Along with burgers, ice cream, and barbecue, hot dogs are iconic American comfort food that shines in the summer months. Whether savored at a ballpark, on a picnic blanket, or on a sidewalk by a street cart, it’s a savory staple that never goes out of style, no matter how you prepare or garnish it. The summer is an especially apt time to feast on franks. While family cookouts are all well and good, if you’d rather avoid common mistakes, one surefire way to satisfy your hot dog cravings is by tasting a high-quality version from a seasoned pro.
Across the country, hot dogs come in a kaleidoscope of styles, buns, and toppings. Regional styles abound in cities like Detroit, Tucson, and Seattle, but classic wieners are in every corner of the United States. You can find hot dogs prepared with different techniques and heaped with everything from peanut butter and jelly to fried eggs, collard greens, and Fruity Pebbles cereal. Old-school hot dog spots in cities like Chicago and New York are deservedly timeworn, but you can also amp up the creativity and try something boldly new. Without further ado, here are the best hot dogs in America.
The 3 A.M. Dog at Vinsetta Garage in Detroit
Detroit ranks high on the list of quintessential hot dog cities alongside New York City and Chicago. Motor City is hallowed ground for its Coney hot dogs, a singular style of sausage that combines traditional Greek ingredients with the American pastime — in this case, heady beef chili with raw onions and a drizzle of yellow mustard. The ritual lives on at hot dog temples like Lafayette Coney Island and American Coney Island. However, Detroit is a city that values tradition and innovation — the latter of which you can taste at Vinsetta Garage.
A fitting restaurant for a city known for its car culture, Vinsetta Garage is a modern diner in a retrofitted garage, serving up novel takes on the kind of classic American fare. Today, these include unique creations like The 3 A.M. Dog, a hot dog that feels worlds away from Coney Island recipes with its medley of housemade bacon jam, Sriracha mayo, fresh chives, spicy fried onions, and a sunny fried cage-free egg. The molten yolk oozes out over the plump beef sausage, nestled in a fluffy bun.
Smoked Chicken Hot Dog at Pasture in Portland, Oregon
Any butcher shop doubling as a meaty sandwich counter bodes well for its sausage offerings. Indeed, Pasture is a fast-casual place that takes classic American sandwiches and elevates them with the highest quality, locally sourced ingredients — many of which arrive as whole animals and are butchered in-house. Plenty of deli-style favorites are available, including Reubens and mortadella, but don’t overlook the humble hot dog.
Customers can mosey right up to the deli case and take their pick of sausage: pork, beef, and chicken are all up for grabs, to be grilled and tucked inside buns with a generous splash of mustard and zingy remoulade. The chicken sausage is fantastic, imbued with a bit of smoke and cooked until just slightly charred and crisp. Served with a smear of mustard, remoulade, and some snipped scallions, the spotlight is on the quality of the hot dog itself, in all its plump, smoky glory. It typically comes in a pillowy bun, but you can customize it by ordering it on a thick slice of rye bread for an added boost of earthy flavor.
Rubble Rage at The Dog House in Pensacola
Hot dogs can skew traditional or regional, but they can also veer wildly into whimsy. Some inventive restaurants use sausages as a blank canvas for audacious invention. Such is the case at The Dog House, a quirky sausage-focused restaurant in downtown Pensacola. They use Nathan’s Famous all-beef hot dogs, Kobe beef hot dogs, and meat-free Beyond hot dogs for a slew of zany temptations — some of which are so wild and unexpected that you must taste them.
In addition to po’ boys, smash burgers, and sandwiches, much of the menu features customizable hot dog creations and epic menu items that sound too crazy to be true. You can order a more traditional Chicago-style dog or the tame Usual Dog (with chili, cheddar cheese sauce, and onions). Or, you can throw caution to the wind and get the Rubble Rage, a one-of-a-kind mix of mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, chili, Sriracha, sour cream, and most shocking of all, a smattering of Fruity Pebbles cereal. It all sounds quite wonky, but the contrast of flavors and textures is an unusual hit, blending elements of sweet, spicy, tangy, and sour, all juxtaposed by creaminess and crunchiness. A hot dog traditionalist might gasp, but this is one singular invention that tastes much better than it sounds.
Slaw Dog at Hot Dog Pete’s in Atlanta
Billing itself as a “new take on an American classic,” as well as a celebration of flavor, history, and people, Hot Dog Pete’s is an Atlanta fixture that takes its hot dog history seriously while modernizing and innovating along the way. The casual, colorful eatery is the vision of Nick Pihakis, who partnered with Pete Graphos, the founder of historic Sneaky Pete’s Hot Dogs in Birmingham, Alabama. Together, they created an Atlanta original that combines old-school and contemporary.
That new-school ethos is evident in Hot Dog Pete’s emphasis on top-tier ingredients, sourced from local purveyors and hot dogs custom blended by iconic Fritz’s Smoked Meats and Superior Sausage in Kansas City. Customers can choose their hot dog base — cheddar wurst, jalapeño cheddar wurst, bratwurst, chicken and apple sausage, or plant-based Beyond sausage — and then pick from an array of topping options. A highlight is the Slaw Dog, which updates the standard coleslaw situation with an earthy collard green coleslaw, providing more textural chew than typical cabbage slivers, along with a splash of mustard and chili.
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