Masa in Tacoma.

I got suckered into driving a couple of gals to Tacoma with the promise of an unbelievable hot dog. I was a bit suspicious as there was little mention of the actual restaurant, and the legend of the particular dog was seemingly untraceable to an original source. Fair thee well. I decided to go anyway. It was a rainy Sunday, and the promise of seeing some of Tacoma's local flavor was intriguing.

Of course these chicks were late, and I don't make a habit of Driving Miss Daisies unless I'm getting my passport stamped to Bonetown. I had second thoughts about this adventure from the get.

Tacoma is a pretty much a dump. My friend Peezy once said that he wanted to shit in every dryer in Schaumburg, Illinois because it was such a terrible place. I had similar feelings about Tacoma. There were a ton of foreclosed houses, and I saw at least 40 inches of butt crack while cruising the strip.



A fancy shmancy new school fusion sports bar called Masa? You must be joking. This can't be the place where I've heard rumors of an unbelievable hot dog.



I'm very rarely ever wrong. In fact, I can't recall a time I've ever second guessed my inherent ability to sniff out amazing food in the past.

It happened in Tacoma. Behold! the Tijuana Dog. An all beef frank, wrapped in bacon, swimming in a molten hot queso sauce, and topped with pico de gallo.



Crushing bacon wrapped all beef isn't just a hobby, it's a fucking religion. I pray to the altar of Intestinal Fortitude. In the house of God, I'm the High Priest of Meat.



Alice and Manny felt bad for dragging me all the way to Tacoma, so they bought my Tijuana Dog. I also got to snap this keep sake of some girl-on-girl gobbling that is officially a permanent feature in my Spank Bank. Thanks ladies!

Po Dog

The diabolical beast phone was ringing off the hook, because my buddy Robert "The Schneids" Schneider had a hot tip about a new hot dog joint opening on Capital Hill in Seattle. I pulled out my clipboard. Took some notes. Looked up some shit on the internet, and sanitized my hands. Turns out the Schneids was on to something. Something delicious.

Po Dog Hot Dogs.



We pulled up on a Saturday afternoon. It was the Grand Opening. The place was brand spankin' new. I'm always hesitant of a hot dog shop that that isn't a dive, but I was really hungry and anxious to try Seattle's take on an American legend.

Once inside, the place was very well designed with easy access to the counter, and ample seating for fat hot dog eating asses, like mine. Pop art pugs covered the walls, along with wallpaper that featured six shooters. Nice touch.

The help was friendly as I alerted them immediately that we were correspondents with the world famous Buddies and Hot Dogs global franchise. The nice gal behind the counter offered me a menu to peruse the the many varieties of encased meat. Engage salivation.

It's always tough to write a review about a Hot Dog haberdashery on opening day, but I have faith that this place is going to something special. They have everything working in their favor.



First up, the BLTA Dog. That stands for Bacon, lettuce Tomato and Avocado on a soft brioche bun with a side of dippin' sauce. I added a little lemon aioli per the recommendation of the girl at the counter.

The franks here at Po Dog have some girth, so the freshly made brioche bun is a nice buttery touch. The fixings were more than adequate and the avocado was ripened to perfection. My one qualm here is that the construction of the dog made for complicated and messy eating. I took one bite of the dog and it teeter tottered and slapped me right in the face, dumping all the goodies into my basket. No worries. This could be resolved with a simple exploration in foundation engineering and construction. I also would have wrapped the dog in bacon, instead of simply adding chunks of bacon atop the fixings. Still delicious.



Next up we have the South of the Border Dog. Guacamole, house-made pico de gallo salsa, and sour cream.

Again, the bun really helped manage a tricky dog here. This one was a little easier to wrangle because of the delicious guacamole held everything together. Definitely a winner.



One of the finest palates in the hot dog eatin' game right there, kicking the tires.



The Schneids rolled deep with this deadly duo. The Deep Fried Danger Dog features a deep fried pepper bacon wrapped dog, with sauteed onions and chili sauce. And the Texas Dog had mesquite BBQ sauce, Tillimook cheddar cheese and homemade crispy onion straws.



The Schneids doesn't fuck around. His hunger monster had a one track mind. His review? 5 stars.



That's yours truly and Laura the owner. We would like to thank her for the hospitality and the fine franks. We will be back to try the Wasabi Egg Roll Dog and their take on the Chicago Dog for sure.

