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America's Best Hot Dog Town: Cast Your Vote

Posted by Ed Levine, September 11, 2007 at 7:55 AM

Have you ever noticed how passionate people are about their hometown hot dogs?

To the residents of southern Connecticut there will never be a better hot dog than Rawley's or Swanky Frank's. In Atlanta, you'll get stoned if you talk trash about the hot dog at The Varsity. In Detroit, it's not a hot dog, it's a coney, served up at the American Coney Island or Lafayette Coney Island.

But let's put passion aside for a moment and try to be objective about hot dogs. To my way of thinking, there are three great hot dog towns in America: New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Why do I say this?

In part, I suppose, because all three locales favor all beef hot dogs with natural casings, and I for one think those hot dogs are the best-tasting hot dogs on the planet. All three cities of course prepare and top their hot dogs very differently, but whether a hot dog is grilled, char-grilled, boiled, steamed, or griddled, and then topped with mustard, sauerkraut, onions, coleslaw, chili, sport peppers, pickles, or slices of tomato, doesn't really matter. In my mind if you don't start with an all-beef hot dog with a natural casing, you will not end up with a truly great hot dog.

This is not a big city chauvinist talking here. I just haven't found another burg small or large with hot dogs to match the franks you can find at the Big Three. But if by some chance I've missed a great hot dog town, we are allowing write-in candidates. Cast your vote now.

The best hot dog town in America is:

A. New York
B. Chicago
C. Los Angeles
D. Other (name it)

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