Munchmobile's Jersey Hot Dog Tour

http://www.nj.com/living/ledger/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1212727197175380.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

They rate many people's favorite jersey hot dog joints. From Italian Hot Dogs to Texas Weiners they try the variety of different hot dogs offered in Jersey

I have been trying to get on the Munchmobile for 5 years now, still no luck.... My day will come!

I thought they were very candid/honest with their reviews.
I like what they said about Libby's in Paterson, for instance; ("it would'nt hurt if they would crack a smile")

Hello all ,

I agree Ellen , I thought they were gonna sh@@ in their pants the day we showed up with a bus full of Hot Dog lovers on the 4th annual Jersey Hot Dog Tour last year .
They had to be reminded that everything had been planned ahead of time and they "were?" expecting us .

Hot Dog and a Smile , a few I can think of that we have visited that are FANTASTIC!!! include
Jimmy Buffs
Mannys Texas Weiners
The Hot Grill
The new Mannys in the old Father and Son location

Benzee

I know the Star-Ledger does this hot dog thing every year to start off their Munchmobile summer....but remember their coverage is mostly North and north Central Jersey ansd so many great places further south go unnoticed....any tour forgetting Max's in Long Branch is missing out!!! How about Boardwalk hotdog in Brick...a small little place, but its shickhaus dog and crusty roll is superb.....come to think of it they should and could have parked that Munchmobile along any Jersey boardwalk and found some better dog's than a few of the places they visited. Rutt's Hut and some of the others are superior.....but they need to broaden their search..a little!!!!

Not the biggest fan of Hot Dog Johnny's either, but when we go out that way for fishing in the Pequest river, it is definitely a "gotta go" place

Leethebard they don't even hit many central jersey places. For instance, I never see a review of the Jimmy Buff's on Route 22 in scotch plains. Is it comparable to the other Jimmy Buff's? I am sad to say I live not too far from it and never have tried it. I always forget about it. Also, there are 3 texas weiners that I know of (Plainfield, Dunellen, and green brook) does anyone have a preference? Same with the Red Towers in Plainfield, North Plainfield, and Bridgewater. I live right by the one in North Plainfield so I eat there often. Never overly impressed but it is decent. I usually get the burgers or pork roll instead of the hot dogs though

Two summers ago the Munchmobile assembled a team of Munchers (called the S.W.A.T. Dog Team) to review as many hot dog establishments as possible throughout the entire state. I was a member. We visited 87 places as far north as Bergen County and as far south as Cape May. There would have been more, but some places were closed when we went even though we showed up within the hours given.

The Munchmobile hasn't reviewed hot dogs every year. Other than 2006, the most in depth review of hot dogs took place in 1998, the very first year of the Munchmobile. Hot dogs were reviewed for 3 weeks. One week (the very first outing) was Italian Hot Dogs. Another week hot dogs in North Jersey were reviewed. The second part reviewed dogs in Central and South Jersey. I still have copies of these articles. Max's and the Windmill were visited the very first year as were Red Tower in Plainfield and Texas Weiner ll in Greenbrook. Two years ago all of these places were reviewed again as well as the original Texas Weiner l in Plainfield, Manny's Texas Weiners, J&G Texas Weiners in Dunellen, and the Texas Weiner joint in Roselle.

As for Boardwalk Hot Dogs in Brick, we went there 2 years ago. Unfortunately they were closed. The owner was even contacted beforehand and asked if they would be open when we would be going. Despite coming at the time mentioned, they were closed. Wee Nee Wagon was another place that was closed well before their posted hours, so they missed getting reviewed too.

I don't have a link to all of the 16 trips (covering 87 places) that we went to. I do have the newspapers stored away. But I took notes on each place and posted my own opinions apart from the team as a whole. I put them on the New Jersey Hot Dog Thread, but you can read them here: http://thegourmetchilidog.com/vendors/nj/JohnFox_2006_01.html