Mike's Chili Parlor.

My old pal Jake meandered his broke ass all the way out to the Pacific Northwest to visit yours truly. I talked a big game about the various Seattle delicacies that we had to try, but unfortunately we spent the entire weekend getting shit can drunk and meeting new buddies.

The one place we managed to drag our polluted, beer soaked asses to was Mike's Chili Parlor. This place was recommended to me from a few locals, so I figured we should give it the old college try. It was amazing, and this is our story.



Mike's has been owned and operated for 4 generations of the Semandris family. A friendly bunch, with a distinct family secret chili recipe. Located right off the locks in the Ballard community, Mike's has been feeding cold and rained on fishermen for eons. They received some recognition when they were featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a while back, but don't worry, it hasn't turned them into Hollywood pussies.

The owner, Mike (the 4th generation one), was nice enough to introduce himself. Maybe one of the coolest guys I've met, and he still makes all the chili everyday.



Mike's is your classic dive bar, complete with characters like Red, a wispy white haired jokester that finds his-rear end glued to a stool at this joint everyday. The bartender was a younger gal with a gift of gab. We alerted her early that we were the men behind the "world famous" Buddies and Hotdogs blog. She gave us her delicious recommends: a chili dog with all the fixings, and a small bowl of chili and a couple of ice cold PBR's. Game on buddies!



This is the famous Mike's Chili Dog, an all beef frank split down the center and grilled on a flat top. This monster features grated cheddar cheese, a heaping mound of bean chili, jalapenos, and fresh diced onions. The fixings are additional, but they're only like 50 cents each. The white bread bun is there simply to soak up the cheesy chili goodness. The chili is spicy enough to tickle your tonsils, but the onions and jalapenos do well to bring the zing.



Here's an overhead view of Jake's chili dog, and a bowl of Mike's finest. The chili is ground beef based with no beans. It has a nice kick and smooth and light consistency. It's greasy enough to keep out the wimps, and delicious enough send this buddy back for more. It's just a really good bowl of chili. Nothing fancy, but perfect for a rainy hungover day in Seattle.



Here's a cross section of the chili dog. Witness the layers of bowel crushing goodness. Boom!



Jake is a big fan of Mike's Chili, he also wore that silly ass Steve Zissou shit all weekend. He fit in nicely in this fishing community. A real swashbuckler, a regular ship hand.



Thumbs up from this Superbeast. I look pretty handsome considering we were up until 5 am the night before pounding Rainier (cool fuckers and the French pronounce it "RonYay").



The chili and the damage done.

This just might be the best hangover cure in Seattle. I walked into this place burping up acid, and I walked out feeling like a million bucks.

*Jake and I writing this one together. It's like a long distance relationship, with an enduring interest in hot dogs.

Another Old Ass Coney Island

I had to make a trip back to Oklahoma recently which typically irritates the hell outta me. This trip however was to go to my Grannie's 100th. Pretty amazing to think about living 100 years and all the inventions she's witnessed like microwaves and Girls Gone Wild. Plus she's rad. Aside from the hundy b-day there really wassn't much more joy in heading up I-35 so I managed to salvage the trip by getting some dags in my gullet. OKC's lack of culture is almost made up for by multiple hot dog joints.

This trip we decided to forgo heading straight to Coit's or Johnnie's (chronicled in past buddy posts) and instead hit the Coney Island. My sweet old lady has been going here with her pops since she was a wee lass. I hadn't been here in a few years and pretty much forgot about it. As with every single Coney Island that has been around since the early 1900's it is owned by a Greek family and has the traditional Greek Style spaghetti basic dogs and that's about it.

Right away the front window was inviting.



Getting up to the counter was also promising with a bin of red hot boilers



Couple passable dogs. Chili had a wonky flavor but the dog was not bad. The bummer was the beer selection was super lousy so I passed. Please forgive me buddies, I've made up for it.



Here's the one thing I really dug. Being from Oklahoma OU football is a way of life. Even though this season is pretty dismal. They had this wall that they have been keeping the seasons from way back through now. They even mark the years we won the conference and national championships.



p.s. here's some proof of how yer raised in Sooner Country.



p.p.s. We hit Coit's on the way outta town for a road dog and a root beer. They were delicious.

Molotes.

