Great Dane makes top dogs
Copenhagen’s Meyer makes a wiener that’s a winner
T HE city’s new hot-dog champ is as slender as a supermodel, comfortable in its skin, and dressed up in ways you never dreamed of. Copenhagen, Denmarkbased superchef Claus Meyer’s sausages, sold only at his Danish Dogs stand in Grand Central Terminal, pack this summer’s sexiest wiener wallop.
They dethrone the reigning hot-dog leader at NoMad Bar, as well as my recent fave, a simple halal-cart number outside the No. 7 station at Hudson Yards.
Skinnier than your standard New York dog, Meyer’s marvelous frankfurters ($7 and $8, each big enough for two) are intoxicatingly flavorful. They’re served on plump organic potato buns from his Meyers Bageri in Williambsburg, Brooklyn, and topped with a cornucopia of rich, house-made sauces and accoutrements, such as crunchy cabbage and puffed pork chips. The kaleidoscopic combinations make for tactile thrills.
I loved the Hen Hound, a sweet chicken log made sweeter by apple-horseradish ketchup and crackling-green-tomato relish. But it isn’t all candy, thanks to generous tarragon mayo, white cabbage and cress.
My other favorite among the four choices on the menu was the Great Dane. Tongue- tingling spiced ketchup, mustard, and crisp, pickled cucumbers arranged like leaves on top made the beef-andpork dog live up to its name.
Not all of the offerings are top dogs. The beef Gravhund was too red cabbage-dominated for my taste, and while the all-pork Kvik was tasty and toothsome, chunks of rubbery, puffed pork skin on top were just too much work.
Service can be slow. Twice when I was there, a lone woman had to grill, compose and package the complex canines all by herself.
The spot is a satellite of Meyer’s new Great Northern Food Hall in the terminal, next to his high-end restaurant Agern, which was inspired by Copenhagen’s fabled Noma, which he co-founded. The Danish Dogs stand is a bit hard to find — it’s around the corner in an awkward nook near a subway entrance on East 42nd Street — but it’s worth the hunt. Meyer’s barking up the right tree, and I’ll be back for more.