Saturday, July 23, 2011

Rocco's Dog House

Happy National Hot Dog Day! As hot dog bloggers, Rachel and I were happy to discover that such a day exists - as if we needed an excuse to eat more hot dogs. A quick Google search indicates that this is a day not taken lightly in some parts of the United States. Some towns have hot dog festivals and the capitol lawn in Washington, DC becomes the nation’s largest hot dog picnic. Nothing of the sort was happening in Provo so we simply decided to grab some dogs at another local establishment.

We went to Rocco’s Dog House located on Center Street in Provo. We had tried to come here a couple times before but it was always closed. For the summer they set up a temporary stand with outdoor seating in the neighboring parking lot, but this wasn’t open (probably cause they were operating without a permit) so we had to go into their actual restaurant which is combined with Gandolfo’s Delicatessen. This was actually quite fun because it’s located in the basement of the historic Knight Block building. Walking down some old wooden stairs in the back of a long hallway leads you directly into their eclectic seating area. The walls are adorned with metal signs and New York memorabilia. My favorite art piece was a large mural on one wall of Mike Piazza standing at home plate with a long sub instead of a bat. If I were a Mets fan I would want that in my house.

The menu at Rocco’s/Gandolfo’s is quite confusing. It seemed like every available spot on the wall was filled with menu items for the two brands. Fortunately Rachel and I had decided what we wanted during our two previous attempts to eat here. I ordered the delicious sounding Hound Dog which consisted of a Polish sausage topped with a fried egg, a bacon strip, and Rocco’s secret barbeque-like hot dog sauce. Rachel ordered the Deputy dog, an all-beef dog topped with cole slaw and the secret sauce. Both dogs were served on hoagie rolls. For a dog which sounds gross and way fatty, the Hound dog was actually quite good. Nothing in it felt out of place and all the ingredients complemented each other. If the idea sounds weird just think of it as a breakfast sandwich; you’ll feel less guilty thinking this too.

The Deputy Dog
The Hound Dog

It was great to finally visit Rocco’s and their hot dogs were worth the long wait. I can see myself going back here in the future to try some of their other menu items. It’s a fun and modest establishment that feels very authentic. The atmosphere and dogs were great. Being there with Rachel was pretty good too.


Rocco's Dog House is located in the basement of the Knight Block Building at 18 N University Ave. in Provo.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Purple Turtle




This week Alan and I went to The Purple Turtle in Pleasant Grove. We had driven past the place a couple of times and had always wanted to go. How could a place called “The Purple Turtle” not be cool?

The Purple Turtle only sells one type of hot dog, a foot long. We decided to each get one along with some fries and a pineapple shake. Once we got our food, Alan discovered that there was KETCHUP on the hot dogs. How embarrassing—this is Alan’s second hot dog with ketchup for this blog.

The hot dogs were okay. They were topped with ketchup, mustard, and a ton of relish. Neither of us finished them, which is a Hot Dog a Week first. Honestly there’s not much to report about the dogs.

Just couldn't finish..

The Purple Turtle is a pretty interesting place though. The food is decent, nothing special really, but it seems like a really popular place to hang out. There was a ton of seating, and I could imagine it filling up pretty easily. Which is pretty cool seeing as it’s not a chain restaurant. Fast food but independent.

On a related note, Alan and I both love to people watch. The Purple Turtle's popularity draws a variety of crowds, making it a great place for people watching. We come up with pretty elaborate and extensive stories about the people we see. While eating our hot dogs, we watched a couple in a booth kitty-corner to ours. The guy was talking and talking and talking, while the girl was politely nodding. Was she bored out of her mind, or is she just quiet? First date? Married? Who knows. We had fun figuring out their story.

Smiles for miles

You should definitely check out The Purple Turtle if you're in Utah, but maybe order something besides a hot dog. (Blasphemous, I know.)   :)

The Purple Turtle is located at 85 East State Road in Pleasant Grove.

