- Which wiener are we keener on?
- Let's talk about that.
(upbeat theme music)
Good mythical summer.
- We loved meat, we love it steaked, we loved it winged,
we love it burgured, we love it bolognaed.
But there's something special about stuffing
some processed meat into a casing, cooking it up,
plopping it on a bun, and then throwing some crap on top.
- Yes indeed, now there are a lot of different
configurations and combobulations of hot dogulations
across the country, and it is high time
we figured out which region has the best.
It's time for, Let's Stuff Wieners in our Face
Until One Claims the Winning Place.
- That's what we're gonna call it?
Okay, let's go with that.
We've rounded up a slew of signature hot dogs,
each famous in a particular part of the United States,
and we're gonna be pitting them against each other,
tournament style to determine,
- [Rhett's Voice Sings] Which hot dog is the top dog.
- Let's get into it.
(patriotic music)
Okay, the Fenway Frank was born in the home
of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park.
It's an oversized, all-beef frank, boiled, then grilled,
two-step process, placed in a New England-style bun,
and then topped with mustard and relish.
- Versus the New York dog, a Nathan's hot dog
pulled out of dirty, warm cart water,
topped with brown mustard and sauerkraut.
- Pretty similar approaches to dogs here.
- Let's both taste the same one and discuss.
- Lady and the Tramp, same time?
- Well, the problem with me is that
I want to get rid of this,
so my first bite is gonna have everything.
- So is mine, it's just gonna be deeper.
- Sweetness of the relish with the mustard
is a magical combination.
- The bun, it's almost like the kind of bun you'd put
a lobster roll in.
It is the kind of bun you'd put a lobster roll in.
It's got a lot going for it.
- Look at this, this is just you're walking down the street,
wham, you just grab one up.
It's smaller, more compact.
- I love sauerkraut.
- You got the tang of the sauerkraut.
It combines forces with the mustard to really
wake your mouth up.
- The wiener quality on this is significantly higher.
And I'm not just saying it 'cause it's a bigger wiener.
- Well, this one is smaller.
It's almost comically small, I mean.
- Yeah, yeah, laugh that guy right out of the gym.
- So I mean you're getting,
you're probably gonna want to buy two of these
to every one of those.
So even in terms of value.
- And I actually think that the brown mustard
is a little overpowering.
- I think we are agreeing that with the relish
going against the mustard, you've got more
of a taste journey than the sauerkraut and the mustard
kind of hitting the same note,
a tangy, gripping note.
- This is a pretty big deal.
I mean, I think the whole Boston-New York thing,
we're making a lot of people mad.
We can't please everybody.
- We're sorry, we're not even pleasing ourselves.
But we are choosing the Fenway frank.
(patriotic music)
- The Chicago dog is a Vienna beef wiener
nestled in a poppy seed bun.
We're sampling it dragged through the garden,
AKA with the works, that's yellow mustard,
chopped white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish,
a dill pickle spear, tomato slices,
pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt.
There's a lot going on with the Chicago dog.
- Dang, that's even an understatement.
But can it defeat the Cleveland dog.
It's a kielbasa, AKA a Polish boy, perched in a bun
with french fries, hot sauce, and coleslaw
to keep it comfy.
- You wanna start with that one?
- Something ripped in your face when you,
- No, that was the pop of the dog,
which is a sign of a good dog.
- Oh yeah.
The kielbasa.
- The Polish boy's got a pop.
- That is a high-quality wiener.
- And this is a mouthful of stuff.
You kind of lose the french fry,
it kind of gets lost in the mix.
- Yeah, it completely disappeared.
- But that Polish boy is something to remember.
- I'm just gonna find a way into this one.
I'm gonna give you the other end in a second.
- Why don't you give me the other end in a second.
Now, I don't want to hold the fact that I hate
these creatures against it.
So alright, for all you Chicagoans, I know,
I just have to take it out to give it
a fighting chance for me to even like it.
- Right off the bat, in my mind,
there's so much happening with this,
and it feels like, as overwhelming as it is,
it was meticulously planned in a way
that has made it world famous for a reason.
- Yeah, it really is amazing.
- And you get little poppy seeds all over the place,
which grows new poppy plants, and then you can
harvest those and turn it into opium.
