Hot dogs rising to new culinary heights

One hundred and fifty million people can’t all be wrong.

Well, maybe not quite 150 million, because we’re talking hot dogs here and it’s pretty easy to eat more than one. But that’s how many of America’s favorite tube steaks are expected to be consumed in the United States on the Fourth of July Monday — enough to reach five times from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

If your recent experience with hot dogs is limited to the package you pull out of the fridge, you may be surprised to learn things have changed. For one thing, while relatively inexpensive dogs still exist in Las Vegas (the South Point has a cart with $1.25 hot dogs, and The Orleans has a cart with $1.50 hot dogs cooked in beer from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily), those 99-cent half-pounders have gone the way of the city’s superbargain buffets. At Planet Hollywood’s Pink’s, the Los Angeles-based mecca for many of the country’s hot dog lovers, they range from $4.50 to $9, depending on toppings and how many hot dogs are involved in the serving; at the Dog Haus on Paradise Road they’re $7; at the Haute Doggery at The Linq they’re $4.49 to $10.99; and at Pizza Forte they’re $4.25 at Sunset Station in Henderson, $4.75 at the Hard Rock Hotel (there’s also a Pizza Forte at the T-Mobile Arena).

But with the higher prices have come increased quality, at least in some cases. Adam Gertler, brand ambassador and culinary team member for the Dog Haus, said that with the culinary evolution, producers started looking even at down-market items such as hot dogs, which for the most part had traditionally been made with scraps and byproducts, and saying, “maybe we don’t have to make them as cheap as possible.”

Gertler said Dog Haus’ hot dogs have evolved from the one he made for the Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Made.” That pastrami dog involved a whole brisket, including the fat cap, plus black pepper and garlic. The official Dog Haus recipe, he said, also contains “East Coast” spices such as bay leaf, coriander, mace, allspice and fresh garlic, with the dogs produced in small facilities in California.

Other chefs have turned to legacy brands for their restaurants. Mimmo Ferraro, Pizza Forte owner, chose to serve Hofmann hot dogs from Syracuse, N.Y.

“It comes down to the hometown,” Ferraro said, and Syracuse is the hometown of his parents; the brand was established there in 1879. “When we ventured off to the pizza shops (from Ferraro’s Restaurant & Wine Bar on Paradise Road), with pizza and hot dogs kind of stuff, my dad said, ‘Why don’t we see if we can get Hofmann hot dogs out here; we’d be the only ones on the West Coast with the product.’ We have exclusivity in Las Vegas to carry the Hofmann brand.”

And he said it’s been a draw for the shops.

“We get people who actually made the trip because we carry the Hofmann product,” he said, noting that it contains no artificial flavors or colors. Ferraro said they get requests to sell the hot dogs retail but aren’t set up for that yet. They carry Hofmann’s traditional German hot dog, which is a blend of veal, pork and beef; the Snappy, which he said made the company famous and contains veal, pork and egg white; all-beef; a cheddar-stuffed frank; and some sausages. At the T-Mobile Arena, they sell the Hofmann line of “handwiches,” featuring brioche rolls.

Anthony Meidenbauer, executive chef for Block 16 Hospitality, said when his company was approached about opening a hot dog restaurant at The Linq, he decided to use Sahlen’s hot dogs from Buffalo because he’s Buffalo-born and -bred. Sahlen’s has been around 10 years longer than Hofmann.

“They’re cooked over the flame and they get kind of crispy and crunchy and golden brown, which adds this really great flavor to the hot dog,” he said. “We see people who come in from the western New York area and they see that they’re Sahlen’s hot dogs and they get superexcited.”

Pink’s, another Block 16 Hospitality restaurant, serves Hoffy, which has been made in Los Angeles for more than 85 years.

“The key for us is the natural casing,” Meidenbauer said.

In many cases, hot dog toppings also have evolved, from the old ballpark favorites of mustard, onions or — horrors! — ketchup. The Pizza Fortes take a fairly old-school approach.

“We have a condiment bar,” Ferraro said. “We let them top it however they want. It includes sport peppers and tomatoes, which allows them to create their Chicago dog,” the toppings of which also traditionally are yellow mustard, neon-green relish, chopped onion, a pickle and a dash of celery salt, on a poppy-seed bun.

But for the other hot dog joints, the toppings are a lot more extreme, and in many cases less traditional. Witness Pink’s Vegas Strip Dog, two dogs in one bun with chili, guacamole, jalapenos, American cheese, mustard and onions; Haute Doggery’s The Rising Sun, with crispy yam, nori furikake, a teriyaki glaze, spicy mayo and tempura avocado; or the Dog Haus’ Sooo Cali, with wild arugula, spicy basil aioli, crispy onions, avocado and tomato.

Haute Doggery is the hot dog version of Holsteins Shakes and Buns at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Meidenbauer said. “We’re taking that kind of idea, with the fun, playful toppings with the burgers, and doing it with the hot dog brand.”

He said he thinks the hot dog evolved just as the hamburger did a few years before.

“When the economy got difficult, people weren’t going out and eating those expensive steaks,” Meidenbauer said. “We as a company grasped on that trend, and that’s why we have the burgers, hot dogs and pizza in the group.”

And, Gertler said, all things are relative.

“There’s a lot more chefferie that goes into simple foods,” he said, “which at the core is a very hopeful thing. You can do a great hamburger — call it a $25 hamburger — and it’s still relatively expensive, rather than $80 for a really good steak. Your dollar’s going to go a long way.”

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.