Purple Turtle on Urbanspoon

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Johnniebeefs


This Saturday we drove up to Salt Lake City to visit Rachel's high school friend Jing who is in Utah for the summer doing an internship. We were both excited to see Jing, visit Salt Lake, and of course: eat hot dogs. After meeting her at the University of Utah we immediately drove 15 miles south to visit Johnniebeefs, the highly acclaimed Chicago style hot dog restaurant in Midvale, Utah. City Weekly and Deseret News both have sad Johnniebeefs has SLC's best hot dogs and I've heard more than a few people make the same claim.

After a long drive we were a little confused and slightly disappointed to see that Johnniebeefs was located inside the In and Out Market at a Texaco gas station. We got out of the car and hesitantly walked inside. Were we really at the legendary Johnniebeefs? I felt better once a man sitting down at one of the few tables greeted us with an exaggerated Chicago accent and asked "How you guys doin'?" He then got up, walked behind the counter and took our orders. I asked him about his accent and John (the owner) explained that he grew up in Wrigleyville, but that he once dated a girl from Oak Lawn. Definitely a good sign.

Choosing what to get was not easy. There were so many options and they all looked so good! In the end I ordered the "Barbecue Johnnie" a polish sausage topped with deli mustard, bacon, onions, BBQ sauce, sport peppers, celery salt, and cole slaw. It tasted every bit as good as it sounds on paper. Rachel ordered the "Slaw-dog", your classic coleslaw topped hotdog. A simple, yet delicious hot dog. Jing - our first guest ever on a hot dog outing - ordered a chili-cheese dog. I did not partake but she seemed to enjoy it.

Johnniebeefs was a good place with tasty hot dogs and an owner with an over-the-top but fun Chicago accent. They have much to choose from and they don't stop at hot dogs: they also sell Italian beef sandwiches - a Chicago staple of thinly sliced roast beef served in a french roll. So what's with the gas station? Turns out that not long ago they had they're own location which shut down last year. The move was dubbed as a temporary one, but its feeling pretty permanent.


Johnniebeefs is located inside the Texaco Station at 7360 S Union Park Ave in Midvale, UT.


Johnniebeefs Chicago Style Hot Dogs on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

4th of July festivities

Too busy having fun
Dear readers, we are sorry for being so neglectful in posting on our blog. We would like to chalk it up to being busy with Fourth of July festivities, but it’s already Wednesday...You should be happy to know that we’ve still been enjoying hot dogs.

We really were pretty busy with Fourth of July celebrations. Friday night, we went to Provo’s Freedom Days and saw an outdoor concert with my aunt and uncle and their family. Saturday we watched the fireworks from Stadium of Fire, and Monday we watched Provo’s parade, went back to the Freedom Days, and spent the evening with friends and family.

It was a lot of fun! I’m not used to doing much for the Fourth of July. I usually just go to a BBQ or two and watch my neighbor’s fireworks, but Provo goes all out. Gotta love America.
 
Seeing as hot dogs and the Fourth of July go hand in hand, we had TWO different hot dogs for this post. The first was at Freedom Days. We were planning on going to Rocco’s Dog House across the street from the festival, but it was closed when we tried to go. So instead, we found a BBQ stand where we bought a kielbasa in a bun from.

I guess a lot of people wanted hot dogs because a few different people asked us where we could find the stand that sold us our food. We also got horchata and a carne asada torta. The kielbasa was topped with BBQ sauce and grilled onions, and it had a good balance between sweet and smoky.

Kielbasa at Freedom Days
Monday night, we went to my aunt and uncle’s house for a BBQ. They are probably our blog’s biggest followers, and always ask about what hot dog we are going to try next. My aunt, Mindy, made us a special mango and pineapple salsa to go on top Nathan’s hot dogs. She also found a Hawaiian marinade to serve as a sauce.

Delicious dogs with delicious pineapple-mango salsa
Cousins and funny faces

These were really good! Mindy was really nervous about getting a harsh review (we’re really not that mean, I promise!), but we both really enjoyed our hot dogs. This is saying something too, because I very rarely enjoy anything with pineapple. It was really fun to see my cousins and family, and we really appreciated that they went out of their way to make us a delicious dog. Hope you had a good weekend too!