San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Best dogs for the Fourth — or any time
The best hot dogs are the dogs that fire up memories of good times. Just ask Kent Oliver, owner of the Dakota East Side Ice House.
When Oliver lived in Laredo, he’d dash across the border to party at El Club Firenzi in Nuevo Laredo. Outside the club, there was this hot dog stand. Nothing special, except it sold a dog dressed out in bacon, avocados, onions, jalapeños and paint-by-number sauces perfect for taking the edge off the night.
Those Nuevo Laredo nights live on with the Dakota’s Firenzi Dogs, among the top 10 best hot dogs in San Antonio, a group that includes dogs from a late-night street cart, a River Walk favorite, a tiny walk-up on the South Side and everybody’s favorite wholesale club.
You don’t have to wait for July Fourth to appreciate a great hot dog. But it’s not a bad place to start. Here are the 10 best, ranked.
10. Costco: All-beef hot
dog
The official line is that you have to be a Costco member to get this killer $1.50 deal on a quarter-pound beef dog with a 20-ounce soda. The unofficial line is that some people just sneak in the exit, where the concession stand is found.
I’m not advocating that kind of shady shuffle, but I am advocating a big, fat, perfectly steamed dog on a soft sesame bun with all the mustard, relish and ketchup you can pump from the condiment counter while you dodge shopping carts piled with kids, 100pound bags of dog food, tube socks and a Roomba. 5611 UTSA Blvd., 210-200-2050, more locations at costco.com
9. The Shack: Enchilada Dog
San Antonio’s not exactly a hot dog town. It’s an enchilada town. The Shack understands. And the Enchilada Dog at this shop on Loop 410 by Military Drive is exactly what it says: a perfect cheese enchilada piled on a split Nathan’s all-beef frank in a hot dog bun.
It’s like that old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial with Robbie Benson: “Hey, you got chocolate in my peanut butter!” Two great tastes that go great together. 7431 NW Loop 410, Suite 115, 210-375-4097, theshacksatx.com
8. Dog Haus: T-Mex
This big, bright, beer-happy California chain rolled into San Antonio’s Stone Oak with a hot dog that has arugula. Whatever. But it also had the good sense to make dogs that speak to its Texas audience.
The T-Mex piles an aromatic beef chorizo and pepper jack sausage with jalapeños, slaw, avocado, chipotle aioli and pickled red peppers — a riot of colors, flavors and textures tamed by the doughnut-shop sweetness of a King’s Hawaiian Roll bun. 20907 Stone Oak Parkway, 210-257-8809, more locations at doghaus.com
7. Schilo’s: Riverwalk Kraut Dog
They sell happiness by the foot at Schilo’s, a German delicatessen that wandered down near the River Walk more than 100 years ago. The Riverwalk Kraut Dog starts with a footlong beef hot dog wrapped end to end in bacon, then piled with sauerkraut and fat chunks of sour pickles.
Hoist a frosty mug of housemade root beer and confuse the kids at the table by shouting “Prost!” 424 E. Commerce St., 210-223-6692, schilos.com
6. Broadway Delicatessen: Jersey City Dog
Is Broadway Delicatessen downtown a pizza parlor, a sandwich joint or a hot dog stand? The answer is yes. Owner Arnold Mendoza parlayed his youthful travels along the East Coast into a shop that understands all three, a spirit captured by the Jersey City Dog.
a union of styles: the tangy red marinara of a pizza, the spicy Italian sausage of a good East Coast dog and the sour bite of pickled giardiniera you’d get from an Italian sandwich, all held together by melted provolone on a soft sandwich roll. 122 Broadway, 210455-8388, broadwaydelisa.com
5. El Weinecero: Perro Caliente
At the downtown hot dog cart El Weinecero at 10 on a Friday night, a young woman walked up and said, “I heard about you guys on TikTok.” What? A hot dog cart with mad social media skills? That’s the secret weapon for siblings Robert Espinoza and Angelica Espinoza, who rolled El Weinecero onto East Houston Street by Peacock Alley in 2021 with no real restaurant background but with a strong sense of how to build their brand online.
The brand is strong, with a tight menu of four all-beef dogs, wrapped in bacon and grilled on the cart’s flat-top grill downtown from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The best of the group is a three-pepper blend of red and green jalapeños and fiery serranos with grilled onions called the Perro Caliente. It’s not quite make-you-cry hot, but it’ll bring out the feelings. 507 E. Houston St., no phone, Facebook: @ElWeinecero
4. Dakota East Side Ice House: Firenzi Dogs
The hot dog stand at El Club Firenzi in Nuevo Laredo is well represented at this dioramaperfect manifestation of a proper ice house on the near
East Side. Firenzi Dogs come two to an order with chips and a very good side salad. The bacon does most of the talking, crumbled in sweet and smoky bits over juicy beef dogs with avocado salsa and a hit of Valentina.
Order a Be Nice Dammit Hefeweizen, punch up something on the jukebox, and dance like everybody at Firenzi is watching. 433 S. Hackberry St., 210-375-6009, thedakotasa.com
3. JK’s Chicago Hot Dogs: Chicago Dog
No top 10 hot dog list in America is complete without a perfect Chicago dog, and JK’s near North Star Mall is the place to go in San Antonio. Owners Gloria and Carlo Caballero have had 15 years to perfect the Chicago dog formula: a Vienna all-beef frank that’s lean and juicy at the same time, luminous green relish, tangy little sport pepIt’s
pers, onions, tomatoes, mustard and a full-on pickle spear on a poppyseed bun.
If less is more, then certainly sometimes more is just the right amount. That’s a Chicago dog. 15711 San Pedro Ave., 210201-4030, jkchicagodogs.com
2. The Dogfather: The Elote
Built around a hearty beef frank dressed out with Mexican street corn, crushed Takis and the funky hot mess of queso fresco, mayo and Parmesan cheese, The Elote honors the grand spectacle of a Mexican dog without making fun of it.
The Dogfather, on San Pedro near Basse, sets itself apart by using lobster roll bread instead of the basic hot dog bun, with high, grill-marked sides and a ridge of crust along the top like a flavor runway. Leave the bun, take The Elote. 6211 San Pedro Ave., 210-481-4272, sadog father.com
1. RockerDogz Gourmet Street Dogs: Thai Kickboxer Dog
Kris Martinez is a skater punk and a former rock ’n’ roll touring chef with a reverence for Anthony Bourdain. His walk-up hot dog shack near the missions is part concession stand, part backyard cookout and part crash course in how to paint a hot dog with the full box of culinary spray-paint cans.
His Thai Kickboxer Dog is the king of San Antonio dogs. It’s an all-beef dog with a graffiti swirl of purple cabbage slaw, green basil leaves, mint, cilantro, carrots, jalapeños and cucumber, spiked with sweet chile glaze.
It’s a cross between a Thai salad and a Vietnamese banh mi, with dots of Sriracha like periods at the end of a sentence about how great a hot dog can be. 3014 Roosevelt Ave., 210-2777288, Facebook: @RockerDogz
Bonus dog: Uwe’s Bakery & Deli: Bratwurst on a Bun
This is a San Antonio roundup, but it doesn’t seem fair to leave out one of the best hot dogs in Central Texas. Uwe’s Bakery & Deli is beloved in New Braunfels for bread, kolaches and klobasneks, but its bratwurst hot dog plays in the same league, made with a fat, housemade Thüringer brat with an aroma like Bavarian incense on a stout pretzel bun with crisp sauerkraut and grain mustard.
Uwe’s? Always. 1024 W. San Antonio St., Unit B, New Braunfels, 830-632-6585, uwesbakerydeli.com