Top Dog

Route 66, Portland, CT -

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Posted By Michael Stern on 10/8/2005 3:28:00 PM

If you are a hot dog lover passing through central Connecticut between March 1 and November 1, Tuesday through Saturday, between 10am and 3pm, you need to know about Top Dog. There is no phone number and no address, but spotting this jolly dog wagon is a breeze. Heading towards Middletown from the east on Route 66, look left around High Street. See the vintage yellow Checker cab in perfect restored condition? More amazing than that, look what it is pulling: a 1963 Airstream trailer that has been converted into a humongous hot dog.

It is at a window in the side of this truck-size dog (which, by the way, is nestled in a bun of stainless steel and topped with architectonic mustard and relish) that you tell proprietor Andrea Spaulding what kind of wiener you like. They are plump, full-flavored franks with a nice snap to their skin, and while you can order one with regular mustard and/or relish and/or ketchup, Andrea has concocted a bunch of specialty combos. These include a cheese dog, a chili dog, a pepper dog (fried peppers and onions), a bacon cheese dog, a kraut dog ("topped with old fashioned slow cooked sauerkraut"), a fire chili dog, and an Orleans dog, which is dressed with relish Andrea brought back from a visit to the Crescent City.

There are no picnic tables or counters at which to stand, so plan on dining off your dashboard.

Scorecard

Overall: One of the Best - Worth a Trip

Orleans Dog	Kraut Dog

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"The trailer: a 1963 Airstream, reconfigured as a frankfurter. The car: a vintage Checker cab, which proprietor Andrea Spaulding's husband completely restored, down to a ticking meter inside. The cuisine: hot dogs and nothing but."
Michael Stern

"The menu touts this as "Hot!" It is, but not stingingly so. There is plenty of beef to cushion the punch of pepper in this chili."
Michael Stern

"Andrea was concerned that Hurricane Katrina may have wiped out her New Orleans source for the hot-sweet relish that defines her Orleans dog. When I first saw this, I thought the application of relish was skimpy, and wished I had asked for mustard, too. But a little of this sassy stuff goes a long way, and I would never want to dilute its fine flavor with any other condiment."
Michael Stern

"My first Top Dog meal of 2006: an Orleans dog and a Kraut dog, sitting on the dashboard ready to be gobbled with a cold can of Coke. Ahhh, life is good!"
Michael Stern

"Who could not smile at the sight of the outsized Airstream wenier behind a ship-shape Checker Cab? That head inside the cab, by the way, is a dummy (inanimate)."
Michael Stern