4th Annual Hot Dog Tour

June 30, 2018

I know it's cliché but where does the time go? When you're enjoying one of America's favorite food, the hot dog, and doing it with favorite friends: time passes all too quickly. Today's tour was postponed due to Dad having an attack of angina brought on by unnecessary but Clark style worrying. He needs to eat more hotdogs!

Anyway, this was the year for the Zela
zos to plan. After researching and looking at maps for driving time, Beth decided on New Bedford, Fail River, Cranston RI and back home to Crazy Jakes in Wilbraham, Setting out about 9:30 we vet e off with Betsy (Tom's GPS girlfriend) showing us the way.

Mary's Steamed Burgers

First stop was to be Paddy's in New Bedford where we would also take a stroll on their river walk and enjoy the Atlantic and fill Terry and Alan in on the charms of this old whaling port. But alas! Paddy's was no longer in business. What to do? Tom went into a small and interesting record shop and asked where can we get some good hotdogs. The advice was to, try Mary's Steamed Burgers up three streets at 288 Union St We were a bit hesitate since the name emphasized burgers but we were assur
ed there was a plentiful hotdog selection.

What a selection it was! We were in luck since we arrived before the lunch crowd and Mary and her cook Michelle were alone in the delightfully decorated little restaurant.  Mary originally hails from

Lenox MA but as been here in New Beford for about 2 ½ years.  Many of the names of the dogs 

reference either family members, John, customer Stephanie football players such as Gronk and Brady or locales.

Mary uses skinless Kayems and dresses them up pretty good with over 30 different toppings from sour cream, siracha mays, Buffalo sauce, her own homemade Texas meat sauce to name a few. She also uses the New England sliced bun (my favorite) and toasts it to perfection.

We each started the tour with two d
ogs a piece.  Terry had the Little Tot which is tarter tots, melted cheese and sour cream. Her second choice was the Wild Buffalo with Wild Buffalo sauce, blue cheese salad dressing. Terry had no favorite between the two. Each was yummy! Alan went for the Frito. Yup, you guessed it. A dog topped with TX meat sauce, cheese, jalapenos and crushed Fritos. His favorite was the Wedge and as you might suspect it was like a Wedge salad with lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon and blue cheese. It looked very heathy and colorful. Beth chose the Gronk and who wouldn't with a name like that? The Gronk was kraut (for his Polish heritage), onions and banana peppers. Having liked the sandwich Reuben for many years, her second was the Reuben. Again, kraut, (I see a pattern here), nacho cheese, Thousand Island! dressing, Favorite was probably the Reuben. Taste buds know a good thing when it makes its war/ over the palate. 'Lastly, Tom chose the Jon and Brady. Jon is named for Mary's son.  Jon included TX meat sauce, jalapenos and bacon. Brady consisted again of the TX meat sauce (which Mary/ was generous to give us each a small sampling of it; it was perfect) but I digress. Back to Brady, (whom Terry hates), TX meat sauce, jalapeno and banana peppers and red pepper flakes. All Tom’s favorite tastes.  While waiting for our dogs, which wasn't long at all, we previewed the menu and noticed a Yankees Suck hamburger (also an extensive
selection). This burger comes with fried mac and cheese, cilantro ranch dressing and onion, lettuce and tomato. I'm not sure what sucks about this!

Mary also gave us a complimentary tasting of her winter menu item the empada again, with a choice of many fillings. We had the linguica empada since New Bedford is heavily populated with Portuguese who arrived here for the bustling whaling industry many years ago.

We promised to "tag" Mary in my FB post and write to Phantom Gourmet to suggest they stop in and give Mary the credit her place some PR. She did win a trophy for best dessert, fried Oreos, at a recent tasting event. With 8 dogs under our belts sets a high bar for our next stop Nick's Coney Island hot dogs in Fall River at 534 S. Main St.  Forgot to mention, we parked down near the Riverwalk and a white limo pulls into the lot followed by 20-25 motorcycle. Upon inquiring, we learned they were also making a pilgrimage to remember a friend who was lost at sea last year.

