DOGS HAVE THEIR DAY
With market for high-end hamburgers booming, a few local restaurateurs are giving the once humble hotdog the same gourmet treatment,
Simon Colyer dreamed of opening a restaurant for decades, but he never pictured having the Dogfather and Mac Daddy featured prominently on his first menu.
Then again, the Toronto-based computer programmer didn’t exactly picture hawking hotdogs for a living.
“I thought maybe a barbecue joint or a sandwich shop,” says Colyer, co-owner of the new Let’s Be Frank hotdog bar on Spadina Ave., just south of College St.
He and his wife, Christa Muio, kept their day jobs and their entrepreneurial dreams on hold as they raised their son, who is now in his second year of university. Five years ago, they bought a food truck and tested the market.
“We wanted to do something quirky with comfort food, and we saw all these gourmet burger places but no one was doing hotdogs,” says Colyer as he tucks into a colourful Korean BBQ Dog, which he tops with a fried egg, kimchi and Sriracha mayo.
The high-end hamburger business is definitely booming in Toronto, and street meat is also getting a restaurant makeover, with a wide variety of gourmet toppings and wild flavour combinations that are elevating the tired old tube steak.
Colyer’s food truck/trailer is up for sale, now that he opened the restaurant and bar beside the El Mocambo two weeks ago.
One of his competitors is Fancy Franks, just around the corner on College St. As the “haute” dog craze heats up, Fancy is set to open its third location in a few weeks on Queen St. W., following success at its second spot in Bloorcourt Village.
Shakes and Franks also opened last month in the Beach, using Nathan’s Famous franks (Let’s Be Frank does, as well), with creative toppings from macaroni and cheese and pulled pork to pineapple salsa and pico de gallo.
“The gourmet thing has really blown up. Burgers, pizza, everyone has done a great job with that. It’s the dog’s turn,” notes Fancy Franks’ owner Angelos Economopoulos. “The hotdog has had a bad rap in the past, so I wanted to show what could be done with it.”
With prices ranging from $4.50 to $9, his dogs are all made with shoulder beef in lamb casing to give it that old-school snap when you bite in.
One of his most popular versions is Frankie Goes to Buffalo, which is his take on Buffalo chicken wings with a panko-fried frank along with blue cheese dressing and wing sauce, right on down to the chopped celery and carrot sticks all packed in the bun.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a chef, but I know what I like and how to put things together that taste good,” says the restaurateur, who ran more traditional restaurants in Toronto before jumping into his fast-food venture.
True to his roots, he has one dog topped with Greek salad. Avocado is a topping on a newer item called the Fancy 90210, and he even goes where most tube steaks don’t with a peanut butter and strawberry jelly version, which he admits sounds stomach-churning.
“But you’d be surprised how many people like it and order it again.”
Mike Sutton, owner of the Mike’s Doghouse food truck, has seen it all since he started serving his dogs in Toronto back in 2000, when his main competition were the vendors at the city’s hotdog carts. His toppings now range from crushed Tostitos to maple syrup.
Though his business has evolved amid the uber-competitive food truck revolution with the addition of other items including burgers, poutine and funnel cakes, he says it all comes down to the dog.
“It’s been the core business and it’s a family food. You can feed it to a 4-year-old and his 94-year-old grandfather. They aren’t going to go for a fish taco or a $12 pulled pork sandwich,” says Sutton.