Here’s what this project has taught me so far: Some days you want to eat hot dogs, and some days, you really, really do not. Today is one of the no hot dog days. I’m unsure if my left boob is just sore from my workout or if that soreness is coming from my heart. Either way, today it feels like something in that area is ripping in half like a piece of tissue paper.
I figured I’d go looking for Chris today. Maybe I wouldn’t find him and I wouldn’t have to eat a hot dog. I found him. I ate a hot dog.
Name: Chris
Slinging Hot Dogs Since: 40 years (so 1984)
Likes Hot Dogs?: You bet.
Favorite Topping: Like you. Mustard and red onion. Sometimes sauerkraut.
Price: $3.00
If Eddie didn’t tell me about this cart, I definitely wouldn’t have visited it, and that makes me concerned. I’m scouring the internet for clues on where the best hot dog carts are, but there’s not a lot to go by other than looks on the street. This one, which is surrounded by pigeons and something (?) wet right in front of MSG, feels like it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. But you can’t know until you try it.
Chris isn’t that talkative either. He doesn’t have any signs other than the pictures of hot dogs on his cart where he’s scrawled the prices in Sharpie. When I ask him what he was up to yesterday he says “taking care of stuff.” Does he use Sabrett? “Only,” he replies. The one word answers continue until Chris surprises me: “I’m planning on retiring soon,” he mumbles.
But he clams back up when I ask him about what’s next. It doesn’t seem like he’s going on a cruise to the Caribbean. But what I like about Chris is this: Unlike Eddie, his dogs have no frills, no pizzaz, no nothing. They’re straight up.
One thing you’ll find at Chris’ cart is “red onions,” which for the uninitiated, is not red onions. Instead, this is a famous Sabrett New York Hot Dog Stand sauce, and Sabrett actually sells a packaged version, which I’m ordering to try. In the sauce there’s white onions, water, tomato paste, corn starch, salt, sugar, and spices — which spices? That’s another mystery.
Bobby Flay puts cinnamon in his; others prioritize cayenne and paprika; and Kenji admits he just wings it every damn time. If I really wanted to start a fight, I’d say it’s basically just ketchup (albeit much more watery and with a very slight crunch). It’s better than ketchup. But also, kind of just ketchup, right? I’ll just leave that there.
Chris’ cart through and through is an original cart. Is it the best dog I’ve had? No, but it’s also far from the worst. It’s something I can stomach on day eight — it’s not a chili dog and it’s not a dog that’s been sitting in water for a week and a half. And honestly, that’s all I can really ask for at this point.
Can you take the weekend off?