A little press can be a dangerous thing. Sure, we wrote about Amazing Hot Dog in Verona. Then, Eyewitness News’ Lauren Glassberg followed the trail, sampling the shop’s yummy Caped Crusader. The Star Ledger’s Peter Genovese picked up the scent, chiming in with this review. The result — customers came in droves forcing the store to close up early this past Saturday night. The owners apparently ran with their tails between their legs, rather than deal with an angry dog-loving mob who would arrive only to discover the doors locked and a sign explaining how the shop ran out of hot dogs.
How do you run out of hot dogs when your main product for sale is…hot dogs? Kind of reminds us of this story. Meanwhile, if all this hot dog talk has got you hot hungry, go on over today for lunch. Then, tell them how you came Saturday night. We bet you get a free dog.
I went on Saturday, 3 pm (slow time to get a dog)…60 people in the place. Took 40 minutes to get two dogs. They need to let people put on their own mustard, relish and onions to get more efficient in their operation.
Their dogs are fine, their service so far is truly pokey. I walked in at about 11:30 on a weekday morning, had to wait 5 minutes at a stool for the frank. By that time, the Rutt’s countermen would have thrown 100 or more rippers at hungry patrons. So they have a ways to go, although I do wish them well (even if their condiments can never match Rutt’s carrot relish).
I still haven’t tried this place yet…gotta get there since it’s right in my backyard. I don’t eat hot dogs that often, maybe at my once a year trek to Yankee Stadium, but I’m always open to a new place.
When I DO eat a hot dog at a barbecue, I always like them parboiled first (with the ends split) and then placed on the grill. Then it’s topped with half mustard, half catsup. Yum.
Interesting. Did the Baristas ever write about the 13 year old boy who was attacked at Lord & Taylor less than a month ago? The perp is a pedophile and Montclair resident. Wondering if anyone here wrote on this and cannot find a story on this site yet…
Thanks, ROC. I missed the whole thread. I’d been in Mountainside having my appendix out.
I will never set foot in there again.
Loved your comments on that thread, btw.
Thanks.
Well since this thread has blossomed into an open one, has anyone here ever read any of Max Barry’s books?
Sorry, Barista, but I don’t think this is anything like the pizza place running out of pizza–AHD had a huge amount of press on Friday, and they were prepared for a ton of customers on Saturday. I don’t think they could EVER have predicted that they would have sold over ONE THOUSAND hot dogs, though! It’s a great problem to have, and it seems like the owners of AHD handled it beautifully (see their post today on the thread in the Food section, in fact!). The guys in the pizza place are a different story, and I think it’s unfair to try to run parallels there.
My son and I went to Amazing Hot Dogs last Thursday before the
teeming throngs arrived. Much better than Rutt’s, these hotdogs have a snap and are thicker.
Rutt’s are too wrinkly. The guys are very nice, and I am glad they are so successful.
No way, Crif Dogs on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village trumps all. Awesome decor as well.
do they have veggie dogs? man i sure do miss hot dogs. that’s all i miss though. mmm hot dogs.
c’mon katie, dogs don’t have meat…aren’t they all by-products and fillers?
yeah but i don’t even eat anything that once belong to an animal.
Do you wear leather shoes?
Don’t forget bacon. A nice BLT on whole wheat, iceburg lettuce, ripe tomato and slatherd with real mayo.
(that’s what did me in after being a vegetarian for seven years – the humble BLT.)
I only like all-beef dogs, in other words, kosher.
beef…it’s what’s for dinner.
Katie, I was a vegetarian for 7 years. The first thing I ate when I broke my abstinence: a J.J.’s hot dog. MMMMMM!
Amazing Hot Dog is of course less than a block from where once stood one of the area’s finest White Castles, where the majority of both the staff and the patrons on a Saturday night were likely to have priors.
White Castle, however, would never, ever have run out of burgers of a night (at an hour when Rutt’s is just really getting interesting!). And if they had, its fans would probably have burned the place down. Now, people go home meekly and just wait a few days to post on Baristanet. Times really have changed, people.
Oh come on Ev, no parallel between a pizza place running out of pizza and a hot dog place running out of hot dogs?
Oh come on Ev, no parallel between a pizza place running out of pizza and a hot dog place running out of hot dogs?
I especially enjoyed this observation…
AHD had a huge amount of press on Friday, and they were prepared for a ton of customers on Saturday.
