After a really mind blowing hot dog experience (yeah, I didn't think there was such a thing either) at Super Duper Weenie in Fairfeld, CT last summer (that's right, last summer, BEFORE that little upstart Guy Fieri went there) I've been hoping to find something of the same kin closer to home. Pulling up to the very retro chic Johnnie's Dog House I immediately got excited about what delights awaited me on the inside. The name is a little misleading, they do serve things other than dogs and fries. They also serve fish sandwiches, pulled pork, roast beef, and I was to find out later -a side order of despair. However I was in search of a yumm-o hot dog. Sir Forksalot at my side we headed into the surprisingly crowded building.
One of the patrons kindly recommended that we try the Coke, as it was bottled in Mexico where they have a slightly different flavor.
He was right, the flavor was subtly different. The retro kitsch of drinking out of a glass bottle mixed with the decor made you feel almost like you were transported back to the time of the imagery on the walls. The charm wore off by the time I ordered, however. I don't need a lot of interaction, but it's just plain polite to:
A) Make eye contact.
B) Say "Hello".
C) Say "Thank You".
D) Not sigh when I make a request on my order.
I could have forgiven this easily, but as soon as I was done ordering I took note that everyone behind the counters seemed like they weren't so much working as they were waiting for their death sentence to be handed down. Yeeesh. The first sign of trouble came when I saw them pulling out a food service bag of onion rings. I had some sort of childish hope that a place that lives off of nostalgia would be make their food from scratch. We got our orders to go since we three small whining dogs in the car. This would prove to be a mistake.
I ordered the New Yorker without mustard, but WITH sauerkraut and red onion sauce. This set me up for disappointment as the only time I had red onion sauce was at Super Duper Weenie, where it is made by hand.
I sure was disappointed in the red onion sauce. Mostly because - THERE WASN'T ANY! Instead of making my dog to my specifications, they left out the red onion sauce all together. By the time I got home and realized this, it was too late to go back and throw my weenie in their face. And believe me, I wanted to smack a ho' with my weenie I was so peeved. The dog was okay, but a bit bland. My initial anger at the lack of onion sauce never quite wore off. The onion rings were, as I suspected, quite terrible. The breading had a stale flavor to it and I'm not sure how you manage to make an onion ring completely void of onion flavor...but they did it.
Sir Forksalot got a Kielbasa with Sauerkraut.
Now I like Sauerkraut, but when it's the highlight of the sandwhich -it's a bad thing. I'm not sure where their Kielbasa is coming from, but it needs to go back. It was like cheap bologna. You know it's supposed to taste like something, but you're not sure what.
They fell way short from the mark. Johnnie's promises "The foods you crave" and they deliver it. Just without it, you know, tasting good.
Johnnie's Dog House - Not good enough for my mutts.
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