Where to Find Hot Dogs in Greater Boston That Go Beyond Mustard and Relish

Bostonians love their hot dogs. On the backyard grill. At baseball games, from shouting street vendors. During a day on Boston Common, passing by a sausage cart. Probably on a toasted split-top bun.

According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council in 2023, Boston was among the top 10 markets for most hot dogs sold per pound—not surprisingly, all ten cities have a Major League Baseball team, where over a million hot dogs are devoured. We’re also among the top 10 consumers of sausage, again per pound.

When you get a craving for a hot dog, as you might when you hear phrases like “Opening Day” or “Fourth of July,” Boston has plenty of quick-service spots (think Sullivan’s, Sausage Guy cart, Simco’s) to grab one, even if the city isn’t quite on par with hot dog big names like Chicago and New York.

And while the usual condiments of mustard, chopped onions, and relish from your favorite food truck are just as delicious, your favorite stadium dish is taking on more creative identities in Boston, thanks to some equally ingenious minds in the kitchens of Greater Boston.

Trina’s Starlite Lounge has been in the hot dog business since it opened in 2009, creating a new “dog of the day” every day for its menu of griddle dogs, corn dogs and tofu dogs. Beau Sturm, co-owner, They said they started the dog-of-the-day program because there were no other similar menus at the time: fun hot dogs (topped with French fries or even spaghetti) and with a “culinary twist.”

The same thing happened when Haley.Henry, a wine bar by Haley Fortier in the Crossing downtown, opened in 2016 and quickly launched its weekly special, Weiner Wednesday.

Have you ever thought your favorite soup could be the inspiration for a hot dog? Fortier didn’t think a broccoli and cheddar hot dog would work—until the rest of her management team proved her wrong.

“It’s actually been one of the most popular hot dog series we’ve done,” Fortier said. “We’ve had Pop Rocks on our hot dogs before, and you might just assume it’s going to be horribly gross, but it’s actually really good.”

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Weiner Wednesdays have become so popular that some guests make and wear their own T-shirts to celebrate the release.

Why serve hot dogs at a natural wine bar, also known for its canned fish and charcuterie boards? For starters, hot dogs pair well with bubbly, Fortier notes, and they’re also easy to cook in smaller kitchens.

But considering the unaffordable cost of eating out right now, hot dogs are a true comfort food. Even when they’re tweezers, and maybe even a few dollars more than they used to be, they’re still affordable.

Sturm said he’s noticed a boom in creativity when it comes to hot dogs in recent years. In 2023, the Wall Street Journal they have declared the hot dog the most popular dish in restaurants, with chefs preparing it in increasingly imaginative and extravagant ways.

“We’ve seen over the years that people have gotten a lot more creative in how they season their hot dogs,” said NHDSC President Eric Mittenthal. News from WSJ.

Super Bien’s Melissa Stefanini laughs when she calls hot dogs a “blank, fantastical canvas.”

“The hot dog can go from simple to crazy. It’s funny to think about combining food with tongs with a hot dog because everyone thinks a hot dog isn’t that special,” Stefanini said. “I’m laughing because I never thought I’d talk about a hot dog like that.”

He started serving “Nada Dogs,” a hot dog wrapped in empanada dough at Buenas, six years ago. When he opened Super Bien, a restaurant-cum-grocery store that focuses on wine and empanadas, he also added hot dogs in buns to his menu in 2022. You can get them plain, of course, but expect some extravagant additions, like a guava-and-cheese hot dog or a Big Mac-inspired hot dog.

And while there are many more dogs to talk about, we can’t forget to mention the still small, but growing, number of corn dogs found in Greater Boston, particularly the Korean Corn Dog.

Kimchipapi Kitchen in Allston started as a poke bowl restaurant in 2018, but Joon Son, who loves hot dogs, always wanted to bring his favorite food into the mix. In 2020, Korean corn dogs (which can be stuffed with hot dogs, cheese, or both) were added to the menu after Son realized Boston was missing the popular, Instagrammable street food that had taken off in New York and Los Angeles several years ago. Son loves the original corn dog, but the corn dog sprinkled with Hot Cheetos and another covered in French fry pieces are perfect for TikTok.

Since then, places to find Korean corn dog have become more popular in Boston, Somerville, and Burlington.

“The feedback and response has been amazing and has helped catapult our business. A lot of the videos have gone viral,” Son said. “It’s also just a fun thing to eat, and it’s delicious.”

And because he had the ingredients to do so, this year he added specialty hot dogs to the menu, which use many of the same ingredients used in poke bowls, such as spicy mayo as a condiment and kimchi or seaweed flakes as a garnish.

