Wahoo Locker

157 West 5th Street, Wahoo, NE - (402) 443-3104

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Posted By Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle on July 30, 2010 10:34 PM

We heard that Wahoo, Nebraska was a source for extraordinary hot dogs. Made by the historic OK Market, they are called Wahoo Wieners. So we made the drive north from Lincoln, found the OK Market and, darn, it was closed! We did a little milling about, thinking we could figure out when it was going to open. Just as we stood back to take a photo, someone called out to us from the Wahoo Bakery next door.

We entered the bakery, and were told the OK Market was closed for good, and had been closed for a couple of years. The bakery guy did tell us that the Wahoo Locker bought OK Market's wiener recipe, and was now producing Wahoo Wieners. The bakery carried them in a refrigerator case. Wait a second; the Wahoo what? We, in our urban ignorance, had no idea what a "locker" was. He looked at us as if we were from Mars, and explained that maybe we would know it as a meat market. He and the big farm boy waiting in line behind us had a big, good-natured laugh over this, and they made a point of saying that if they came to New Jersey they'd probably be just as clueless as we were.

We picked up a package of Wahoo Wieners, and a few of the bakery's great-looking doughnuts, and headed back towards Lincoln, planning to stop at a park along the way so we could grill our bounty. But before we made it out of town, we spied a storefront with the name Wahoo Locker. What great luck! So we stopped the car, hoping that it might be open. It sure was, and as we stepped inside, a gentleman emerged from the meat-cutting room in back to greet us: "You must be the folks from the bakery that didn't know what a locker was!" When we told this story to our innkeeper back in Lincoln, she said it would no doubt be making the rounds of Wahoo for months to come.

The Locker has a huge selection of smoked sausages and meats, and just about any other cut of meat you might desire. Even though we already had a package of wieners from the bakery, we couldn't resist picking up some smoked beef snacks and a garlic ring bologna.

We finally made it out of town and found ourselves a park with a grill. We cooked the dogs and bologna till the skins were crackling and the insides were ready to burst juices. Gadzooks, they were good! Both had a meaty texture far removed from typical blubbery supermarket specimens. The wieners seemed to our palates to be leaner and smokier, the bologna more lush and garlicky. Both flowed in juicy rivulets as we bit through taut, crunchy skins. Are these the same wieners that used to be produced at the OK Market? Don't know; don't care. They are great smoked meats!

We never did ask the Locker if they shipped (the OK Market used to ship the dogs, and we assume the Locker will ship too). You might want to try calling them. If shipping isn't an option, you'll just have to make your way to Wahoo to try the world-class Wahoo Wiener.

Overall Rating

Wahoo Wieners

Garlic Bologna

Doughnuts

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