PrintWalter's Hot Dogs
You usually see Nick "Beef Aficionado" Solares in this space talking about burgers, but today, it's hot dogs. Hot diggedty! —Ed.
Peter Fellows is far too modest to actually make the claim that Walter's Hot Dogs are the best in the world, but you can tell he knows they are. Fellows manages Walter's Hot Dog Stand in Mamaroneck, New York.
Founded in 1919 by Walter Warrington and originally located on the Boston Post Road, Walter's moved to its current address in 1928. Locals refer to it as the "new" location. The building Walter erected on Palmer Avenue is curiously patterned after a Chinese pagoda and was designed to attract attention. It does. As you drive down Palmer Avenue, the distinctive building with a copper roof as weathered as the Statue of Liberty is impossible to miss. Lanterns hang off the extruded peaks, underneath which is invariably a line of hungry patrons. When one of the lanterns was damaged in a storm a few years back it cost more than $5,000 to repair. That's a lot of hot dogs, but fortunately Walter's sells a lot of them. As Fellows says, "We count them by the mile."
Warrington developed his custom-made hot dog with the help of a local German butcher. It is a closely guarded blend of beef, pork and veal and was designed so that it would not shrink, curl, or burn during cooking. The same butcher made the dogs for Walter's for many years, but after he died, Boar's Head agreed to make them for Walter's using the secret recipe.
The dogs are still prepared in the same manner that Walter pioneered, they are initially griddle cooked and you can indeed see that they indeed neither curl nor shrink, remaining perfectly rigid. They are then split down the middle and the exposed interior gets placed on the griddle until it is burnished to a deep bronze hue. After a nice char has been put on the dogs, they are slipped in the buns and wrapped in wax paper.
The buns are from Freihofer's and are chosen for the robustness of what Fellows refers to as their "hinge"—the bread stays intact even when holding a double dog. The buns are toasted on a separate griddle (above) that puts a wonderfully crunchy ring around the circumference, adding a pleasing textural component to each bite. The bun does a good job of absorbing the juice that emanates from the dog.
Add the secret mustard (it is blended with pickles) to complete the synthesis, and you have one of the most unique and compelling hot dogs around. Each bite rewards you with an interplay of texture and flavor. The dog itself has a very clean taste, it is not overly spiced, allowing the meat to assert itself. Because of the cooking process employed at Walter's the dog has both a crunch exterior skin, as well as the wonderfully charred face on the "split" side both giving way to the ethereally succulent and tender inner flesh. Snuggled by the soft bun that also has adds a pleasing textural contrast by virtue of the griddling it receives the dogs here are unparalleled in my experience.
Peter Fellows might be too modest to tell you how great the dogs at Walter's are but I am not. They are utterly exquisite and are definitely my favorite example of the breed.
Walter's Hot Dog Stand
937 Palmer Avenue, Mamaroneck NY 10543
http://www.waltershotdogs.com
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Mon.–Sat.; 11:45 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sun. (closes earlier for weather, holidays)
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6 Comments:
Mamaroneck is in Westchester, not Long Island.
murth at 12:14PM on 09/04/08
Love this place, but I need to point out - Mamaroneck's not on LI! it's in Westchester. they've also got curly fries!!!
dlynn at 12:20PM on 09/04/08
Taste is subjective, and it's important to remember that this dog is in the German style, meaning it is milder and less well seasoned than a garlicky kosher style all beef dog like Nathan's or Sabrett. I've been to Walter's and feel that it is somewhat overrated. A few dogs make a fine snack. I do like the cooking method as the oil, butter, or whatever they spray the surface of the grill with helps to add a little moisture that goes well with the crunchy frank. But the pale dog (due to the addition of pork and veal) itself is fairly bland, even for a German style frank. I believe it is skinless, lacking the snap of a natural casing, though even that would be somewhat compromised being split open.
Comparing apples to apples, let me suggest that you come to New Jersey and sample dogs in this style prepared the same way that are better than Walter's. Karl Ehmer's in Hillsdale, despite their name, serves a griddled dog from Kocher's Pork Store which is one of the best hot dogs I've had. The Galloping Hill Inn in Union also has a great dog. It is beef and pork and the recipe is from a small butcher shop, but is now being made by a bigger company, Grote & Weigel of Connecticut (same recipe) to keep up with demand. They sell more hot dogs than Rutt's Hutt. And they're better too.
Max's in Long Branch and the Windmill down the street (along with other locations) all make griddled franks in the German style that I consider vastly superior to Walter's. Contact me if you need addresses or more info. salempost1@aol.com.
hotdoglover at 6:02PM on 09/04/08
they also have yummy sweet potato fries!
sustarz at 9:02PM on 09/04/08
i think about walter's pretty often considering i haven't eaten there in at least 12 years. sometimes i crave it, but i'm a vegetarian now. growing up, i thought it walter was chinese because of the design. also, i hated hot dogs. i thought they were gross. -unless- they were from walter's. so there's definitely something special about them.
al oof at 6:23PM on 09/08/08
While taste is subjective, I can say with great assurance that Karl Ehmer's in Hillsdale is not even in the running among the top dogs in the east (let alone the entire United States!) according to most east coast frankfurter connoisseurs -- just Google the food reviews and see for yourself. People have been trying to duplicate Walter's masterpieces since 1919, and I'm sure they will continue beyond 2019. Karl Ehmer, who started as a German butcher, has long been blindly jealous of the German butcher who was entrusted with Walter's secret recipe and was the sole manufacturer of the internationally renowned epicurean delight until his death, at which time Boar's Head was granted the honor. Enjoy!
Cosmopolitarian at 10:14PM on 06/20/09