- Now again, this is a really great hot dog.
That Polish boy cannot be underestimated
and the hot sauce with the fries,
it's a really great idea.
- But I feel like Cleveland is riding
too hard on their wiener.
- Of course.
- I think that they've got a great sausage in there,
that's probably a better way to put it,
and then they've kind of made some mistakes
along the way after that.
Are you with me about this, though?
We gotta go with the Chicago dog, I think.
- You know, yeah, I never thought I would've said that,
but now I'm saying it.
And I think I'm saying it.
- Say it. - I did say it.
Chicago dog is my vote.
(patriotic music)
- Okay, we're getting into familiar territory here.
The Carolina dog is an all-beef bright red dog
topped with chili. coleslaw, mustard,
and raw Vidalia onion.
It is the dog of our youths.
- But can the dog of our youths be taken out
by the Coney dog.
And don't let the name fool you,
it's actually from Detroit, and they are popular
in New York, but they're called Michigan dogs there.
- I'm confused.
- It's a smallish, all-beef, or beef and pork combo wiener,
sitting in a steamed bun, drenched in Coney sauce,
which is chili, and topped with mustard,
chopped raw onion, and a heap of shredded cheddar cheese.
- So it's a similar dog except the difference is
one's got cheese and one's got slaw.
- Uh huh. - And the dog
makes a big difference, because I don't know if you can see
just how red, I mean we're talking like
they're using dye here, there's nothing natural
inside of a pig or a cow that's gonna get you
that red other than the blood.
- Alright, so you wanna, let's taste this one first.
Shall we?
- We're gonna have to figure out how to not
be biased in this.
- Obviously, we're learning toward the Carolina dog,
'cause I grew up eating those.
But the cheese.
- The cheese is nice.
- And that's a soft hot dog, there's not any snap to it.
It's not one of those.
- That's a good hot dog.
Hot dog eating face is not the best face in the world.
Especially when you got a big one.
- This is tough,
because I really can't argue with cheese.
But there's something about the slaw that adds
a refreshing, cold dynamic to the experience.
- It's a little bit of this unexpected thing,
a little bit of creaminess.
And then the red dog, it looks like you're eating
an alien finger. - Pretty fun.
- You can't beat that. - Edgy.
- We could be biased, we probably are,
but we're gonna give it to the Carolina dog.
(patriotic music)
Of course, living in LA, we have grown to appreciate
the bacon-wrapped street dog, AKA the danger dog.
This is wrapped in bacon, cooked on a hot metal plate
on the sidewalk, throw on some grilled onions,
bell peppers, jalapenos, and you squirt a line of ketchup,
mustard, and mayonnaise.
- But you know what, let's make this a west coast battle
pitting it against the Seattle dog.
This is a frank grilled and split in half,
doing their own thing over there,
slapped on a toasted bun, covered in cream cheese,
grilled onions, jalapenos, and grilled cabbage.
Then you can add salsa, sriracha,
or barbecue sauce on top.
- As if you needed more options.
- This is a demerit, when I got to sit here
and decide how to top off this hot dog.
It's not fully signature.
- Just choose one, man.
- I can't. - You're holding
the barbecue sauce, just do that.
- Okay, alright, so just a little,
- [Rhett] Or a lot.
- A little barbecue sauce.
- And let's start with that one.
Toasted bun gets points, split wiener,
I don't know about that.
- Barbecue sauce is a little overwhelming.
Grilled onions are great.
The cream cheese is surprisingly awesome.
- And a little bit of heat from the jalapenos.
- Wow, wow, that's weird and awesome.
- Now I will say, this is,
- Say it while I eat it.
- It seems like almost a perfect design.
You got a bacon-wrapped wiener, and then you got
all the normal condiments.
It's like everything a hot dog should have, it does have.
- Plus bacon, which no other hot dog
that we're gonna taste has.
- I just think it's so perfect.
Again, this is a little bit weird, and I love weird stuff,
but giving you the choice of that stuff,
and the barbecue sauce was a little overwhelming,
but it was an option.
- Seattle, we love you, you're up and coming,
your dog is on its way to becoming signature one day.
- You gotta figure - Make a decision.