Older restaurants and exciting newcomers are making room on the menu for their own interpretations of hot dogs. There are, of course, vegan hot dogs at Saus, the occasional seafood special at Dear Annie, a special wagyu hot dog in a fluffy fried dough at Rubato and Mei Mei Dumplings, and even hot dogs with caviar as a topping at The Quiet Few.

In other words, it’s a great time to be a hot dog fan.

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Just in time for National Hot Dog Day, here’s a list of the funniest hot dog spots in and around Greater Boston:

Where to Find the Most Creative Hot Dogs in Greater Boston

Trina Starlite Lounge

It may not be a hot dog stand, but there are plenty of options for hot dog fanatics. Get their “dog of the day” to see how inventive a kitchen can be when it comes to hot dogs (for example, I recently had a “jalapeño popper” hot dog smothered in chimichurri sauce and pickled red onions), or get their Starlite Style dog, with fries, special sauce, cheese, and coleslaw. Or get a plain hot dog or corn dog. ($6-$10)

3 Beacon Street, Somerville

Haley Henry

Wiener Wednesday is an event at this Downtown Crossing wine bar. They also sell t-shirts and each month they come up with a theme to plan your hot dog creations around. This month’s theme is all about Jennifer Coolidge, who makes us crave a hot dog, with a white lotus dog with pineapple and ham inspired by the first season and, at the end of the month, a dog covered in diced apples and cinnamon as a nod to American cake($12 to $15)

45 Province St., Boston (Downtown)

Good and super good

Owner Melissa Stefanini does hot dogs differently at her two restaurants. Grab a hot dog wrapped in empanada dough at her Bow Market location (Buenas), or find a wider selection of funky hot dogs on buns at Super Bien. Stefanini said the guava and cheese dog pair excellently with a glass of their South American wines. ($4.40-$8.75)

525 West Avenue, Boston (Brighton)

Kimchipapi Cuisine

You’ve probably seen this Allston restaurant’s Korean corn dogs on TikTok, with customers showing off the springy cheese buns before devouring the sweet and savory street food. But owner and hot dog devotee Joon Son has added a few more hot dogs to his menu this year that are worth a try. Expect toppings like spicy mayo or okonomi sauce, and topping options like seaweed flakes and masago. ($4.99-$9.99)

81 Harvard Avenue, Boston (Allston)

Marvelous

This “high dive” from the Mahaniyom team has only been open for a few weeks, and its hot dog is already a customer favorite. With pork sausage, mayo, and caramelized basil onion, this hot dog’s flavors are inspired by krapow, a stir-fried basil dish typical of Thailand. ($18)

14 Harvard Street, Brookline

The Madeline

The famous Pho Linh in Quincy recently transformed into a modern Vietnamese restaurant, though you can still find Pho Linh favorites for lunch. But on its late-night weekend menu, surrounded by Vietnamese iterations of burgers and chicken wings, there’s a wagyu hot dog loaded with toppings like cucumber, pickles, egg yolk, fried scallions, anchovy sauce and chives. ($15)

409 Hancock St., Quincy

Troquet to the south

Remember the speed dog? The hot dog topped with chili sauce, onions, sweet relish, and mustard may no longer be sold at its original cart, but in 2020 it found a new home at this Leather District French bistro known for its wine selection. ($12.75)

107 South St., Boston (Leather District))

Paisas Dogs

When he moved to Boston, Andres Jaramillo missed the famous late-night street food he grew up eating in Medellin, Colombia. So in 2018, he opened his own food truck in East Boston, which later became a restaurant in 2021, serving Colombian hot dogs with a variety of toppings to consider: melted cheese, cabbage, pineapple salsa, quail eggs, and bacon, to name a few. ($10.99 for a classic hot dog, up to $62.99 for a three-foot Colombian-style hot dog)

350 Bennington Street, East Boston

Pour the yard

In case you can’t decide what kind of hot dog to try, there’s at least one place in Greater Boston that doesn’t have to worry. This Quincy restaurant and bar has a hot dog flight: choose from two or four hot dogs, including a Chicago-style hot dog, a hot dog that resembles buffalo chicken wings, and a hot dog slathered in BBQ sauce and shredded cheese. ($6 per hot dog)

210 Washington St., Quincy

Love Dog Hot Dog Buffet

Another hard-to-find street food is the Brazilian hot dog, which can be served with toppings that include mayo, ketchup, mustard, peas, corn, parmesan cheese, potato sticks, and even mashed potatoes. At this Everett hot dog stand, get creative with the toppings and more, either on a regular hot dog bun or pressed bread. ($9-$19)

1865 Revere Beach Park, Everett

Where to find the most creative hot dogs in Greater Boston near me 📍

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