Bi-coastal Baseball Hot Dog Battle

Where else but in a blog authored by a bi-coastal person would you find a side-by-side comparison of the hot dog? Okay, not just an ordinary frankfurter cooked in dirty water and purchased from some Puerto Rican vendor on the corner of 6th Avenue and 50th Street. Nope, this is the battle of the ages and you will decide which one looks more appetizing.

Ladies and Germs.....the Shea Stadium Hot Dog takes on the illustrious Dodger Dog of Chavez Ravine.

Okay, the Shea frank used to be made by Kahn's, but, based on my last trip there, they appear to be now using Hebrew National. It's grilled on one of those rollers, but you need a shovel to dig up one that actually has those nifty grill marks on it. The dog is tasty, but the fixings are limited. In what is now scandalous to me, the only condiments you can get at a Met game are mustard and ketchup. And even those are not available in a way you can dish them out yourselves. Nope. Try one of those little packets you find in hospital cafeterias. Simply place said package between your teeth and rip it apart. Then, assuming the mustard did not squirt onto your Met polo shirt, you can spread it across the hot dog. It takes about three or four packages to cover the wiener. I guess extra points should be awarded for the use of Gold's Mustard. Here's the Shea hot dog in question:

Now, let's move to Walter O'Malley's palace, Dodger Stadium. The Dodger Dog is allegedly the biggest selling frankfurter in the major leagues. They exclusively use Farmer John for all their wieners and you can get them in a variety of styles. The All Beef Super. The regular Dodger Dog, which is longer and skinnier than the All Beef Super. You can also get something called a Picante Dog, which is obviously designed for the gardeners and pool cleaners amongst the Dodger throng. In past seasons, not all the concession stands (there are no hot dog vendors) grilled the Dodger Dog. That is always the preferred cooking method, and I was lucky enough to have a nearby stand that did do the grilling. Now, all concession stands feature the grilled dog.

It's the availability of fresh and easy-to-apply condiments that makes the Dodger Dog a tastier treat when compared to the Shea dog. Relish, onions, mustard, and ketchup are all there in convenient serving stations and you can slop it on to your clogged heart's content. This season, for a buck more at the stands, you can also get sauerkraut and grilled onions.

You will note that I have once again included ketchup as a hot dog condiment. Yes, it is. As a former New Yorker, I, too, once thought that this notion was nothing short of a criminal act. But, at the behest of a friend, I tried it. You have to use it in tandem with the mustard and what results is a terrific little sauce that really spices the hot dog. Here's the way I dressed up a Super All Beef Dodger Dog last Sunday.

Of course, as you can see, the meat is barely visible after I slather on the condiments. It's definitely a little messier, but what the hell? You don't eat at a baseball game and expect to come home without a stain on your clothes.

That last paragraph sounded incredibly dirty.

Dinner last night: Empress Chicken and Shaking Beef at the new Rock Sugar Restaurant.