- Yourself out. - Over here, for now.
- We have, the danger dog.
(patriotic music)
- Boston versus Chicago.
Let's dig into this one first.
It's pretty simple.
Can't hurt to take another bite, though.
- Man, it's so good.
- It's very mustardy.
I'm gonna push this back for you.
- People who don't like tomatoes think you want
twice as much tomato.
No, I don't want, don't push it all for me,
send it to the side, man.
- Now I'll push it back, there you go.
- I don't want twice as much tomato,
I want the exact right amount of tomato.
- Now the thing about the Chicago dog is,
that puppy is colorful.
I mean, it is a feast for the eyeballs, look at that.
Even though we're destroying it, it's still purty.
- Now, you start to think, maybe they tried too much,
maybe they pushed one detail too far,
they kept saying yeah to everything, which I like that,
but there's something so pure about this.
They really got their bun game and their wiener game down.
I don't know, man. - I've really been wowed
by the Chicago dog.
I think it's so different than anywhere else on the Earth,
that I'm saying we should move it forward.
- I'm willing to go there with you, brother.
(patriotic music)
- This is tough, because,
- It's a good combo. - We're talking about
our hometown versus our new town.
I mean the jalapenos, I'm starting to not like those
as much, 'cause I got a really hot one that time.
That's the wild card.
- No, that's good.
You know, the cool thing about the danger dog
is a lot of times these are sold illegally,
because they're not actually, a lot of guys
don't have permits, and they're out there
on a little mobile cart.
- That's why it's called danger.
- I once was running with a guy, he was making one,
and we were both running from a cop at the Rose Bowl.
- Really? - This cop chased us
two or three blocks, and I finally got my dog.
So I've broken the law for that dog.
But my heart really lies with this dog,
'cause this is the dog of our youth.
- I got a lot of memories wrapped up
in this diggity, diggity, diggity dog,
and if you don't like jalapenos, you can also order it
without those, and it's still a danger dog.
- Here's what I'll say,
this has got bacon, as awesome as this red wiener looks,
it really doesn't add anything to the taste,
it's just a visual component.
- I like slaw and onions, though, you got that crunch.
- But this has grilled onions.
Grilled onions beat chopped onion.
- Especially when you add the peppers.
You still are always gonna hold a special place in my heart,
but I'm going for the bacon-wrapped goodness
of the LA dog, you with me?
- Yeah, they're gonna say we sold out, Link.
- Well they've already been saying that.
- Yep, okay, they're right.
We're going wit the danger dog.
(patriotic music)
Alright, Chicago versus LA in the finals.
- Let's just eat 'em at the same time.
I'm gonna keep one in my left cheek,
I'm gonna keep the other one in my right cheek.
Of course, I'm gonna move this out of the way.
Alright, so I'm double chipmunking the finalists.
One in this cheek, one in the other.
- And I didn't do that, I fully consumed one
before the other.
I kind of think the fact that you're having to remove
a topping means it might not be for everybody.
Whereas on this side, who doesn't like bacon?
And then you've got pretty much very common ingredients
of a hot dog just put together in a beautiful way.
- I'll state it this way, who doesn't love bacon
who also loves a hot dog?
There's plenty of people who won't eat either.
- The Venn diagram on that, I see what you're saying.
- It's a full overlap.
- It's just a big tube.
- Yep, and that tube is an LA danger dog.
- And you put it in the tube, and then you shoot
it out of a cannon right to the number-one spot,
is that's what happening right now?
- Because the Chicago dog, it's just not accessible.
If you love it, you love it, but that can be said
of a lot of these dogs.
As a matter of fact, all of them are fabulous.
But we are crowning the LA bacon-wrapped goodness dog.
- Danger dog wins the day.
- GMM's top dog!
Are you gonna play it?
- [Rhett's Voice Sings] Which hot dog is the top dog.
- Yes, thank you for liking, commenting, and subscribing.
- You know what time it is.
- I'm Nick Garvey at the Devil's Punch Bowl in the UK.
And it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
- Yes it is.
Click through to watch us try signature hot dogs
from Maine and Kansas City.
- And to see where the Wheel of Mythicality lands
in Good Mythical More.
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