Nick's Hotdogs

Nick's Hot Dogs is a small place with a couple of two seater tables and five wood chairs with a right hand tray for your food. We were not greeted very friendly by the two women working that day. It was warm inside, being that the temp. have been over 95 this week. Still no excuse when serving the infamous Aubin/Zelazo (A to Z)  hot dog tour. I chose this place because on their website they listed a deep fried hotdog and it piqued my curiosity but left me disappointed when I realized it's not battered but just placed in a deep fry which gives it a more grilled effect. Again, Kayem dogs are used at Nick's so there's something good to report.   Tom; Terry and Alan each tried the deep fried. Tom decided on the traditional route and topped his one dog with mustard, relish and onions. Alan did the same, copy cat!  Terry added the unthinkable ketchup to her dog with onions. They were not placed deep into a NE style bun and it was toasted.   Boo hiss!!  Keeping with my kraut fetish, I took a regular cooked dog
and topped it with kraut, mustard and relish.  Keeping with trying all things new, I decided upon a raspberry-lime Rickey as a drink and Tom took a lime rickey. Bottled locally. Both were good. Terry who can be a Yahoo, decided upon the cousin, the Yoo Hoo chocolate milk. The two woman did make up for their unfriendly and unwelcoming first impression by offering up one Coney Island hot dog for us to split. What I did notice was the French fries are made fresh and salted there. Watched the waitress peel the spud, place it on a rutting press and produced good size potatoes ready for the fryer.

Tom had made arrangements to have us meet a salesman from Astro who lives in Fall River. The call was made and it was decides to take a mid day hiatus from not dogs and enjoy some cold libations on the Tipsy Seagull; a floating bar along the shore of Fall River. Pete McDonald and his friend Bob escorted us to the Tipsy Seagull where Terry and I enjoyed Line-en-koo-gul (phonetically spelled for your ease of reading) Summertime Shandys while the man enjoyed bottled brews. Pete pointed to the lighthouse in the bay and said it was available for overnight accommodations. It is called the Borden Lighthouse after the infamous Lizzie. Borden who allegedly murdered her parents with an ax. Hmm, I

Nick's Hot Dogs

Think pass on spending the night there. Occasionally, you could feel the bar sway as jet skis went by and created a wake.  Food that was being served to customers around us looked for appetizing but not for us — hot dogs await in Cranston at Spike's Park Yard Dogs at 640 Reservoir Ave. Spike is an English bulldog known as the "Chairman".

Spikes, even though AC, was not very cool. Maybe sitting at a window booth was our problem, but it was a bit toasty, and I don't mean the buns. Like Mary's, Spikes has an extensive list of toppings and dogs from which to choose our 6-8 dogs. At count, we have consumed 3 dogs a piece. If you count the gummy hot dogs we bought as little token treats, then we each have had four for a count of 16 before placing our order at Spikes. What makes Spikes dogs unusual is they are served on a halved Hoagie Roll. I hope Tom's choice is no indication of his mood, but he took the Lonely Guy covered in scallions, mustard, and sauteed onions. It must not have made him happy because his second choice was Angry Buffalo dog. Hot pepper rings and Buffalo sauce. Seemed to put a smile on his face. Beth traveled over to Europe with a Samurai dog with teriyaki sauce and sauteed onions. However, when the Samurai arrived the onions were red onion rings. Boo, so Tom got those. I should have cut off the "top knot" of this Samurai for not serving me my sautéed onions, only way I'll eat them. Italy was a better country with my Pizza dog complete with pizza sauce and melted mozzarella. I should say the hot dogs were more red in color, greater diameter and a bit longer than the traditional we have had. They use all beef Munkey brand dogs. The larger dog inside the Hoagie roll is more filling. I had to bare back one of my dogs to insure I was able to finish both. Terry also enjoyed her pizza dog. She's a lover of pizza so I wasn't surprised. Reuben was her second choice and it was the kraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. Terry had no problem -..-Jutting down those two dogs. The girl can eat! Alan went with the namesake. Junk Yard dog complete with scallions. Spike's special mustard, pickle, tomato, and hot pepper rings. Nothing junky about that dog! Alan also had a Reuben dog and was the first to finish. Torn and pulled up the rear. the old gray hairs were fading. Tom and I split a Spikes Root beer.

With one stop to go arid an 1 ½ hours ride back, we deeded .takes would have to wait for another time. Being local, we could pop over on another day with Terry and Alan as a P.S. to this great day. For dessert, yes, 1 know we were fu I, but always room nor dessert. We had Terry and Alan in for cannoli’s to celebrate Terry's birthday and make plans for another one of our traditions, game night.

Tom and I were full of not only/ hotdogs but memories of singing in the car TV show theme songs, thinking of songs with the word "happy" In it and discussing current event topics.

Next trip will be planned by Alan and we know he won't disappoint. Even though our first stop could have been disastrous with the unexpected dosing of Paddy's, hands down our favorite place this trip was Mary's. The bar was set and no one came. close to exceeding her hospitality, food and atmosphere. Until the 2019 tour; bare baked or topped, dogs rule!!!