Hot Dog Tour of South Jersey

National Hot Dog Day was this past Wednesday, so my hot dog connoisseur brother and I went to a few hot dog joints in South Jersey to celebrate the day.

I have to say both of my brothers are good sports, both of them have come with me to film videos for you. I'm sure they would rather be doing other things over watching me talk to the camera on my phone all day, but I think the food I buy for them keeps them coming back.

This Wednesday my brother Kyle and I went on a mini hot dog tour. Ultimately, we only ended up going to 3 places. The combination of me not looking up closing times and our stomachs being super full led to us only visiting three.

Now, Kyle is a hot dog fanatic. He would eat them everyday. He actually texted me as I was writing this that he had two hot dogs for lunch...or breakfast who knows. He eats them cold right out of the fridge or just sticks them in the microwave. Don't let this unconventional hot dog consumption doubt his pallet for hot dogs. He has been to many hot dog places and knows his way around different types of hot dogs. This made him perfect for the adventure. It was also his idea.

I think he just wanted an excuse to eat hot dogs all day...

We started off at Hot Dog Tommy's in Cape May.

They had a line at the tiny hot dog stand, which raised my expectations for this place.

The owner of the place, Bruce, came out with a try of samples of their frozen drinks like Coke, root beer, cherry, orange and cream soda, lime, and blue raspberry. We asked him about the hot dogs, which he explained are Black Angus and steamed.

We ordered a Cliffie Dog (a plain hot dog) and a Dock Dog (yellow mustard, Miss Mary's chili, and onions). I don't know who Miss Mary is, but she makes some good chili. We also got a coke and a cherry frozen drinks and cranberry coleslaw.

Man, Hot Dog Tommy's makes a good dog. They are super thick and a good ratio of bread to dog to toppings. Kyle referred to the hot dogs as first class.

The second place we went to was Grab A Wiener in Wildwood.

Grab A Wiener is right on the boardwalk and have mastered the boardwalk restaurant feel. They also had an awesome sign of the rules of hot dogs.

Famous for their extra long hot dogs, Grab A Wiener has an extensive list of topping options. Since we ordered a chili dog and a plain hot dog at the previous stop, we opted for the same here.

Now I'm not sure what hot dogs they use, but this gave me major Sabrett vibes. Very long and thin. Anytime I think of Sabrett's I think of a dirty water dog (the boiled hot dogs sold on the street in NYC). I love me a dirty water dog. Grab A Wiener's dogs were grilled, which makes the flavor of a hot dog come alive. Is that a weird way to explain the flavor of a hot dog?

The chili dog had a ton of chili on it. For me, this was great I am a topping and condiment queen. The more the merrier.

They also have a foot long corn dog that had Kyle's and my mouth watering, but we were beginning to feel quite full and had more stops to make. We will just have to go back this summer.

Our final stop was Maui's Dog House in North Wildwood. Let's just start with the fact they serve your food in a dog bowl and I loved this.

I don't know what it is about hot dog joints and awesome signs, but there must be a secret rule they all follow.

We switched it up this time with a plain hot dog (okay that's not different) and a Drunk Dog (sauerkraut cooked in local beer and their own spicy brown mustard). We also got an order of their salty balls, boiled, super salty potato balls served with melted butter.

My inner Irish girl loved the salty balls, I love boiled potatoes.

Kyle said the dogs themselves reminded him of a bratwurst which made him happy.

The beer soaked sauerkraut made us both happy. It would have probably tasted great with a beer, but we didn't plan ahead properly.

What's the verdict?

There are so many GREAT hot dog places in South Jersey and we didn't even scratch the surface.

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