Viva La Hot Dog!!: (Hot) Dog Days of Summer

Zach wanted the title of this blog to be "Girthy Dogs and Moist Cakes" but he was vetoed. Immediately.

I got a tip from an old coworker at the end of last week; she emailed me about a hot dog vendor that sets up his cart-shop on the corner of Bethany Home & 15th street, every Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday from 11am-1pm. To some, the mention of the hot dog cart can be dismal and diarrhea-inducing, and to others just plain mundane - New Yorkers pass a hot dog cart about as often as a Scottsdalian (?) passes a Starbucks. However, it was her description of that day's daily special that intrigued us - "Today's special is the 'summer dog' - grilled peaches, goat cheese & balsamic onions. I know it sounds weird but delicious." No Mia, that did not sound weird at all. That sounded amazing. I clicked fwd and sent the information to the group in a calendar invite for this Wednesday, and all accepted within minutes.

Within the time period of sending out that email and attending Wiener Wednesday - we had hired a new girl for our department.... who.... didn't....like....hot dogs. Not only did she come and kick me out of my old office - but the real blow came when she announced her hatred of the HOT DOG. Her excuse was that she was a cart girl at a golf course for many years, and the thought of hot dogs being served all day made her nauseous. It made the rest of our group hungry.

After talking her into a trial taste-testing with our group, she then had the audacity to ask if she could write an entry for the blog. Blasphemy! I stormed out of my old office and into my new one; my world was slowing spiraling out of control. It wasn't until I arrived today at JP's that my axis stopped tilting and all was right in the world. I even got to watch the new girl eat an entire Jumbo Dog, without ralfing. However I have to admit, I wouldn't have minded a little side curb action. At this point, she deserved it. (Just kidding Kylie, I love you girl).

At first, we drove right past 15th street and screamed in horror as the man and his hot dog cart faded in our rear view, along with our (hot) dog days of summer dreams. However, within a blink of an eye, Zach had spun the car in a 180 and we were back on track. Quickly parallel parking his car (apparently we needed to get as close to the cart as physically possible), we got out and stepped right on up to the cart. Fairly disappointed, we found out that the Summer Special was not on the menu. But, we were greeted with a smile and the smell of jumbo dogs on the grill, as well as a promise that the Summer Special will make its comeback next Wednesday for us. This quaint hot dog cart lived up to it's recommendation. The jumbo dogs were perfectly grilled, the bun was right on par, and the condiments were excellent.

The orders were placed as followed: