff.  I am also aware that hot dogs do not fall into either category, therefore have no business in this arena, however, I am the author.   I make the rules and if you have trust in me at all, there are two exemptions to this rule; hot dogs and Taylor Ham.  if you're not from Jersey, I'd bet you don't have the foggiest idea of what Taylor Ham is, and that's a good thing for now.  I will further discuss Taylor Ham at a later, unspecified time.  Right now, it's all about hot dogs, and to finish my story, all I'll say is that I am now familiar with eating hot dogs and sucking down a burning hot coffee, in the privacy of my vehicle while running "errands".

New Jersey is a Mecca for Hot Dog lovers.  Chances are good that in your home town, there is a Hot Dog place.  Chances are even better that the ideas, flavors, cooking style or the actual proprietor of that very stand, are from New Jersey.  There are no Taco trucks and very few roadside BBQ joints here.  There's Hot Dogs.  Our newspapers rank the best Hot Dog places around the state, and so do me and some of my buddies.  We make a pilgrimage around the state to the best of the best.  One guy handles mapping and site selection, one guy handles research, most of them just eat and I drive.

Businesses where Hot Dogs are cooked and sold to the public are broken into categories.  You have Hot Dog trucks, restaurants which sell other things, but are known for their Hot Dogs and finally, you have Hot Dog joints (like a stand).  These places do Hot Dogs and they may have other menu items, but nobody pays attention to them. 

Growing up, a good friend of mine owned a Hot Dog truck.  To be more specific, his family owned the truck, all of us just felt like we owned it every Saturday at 12:30pm when we would show up and hit the dogs hard.  Everything sold on this truck, except the Hot Dogs, was homemade.  I have spent many nights, in a basement kitchen, helping my friend peel potatoes and onions for their famous sweet onion topping for these dogs.  For this article, I am preparing my most favorite sweet onions, which I learned in that basement.  Out of respect to my friend (who took over the family business), I can't give out the entire ingredient list, but what I'm making tastes great anyways.  Email me for the abbreviated recipe, that will change how you do dogs.

When you come to New Jersey, you have to try some different Hot Dog joints.  I'd be happy to use this as an excuse to eat more than 6 dogs in a day, but if you didn't want me around, here is the absolute and final say on where you need to visit.  These are the best, and trust me, I've been to them all. 

Best Hot Dog Truck: The Original Chris' Red Hots- Branch Brook Park (by the tennis courts), Newark, NJ.  A semi-mashed potato mixture with chopped vinegar peppers and cheese is almost beyond words.  My second dog here is just the sweet onions and mustard.  Yes, it's a dirty water dog, or the more colloquial "tube steak" but they are just perfect.    

Best Restaurant that's known for Hot Dogs: Max's- Long Branch, NJ (a block from the beach).  Some of my fondest childhood memories are of taking the trip to this place.  It's always packed and the dogs are awesome.  No frills, just simple and well done, with a pot of sauerkraut on every table (whether you want it there or not).  Anytime I'm even close to their neck of the woods I swing by.  For the longest time, no store sold this very distinctive Hot Dog, so, every time we would go there when I was young, we took a cooler of them home with us.  Now, a few stores around sell the Hot Dogs that they use.  On the grill in the summer, I can get pretty close, but there's just something they do to it that I can't figure out.   

Best Hot Dog Joint: Jimmy Buff's- West Orange (this is where I go, but I'm a creature of habit), East Hanover, Scotch Plains, Kenilworth and Randolph, NJ.  These guys are winners of more than a handful of awards, local recognitions and a personal favorite of the "Munchmobile", which is sponsored by a local newspaper.  I have been here countless times, and for the life of me, I don't know if they even have a menu.  It really doesn't matter, I only get the Italian style dog.  Its fried with sliced potatoes, peppers and onions and I get some mustard.  Its served on Italian bread that I won't even try to explain.  It's just awesome.  They are unique, special and perfectly executed, every time.  I have never had a bad experience here.  Even at lunch time, when the lines are long, the service is remarkably fast.  That's a good thing because you can smell the aroma of the perfect creation frying, before you open their door and you only have a few minutes before you're going crazy.  Great dogs and no apologies, this should be first on your list.  It's amazing just how many people travel to eat here.  I can't tell you how many times I've been eating here and I see cars with out-of state plates in the parking lot.  People travel to visit these guys.   

My grandfather worked for a few years in a meat factory, that produced Bologna and Hot Dogs.  This is actually how he met my grandmother.  Apparently, back in those days, Bologna and Hot Dogs were manufactured using an inedible casing in order to maintain shape as the product cooked.  When I was young, my grandfather would lecture my sister and I on the process of Hot Dog manufacturing, noting on a regular basis, that some lesser-quality Hot Dog manufacturers still left this "skin" on.  After some research, I have discovered that this practice ended over fifty years ago, but as a child I heard of these unscrupulous Hot Dog purveyors, and I'm pretty sure my grandfather knew this too, but would tell this same story every time he peeled the "skin" off our Hot Dogs, leaving a barely palatable resemblance of the original product.  To this day, when my sister is over and I cook up some dogs, she will smirk and ask if I remembered to peel the "skin". 

The most ironic bit of this whole story; my wife is less than enthusiastic about Hot Dogs and just last week, I asked my 2 year old daughter if she would like a Hot Dog.  Her response; "no thanks, I'm allergic to those".  Impossible, I say!   

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