I went to a really good Oaxacan joint for dinner in Ballard called La Carta. They served mostly small plates for under 10$, and had an amazing tequila list that I didn't really tangle with because I was incredibly hungover from the night before.

I think I may have discovered my new favorite dish folks. Molotes. Beef sausage and potato filling inside a deep fried homemade tortilla. With three different sauces (a black bean puree, a cream sauce, and a green chilli sauce) and Oaxaqueno cheese crumbled on the top.

I like to think of these little fuckers as the original pizza roll, only made with vastly superior ingredients.

Frank

Dear buddies as I have been saying I had a post to get on here that you would be interested in. That poster below from the Aesthetic Apparatus fellows was printed by my li'l design company down here in Austin. Why you might ask? Well it's not just AA. I have been talking to all my poster maker pals and asking them to make me hot dog prints. Now Jake has been to my pad so he may be thinking "Hot dog prints? You don't have any more wall space dumbass."

He'd be correct but this new venture buddy Northcutt and I got into does. It's called Frank and our sweet old ladies and us are serving hot dogs and sausage to the meat loving masses down in ATX.



We got our shit together and got opened in July. While everyone here on Buddies and Hot Dogs loves dogs as much as their own mammy, due to the lack of a good dog place in Austin we kinda wondered if anyone down thisaway did. Well they do and we've been busier than a three legged cat trying to cover a turd on a marble floor. So busy we only have the restaurant and bar open so far. In the next couple weeks we'll have a full blown fancy ass coffee house and boutique grocery/deli which will be selling the prints.

See these exterior walls prove all that:





Here's a couple things we've painted on the inside with the grocery sign just going in yesterday.



There's a lot more to see but I'll bore you with some of that later. Here's some of the stuff we've been serving up:
Chili Dogs

Chicago

Slaw Dog

Aligator boudin fritters with hearts of palm salad and remoulade

Beef tenderloin sausage with portobellos, bacon crumbles and demi-glace.

Lamb sausage with grilled Haloumi cheese, harissa aioli and roasted red peppers

Our custom made Jackalope - Antelope rabbit sausage, sriracha aioli, huckleberry compote and applewood smoked cheddar

And last but not least our other permanent menu sausage the Texalina - beef and pork with South Carolina mustard BBQ sauce, grilled cole slaw and white cheddar cheese. This one is served in our Flapjacket. A corndog batter jacket.


Here's a couple of the drinks:

Bloody Mary made with bacon infused vodka


And the Italian Honey. A drink made with vodka, midori and garnished with prosciutto


Anyway duders. This is what I've been up to the last few months. Finally got the doors open and with just a little more work it will be in full swing. You can see our temporary site here which has some of our menus:

Hot Dogs Cold Beer

No shit I got that URL. The clowns of the world were sleeping on that one. New full site coming in the next week or so with shirts and other crap we've been designing and working on.

Come pay a visit.

Haute Dawg

New buddy Michael of Aesthetic Apparatus sent me this wiener-centric objet d' art. Sorta reminds me of an encased meat Medusa. But unlike the Medusa of classical antiquity, there's nothing monstrous about this guy's form.

Thanks Michael!

Taxi Dogs

"Johnny come lately...the new kid in town.
Everybody loves him, when he comes around."

I'm new to Seattle. I've only been here for a little over a month. In that time I've had a few adventures when I haven't been at work making the advertising.

For instance, I got shit bag wasted with some South African lesbians. One of which dumped a beer on my head and grabbed my balls so hard I screamed like a howler monkey. She laughed and called me a "pufter."

I've explored miles upon miles of the Emerald City on foot with my faithful companion Kublai Khan. The little bastard has pissed on every square inch of this town by now, I swear.

I've watched bums cry, bums shit, bums shoot up, and bums dance a jig. I've also seen a bum try and steal my dog's tennis ball. Bad idea bum.

In a month's time I think it has rained once, for like two minutes.

In a month's time I've introduced Seattle to Sweet Tea, and managed to annoy the hell out of everybody in the bars where I've preached the powers of its golden bronze goodness.

In exactly one month's time I went without eating one freaking hot dog.

Well, on Saturday I decided enough was enough. I donned my research smock, took a deep breath, and soldiered through the streets scouring for the scent of all-beef encased meats.

Introducing Taxi Dogs, located on the promenade of the Pike's Place Market. Behold!



