Hot Dog Of The Week: Tijuana Dog
Note: Hawk Krall is a Philadelphia-based illustrator who will be chiming in with his hot dog wisdom and original artwork on a regular basis. Take it away, Hawk!
Past Weeks' Dogs
The Tijuana Dog—aka the Mexican Hot Dog, Sonora Dog, Border Dog, or Danger Dog—seems to be popping up everywhere these days, even on the East Coast. These bacon-wrapped beauties have actually been sold by Mexican street vendors since the 1950's and slowly made their way across the border to California and Arizona.
Tijuana dogs are as versatile as tacos, the only rule being that the dog is wrapped in bacon and cooked on a flat grill or deep fried, and piled high with a combination of Mexican and traditional American condiments. Toppings can include, but are not limited to: Grilled or pickled jalepeños, salsa, pico de gallo, fried onions, pineapple, crema (mexican creme fraiche), pinto beans, slaw, cilantro, radish, avacado, guacamole, mustard, mayonnaise, green relish, pickles, ketchup, and various kinds of cheese—from Mexican Cotija to shredded yellow cheese or even a whiz-like cheese sauce.
In Arizona, the Sonora Dog is often served on a Bolillo roll, but many stands just use a regular split hot dog bun. In New York you can find them all over Queens with a Colombian twist, or at Crif Dogs in Manhattan, where their Chihuahua is wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and topped simply with sour cream and avocado. The South Philly Tap Room also has a respectable version, but I haven't been able to find any taquerías in Philadelphia that serve the real thing. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.
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14 Comments:
@Hawk: Awesome dog! I've never seen one topped with pineapple but it sounds like it would be pretty incredible.
Caroline Russock at 3:20PM on 07/10/09
When I lived in L.A., over by MacArthur Park, the local 'gutter dog' vendor topped his awesome, bacon-wrapped wares thusly:
fried onions and green peppers, mayo, ketchup, and jalapenos. SO GOOD. And all for just $2.50.
Eating them was a train wreck, but you were always offered several napkins.
kimonkey7 at 3:40PM on 07/10/09
Where does we buy posters?!
Nebagakid at 3:47PM on 07/10/09
Yeah I'm really jealous of the west coast for having these things all over. We have lots of great authentic mexican food in Philly and NY but the dogs are pretty hard to find.
Nebagakid-
The originals are available for sale but I'm working on having some prints made, should have some ready by the end of them month.
Hawk Krall at 3:54PM on 07/10/09
Tucsonan here - Hawk, the Sonoran hot dog is in a Bolillo roll, not a bolilli roll.
Out here, they contain: bacon wrapped hot dog, onions, tomatoes, beans, mustard, mayo, and a jalapeno based salsa. You can add cheese, avocado crema, grilled chiles, grilled Mexican green onions, and various other salsas.
I think I might go grab one from El Guero Canelo for dinner...mmm.
missvenuz at 4:46PM on 07/10/09
Yes, I remember these beauties--bacon wrapped and all--from the many visits to Tijuana when I lived in Southern California!! Yet, for all the late-night tongue, brain, goat, chupacabras, and whatever tacos I fearlessly ate from street vendors, I never mustard up the courage to try a Tijuana hot dog. (Ha ha)
Lorenzo at 4:47PM on 07/10/09
I know they have a bacon wrapped dog at our favourite taco place here in San Diego, not sure if its quite the same. As a veggie I cant vouch for its goodness, but my husband assures me its good....
http://www.tacosmackdown.com/
jennywenny at 4:51PM on 07/10/09
The single most popular food in Chile is the hot dog. They are served at stands everywhere. The "el completo" is loaded with dripping piles of mayo, ketchup, guacamole, and tomato...but they have tons of different toppings. Here is a major Chilean chain (Doggis): http://www.doggis.cl. I tried the "Iberico", which had tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, Spanish chorizo pieces, and creamy olive sauce. OMG.
jayevee at 5:23PM on 07/10/09
@jennywenny I can't imagine Lucha Libre making anything that didn't taste awesome!
As a Mexican-American, I feel a little guilty driving past the oh-so-traditional El Indio in favor of Lucha Libre. But, the owner's so cool and the potato rolled tacos are out of this world! The owner even gave us free TJ-style corn last time I visited. And I will most definitely sit in the champion's booth one of these days!
Lorena at 6:33PM on 07/10/09
here in san francisco there is the similar mission dog:
http://breadxbread.blogspot.com/2009/03/bacondog.html
http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/map/45659370/san_francisco_ca/bacon_dog_cart.html
lmcsf at 7:04PM on 07/10/09
If someone sold these from a sidewalk cart on K St here in DC, they'd have a lively business.
chanterelle at 10:49PM on 07/10/09
TJ dogs and TJ tacos are delicious...especially when you're in high school and coming back from "the club" at 5am. Oh the good ol' days.
kimbodian at 9:24AM on 07/11/09
Sampling hot dogs is a hobby of mine. I've eaten many and know of the various styles. Personally, I like to focus on the actual frankfurter and all this stuff detracts from and masks the flavor of the hot dog. 90% of the time I just have mustard on my dog. That is all a quality natural casing dog needs. But I do try everything just to experience it. I live in N.J. which has a large Hispanic/Mexican population. These dogs are quite popular here. Although I don't go out of my way to track them down, a friend of mine does. He was going to drag me to New York to sample a couple before we found a place in Orange, N.J. that serves many of the dogs mentioned above. The name of the place is Mazzi Dogs. The owner told me that while he enjoys his dogs plain or with chili, he offers these dogs because there are a lot of Mexican and Spanish people in the neighborhood. They are very popular and he makes a lot of money selling them. Once word got out, he began getting customers who travelled from quite a distance aways. It seems that the Tijuana/ Sonora dog is the newest trend in hot dogs.
hotdoglover at 5:03AM on 07/12/09
Wow, that certainly rivals our Chicago-style for toppings. Wonder if I can find one of those around here -- maybe up in Rogers Park...
me3dia at 1:39PM on 07/12/09