Friday, February 26, 2010

Downtown: Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace

When I was growing up, my dad was a huge fan of serving me hot dogs. Even though my mom was anti the idea, my dad used to like to cook hot dogs for me on the weekends, slice them in half, melt a slice of American cheese neatly in the middle, and place the dog on piece of toast. He would make a ketchup-Tabasco combo (I think we have 3 types of hot sauce in our fridge at home), and place some onions on top. It was a very fancy presentation and was even more delicious.

However, after a summer in India, my grandfather got me off of the hot dog kick and I never really ate them again (thankfully, my father got off the hot dog kick and progressed to cold cuts and McDonald's $1 double cheeseburgers).

The Betty's family of restaurants has three of the most popular restaurants that my friends and I frequent: The Tip Top (best variety of fries), The Surly Girl (the spicy peanut butter sandwich is delicious), and Betty's (fried plantains!). So when Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace (Dirty Frank's) opened in Downtown Columbus, it was destined to be a hit.

Dirty Frank's is in the location of the old Queen Bee, which I used to frequent during the 2006 campaign as it was across the street from the Strickland campaign headquarters, and around the corner from my office. It was amazing how quickly the place was turned around into a modern, hip restaurant.

I went to Dirty Frank's when it first opened. The great things about Dirty Frank's is that there are a variety of hot dogs: all beef dogs, brats, and both dogs and brats in veggie. Which is great for non beef eaters like me.

Today I had off work and ventured down to Dirty Frank's with my buddy Eric, aka the White Ninja (see the Unhappy Hour post). Eric is one of my go-to eating buddies and we hadn't been to Dirty Franks together, and I hadn't been there since the new menu rolled out, so we went for it. It was also the perfect day for comfort food, as it is snowing,windy, and all around miserable outside.

Eric and I ordered an order of the soft pretzels, and tator tots, in addition to our dogs. Eric went for the beef brats, and ordered the Lara's Pittsburgh Princess, which is topped with cole slaw, yellow mustard, and french fries, and a Chicago dog, with mustard, sport peppers, and pickles. I ordered two veggie dogs, one Beano, which has refried beans, tomatoes, onions, and sharp cheddar cheese, and I ordered a Lara's Pittsburgh Princess too.

The last time I had the pretzels, they were a little on the hard side, and perhaps had too much flour. I am a sucker for soft pretzels. Every time my mom and I go to the mall, we stop at Auntie Anne's and share a pretzel. The pretzels today were hot, soft, and had a great flavor. The
pretzels come with a cheese sauce, and a Sriracha mustard, which is delicious.

Here are Eric's dogs.



I love potatoes. I love tater tots. There are a lot of great tot locations in Columbus. Latkes, aloo parathas, french fries, mashed baked, twice baked, give me some taters! Dirty Frank's are not greasy, crispy, and we ordered them doused in cheese sauce and bacon. Amazing.





And here are mine.

I love the Beano. The refried beans have a nice kick, and the raw tomato/onion combo are great. However, I wish the cheese would be melted. I understand the appeal of unmelted shredded cheese on items (tacos, etc), but Maybe a little more warmth on this dog could do it some good.

Lara's P squared: I really don't know how i feel about this dog. All of the components on their own are delicious, but I don't think that this combo needs to do it. There needs to be something more spicy. I don't think balsamic vinegar would do the touch. Or Sriracha. Something. I wasn't a fan. It was pretty bland.

Luckily, the White Ninja agreed.

CONCLUSION: I really like Dirty Franks, a lot, and I will definitely be back. I really need to work my way through the menu, and branch out from always getting the Beano. I wish they would have veggie coney dog sauce, however, because I think a veggie coney dog would be delicious.

1 comment:

  1. I just sampled a couple of Cincinnati's finest curbside dogs. They were average at best. Dirty Franks should expand down and westward. Cheers to the American staple, hot dogs, and to Lakshmi's culinary navigation!!!

    BWF

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