It's hard to miss Taxi Dogs, with the wafting smells and giant hot dog sign.



It's a simple storefront. One that beckons the weary tourist, an occasional hobo, and me. A dog doctor knee deep in his quest for the Pacific Northwest's equivalent to Hot Doug's and the Wienery.

Taxi Dogs doesn't really have speciality hot dog combinations, simply a list of different sausages. You then add additional toppings of your choosing. They have kosher all-beef franks, bratwurst, kielbasa, hot links, chicken garlic sausage, weisswurst and more. Unfortunately the toppings cost extra. Lame.



I've always thought the proof of a good dog is all in the quality of the sausage and the resilliance of the bun. The canvas if you will.

The topping pairings are what separate a simple sausage in a bun, from a work of art.

Taking that into account, Taxi Dogs wins with the meat and bun. They fail when they charge extra for toppings. That's an expensive lunch for a regular encased meat savant such as myself.

Here's how I made the magic happen:



One Hot Link (spicy pork and beef sausage) with slaw, onions, yellow mustard, and some BBQ sauce.

The bun was a chewy hard roll, almost like a warm bagel, or pretzel. It held the girth of the hot link nicely, and the chewiness of it all was a nice surprise. It held the flavors together like a pistol grip ready to blast all over your taste buds, not on your shirt.



One Kosher all-beef frank with chili, cheddar cheese and yellow mustard.

This dog was ridiculously huge. Kind of like what we Minnesotan's call a Dome Dog. I prefer a thinner wiener with a snap. This dog was a mouthful. The bun was your typical soft, enriched white flour. Nothing special, but what you would expect with a chili cheese.



Here's a cross-section of the Hot Link. Nice weight to these dogs for sure.



Look at the size of that chili cheese!



While devouring my first dog in over a month, I spotted this pile of bums passed out in the grass. One guy kept trying over and over again to stand up. He smashed his face into the dirt about 20 times in a row before finally flailing on the ground crying real baby tears and screaming his head off. Bums crying seems like it would be the saddest thing ever, but these guys were actually pretty funny.



This bum finally got a hold of the tree to prop himself up, and then he promptly shit himself. That's when I decided to leave.

All in all Taxi Dogs has a fine selection of sausages and bun brethren. It was pretty expensive (about $7 per dog with my toppings) and I'm not a fan of dog's that are a solid inch and half in diameter. As I was taking pictures, the girl behind the counter asked where I was from. She then asked why I didn't get a "Seattle Dog?"

Wha??? Apparently there's a hot dog specific to Seattle. It has cream cheese on it. BOOM!

Next time buddies. Next time.

What is this Dostoevsky Dogs?

Man that last jackass is a windbag. How about this.

Back home in Austin me and the missus stop in to the Jackalope to grab a quick bite before seeing buddies Experimental Aircraft open for Stellastarr*

Went with the Tijuana Dog. 1/4 pounder wrapped in bacon, fried, cheese, japs and chipotle mayo. Not bad. Not bad.

Pronunciation: \shə-ˈkä-(ˌ)gō, -ˈkȯ-, -gə\

Next stop on the road, buddies, is the Windy City. It's the July trip to the Flatstock and the Pitchfork. This year was fucking awesome because it was about 105 in Austin and 70 in Chicago. And by tradition I planned the trip to land me in Chicago with two extra days to go say hello to Hot Doug's

Let's get started.

Dateline: Friday 10:30 AM. Trip one to Doug's. As usual the amazing offerings made it tough to decide but I crossed my fingers that the ones I'd miss Friday would still be around Monday. So I rolled with the Game of the Week:
Spicy Smoked Alligator Sausage with Cajun Remoulade and St. Pete's Blue Cheese



And the one dog I had always been wanting but was never on the menu when I was in town. The very same sausage that Anthony Bourdain raved about. Duders I present Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris



That is possibly the richest thing I've ever eaten other than the Hamburger Rossini from Bourdain's Les Halles (ground to order, char grilled, slice of house made foie gras terrine melting on top, dip of black truffle and red wine sauce)

I loves me the tasty animals.

Dateline: Friday PM, maybe Saturday AM

After Jesus Lizard, Tortoise, Built To Spill and Yo La Tengo buddies Jay Ryan and Bobby Dixon whip it into Dengeos for a couple of late night dogs and rings. Pretty ok dog considering the time of night.