Actually, if they were prepared, they would have never run out of dogs. Reminds me of the Seinfeld car rental reservation episode…
Nothing’s as bad as the time my church ran out of communion hosts on Easter Sunday.
I dont know, I think you can be “prepared” and still run out. I mean, how were they supposed to know 1000 people would want hot dogs? Maybe they thought only 750 would want them. Or, maybe 900. Who knows – how COULD one know?
Snags happen…I seem to remember more than one occasion where there’s been some technical difficulty or slow-story day at Baristanet.
Butch,
no quiet days since the neo-trolls hijacked the community…
Yes, the trolls have raised their trolly heads once again. (I miss my two-headed troll with the blue and orange hair. I hope he’s gone to a good home)…:-(
Miss M,
i’m under the bridge combing my feet wondering if i will be groomed properly for entrance into greg’s (yawn) den of dining.
Yes, I suppose we’ll have to transform ourselves back into humans before entering his establishment. What a drag..:-)
watchung&grove, i do not care much for the welfare of animals, i like animals, i would rather not see or hear about them being killed, but the reason i do not eat meat is because i just don’t like it/i would like to be healthy. i’ve been a vegetarian for 9 years and i’d like to keep it that way. 9 years is a long time. but were i to wear leather shoes, i would wear them all the time because i’d look good in them. also i don’t think i have leather shoes. some canvas chuck taylors, some plastic sandels, thats about it. oh and some boots. they might have leather. the end. also, i never really was one for blt’s, although when i think about it, what would do me in is maybe some chicken nuggest or a big mac. that’s what my life consisted of until i was 12, big macs, chicken mcnuggets, hot dogs, and me arguing with my parents about having to eat their shitty meatloaf.
they once ran out of pancake mix at an Ihop I worked at. We can’t just run out and buy any either, so the boss traveled the 50 minutes to the next Ihop to buy some mix from them.
Iceman,
Stop combing your feet- it’s your face your fellow trolls will be looking at- comb your hair.
:>}
If the Amazing Dog guys want their relish to taste anything like Rutt’s – they must leave the “tongue depressor/spreading stick” in the jar for at least 3 months. I believe it’s the fermented wood that gives their relish so much pizzazz!! 😉 (btw…I love it too!)
love these phoney indenial fashion chasing vegetarians, luckily their favorite dish to break the vegaterian fast was the rockefeller cannable special from paupa new guinea.
On a scale from 1 to 10……My rating 2
The Amazing Hot Dog…I was not amazed!
You walk into the joint and it is a bit confusing. To begin with there is a large sign that says order here…Ok I know what you are thinking (why is that confusing) I will tell you….. Even though there is a sign you have to first try to squeeze by the people who are paying and waiting for their food, then you stand in a mob of people trying to get close to the guy (the one and only guy) taking the order behind the counter. (For all you Hot Grill fans it is not at all like the controlled mob like environment there…..) Anyhow, Once I ordered I was still excited by the aroma and looking forward to eating my dog. I ended up ordering the Amazing..(Bacon wrapped dog) I had it with ketchup. I also ordered a side of LARGE fries. I then proceeded to the next stop to pay the cashier. The food did come pretty quickly so they get a point… We had ours to go. We went to Verona Park and backed into the spot. By the way since fries are a way of life for me I opened them up from the paper wrapping as soon as we got into the car to keep them from becoming soggy. Oh well. To late. Soggy fries…..YUCK. they would have been awesome if they had been crispier. They did serve a delicious chipoltle mayo with the fries that was superb, Hot and spicy. That made the fries palatable! Now to the all important DOG ( the reason I went to this joint in the first place) The girth of the dog was like a large sausage. It was much to big to be enjoyable. I prefer a thinner hotdog. For a variety of reasons. One being that I like to eat a few of them. I was almost full by the middle of this dog. I can eat 4 all the way….. I also was a bit disappointed by the bacon. Although very crisp in texture had very little flavor. So why even bother…
I did manage to eat every last bit. And I have to say that the portions are enormous. But all in all it can not even compare or be used in the same sentence as Hot Grill or Rutt’s Hut. So there!
So Here is my Rating;
1 point for the Chipotle Mayo
1 point for the enormous portions.
Amazing Hot Dog? Gone already. Good riddance to obnoxious morons who can’t run a business for a couple of months without burning down the joint.