Dateline: Next two days of Pitchfork. Lots of bands including Jay's band Dianogah, who were awesome. So here's a variety of festival sausages.

Ćevapčići. Their sign was Pork+Beef+Lamb+Garlic+Salt and Pepper. Shit was right on. Not sure how many I ate but the roasted red pepper and eggplant sauce made it.



Buddy Northcutt's Brat. Perfectly fine for festival food.



Cajun something or other. Also passable considering I took 60 PBR's in on Friday and left 10 for Saturday. Granted I had new buddy Nathan helping but not bad for two guys.



The last band. Also my all time favorite. The Flaming Lips



Dateline: Monday 10:30 AM. Thee music is over. Park food has been replaced by the previous night's pancakes, li'l smokies and bacon I cooked up at Jay's. Now back at Doug's to make sure I get my fix of the good stuff. Today I chow on the Jamaican Jerk Pork Sausage with Spicy Mango-Passion Fruit Mayonnaise and Roasted Plantains plus the Burgundy and Citrus Pork Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomato Mustard and Montsegur Peppercorn Cheese.




Badass.

As our time in Chi-Town comes to a close we haul ass to Kuma's for a pre flight burger. Kuma's is the Hot Doug's of burger joints plus METAL. Awesome tunes, hot gals with the tattoos bringing beers and burgers named after metal bands. And I'm not talking that pussy hair metal like Poison or Ratt I'm talking about Mastodon, High On Fire and Sabbath. I decided to have the most metal of the burgers on the menu. The Slayer. Pile of fries topped with a ½ lb. Burger, Chili, Cherry Peppers, Andouille, Onions, Jack Cheese, and Anger. How do you pass up Andouille and Anger?

It was the size of three of my stomachs but I gave it my best. Excellent burger even if the patty, sausage and a few chili cheese fries were all I could get down.



So with that I leave this epic post and plan my next trip back to be pretty much exactly the same.

Hotel Dogs

Buddies, I have been ramblin' again so here comes a post-a-palooza. A veritable sausage tour. Or some shit like that.

First up. Back to Sacramento. Don't ask. That place sucks the donk. However since I have discovered Capitol Dawg it's slightly less irritating to make the trip.

Since I was just there two weeks prior I sorta had a plan. Drop in, grab a couple to go dogs and slug back a sixer at the Holiday Inn where I was shacked up. So the first part went on schedule. I even got there for Blue Monday which was 88¢ PBR bottles. Downed a couple whilst the chef grilled my #6 Monarchs Dawg: mustard, swiss cheese and sauerkraut and #9 River Dawg: mustard, onions and cole slaw. Side of sweet potato fries please.

Now where the plan went astray is Suckramento has a severe shortage of Get Quicks downtown. And it's not like the part of downtown I was in was all skyscrapers and shit. It's boring stuff next to more boring stuff and Capitol Dawg. So why there wasn't a beer procurement facility between my dog pick up and the sleepin' shed is beyond me. Moral of the story here is a man with two dogs will gladly buy a bucket of brew for $35 from the hotel bar when in a pinch.

All said and done it was maybe the best room eats I've had. You guys figure out the sliding scale on hotel food on your own.

Hotel Dogs and the most expensive six pack ever purchased:

Blessed.

Not only is today my 33rd birthday, but it's also National Hot Dog Day! It's no coincidence that my pops used his encased meat to help make me on this very special holiday.



When : July 23rd

National Hot Dog Day celebrates one of America's favorite summer sandwiches. It is only fitting that this dog gets its day.

Its summertime. Hot dogs are center stage on the grill, and at picnics all across America. They are at the ballpark. They are sold from carts on street corners in every city. It's not hard to find them. We consume hundreds of millions of hot dogs on the Fourth of July alone.

Enjoy National Hot Dog Day to the fullest. Have a couple of hot dogs for lunch or dinner. And, don't forget to cook a few on a stick at the evening campfire.

What's in a hot dog? Don't' ask, and we won't tell. Sometimes, its best if you don't know.

Happy National Hot Dog Day!

I was also born in 1976, the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. My birthday is like the new number of the beast, yo!

#hotdogs #America #Freedom #boner

Thanks to superbuddy Dschwen for the find.

WTF Seattle?