New England Hot Dog - Route 9 Freehold, NJ

[yuppicide]

I just wanted to let everyone know that New England Hot Dog Company has opened on Route 9 North in New Jersey recently. I went there and think it's really worth a trip. It's in Freehold near Burlington Coat Factory, in the same mall.

First off, the dogs aren't fried like a Rutt's or anything which was a little disappointing for me at first, they're grilled or steamed (you decide), BUT what made up for that is the sheer number of toppings and dog types!

First, there's 12 types of dogs. Okay they're not all dogs. They have: all beef kosher, big beef dog, bratwurst, foot long dog, kielbasa, italian sausage, organic, natural casing, pork/beef dog, vegetarian dog, and black angus. So many choices. I went with two natural casing dogs. Those are standard.

Then there's the toppings! 39 of them to be exact! I won't go through them all here, but there's some of your standards such as 5 types of mustard, ketchup, green and red relish, etc. Then there's some more unusual stuff such as peanut sauce, russian dressing, poppy seeds, jalapeno ketchup, blue cheese dressing, etc.

They make their own ipswich mustard, baked beans, brown bread, coleslaw, and chili right in store. I could be wrong about the mustard, but I think that's what he told me.

Their hotdog rolls aren't exactly rolls. They're kind of like a nicer slice of white bread. It's like white bread folded, but better and stronger.

You can put whatever toppings you like on your dogs, but I tried some of the premade combinations. There's thirteen different combinations. Here's what I had:

AMHERST - Buffalo sauce, blue cheese and celery salt. --- Excellant. Not too hot and the blue cheese gave it a really nice flavor as did the celery salt. My only worry is that when I go back I won't want to try new flavors, I'll keep eating this one.

IPSWICH - Covered with the “world’s best Ipswich Ale Mustard”, sweet red pepper relish and chopped onions. --- Loved it as well. Don't know what I'll order next time as I loved them both.

My Girlfriend had an Amherst also as well as:

BOSS DOG - Bacon bits, sauteed onions, chili, nacho cheese, and jalapenos.

There's a few other things you can get there and Boylan's soda. You can check out their full menu here:

http://www.nehotdog.com/Freehold%20menu.pdf

With a name of "New England" I had no idea what to expect of their hotdogs. Now I expect I'll be back there every few weeks I think. It's about a 20 or 25 minute drive for me. Rutt's Hutt is about an hour unfortunately.

[rlibkind]

IPSWICH - Covered with the “world’s best Ipswich Ale Mustard”, sweet red pepper relish and chopped onions. --- Loved it as well. Don't know what I'll order next time as I loved them both.

With a moniker like that, it should be a dog with fried clams on top! A true "surf 'n turf".

With a name of "New England" I had no idea what to expect of their hotdogs.

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Actually, what you should expect is the roll you got. Sounds like a classic "New England" hot dog bun, which is a squared off verson of the more familiar bun, but split on top rather than along the side. The "white bread" sides are frequently buttered and grilled.

As for the type of hot dog, New Englanders tend to be all over the lot, but up in many parts of Maine, the favored dog is very red, courtesy of food coloring.

[Chris Amirault]

I'm not sure I understand what's New Englandy about this place save for some names and the buns. And Bob's right: what's up with the Ipswich being named after a mustard?

[John]

I've heard about this place and spoke with one of the owners months ago, but haven't gone yet. I posted about the brands offered on another site when everything was still fresh in my mind. Of course I'll reserve judgement until I actually go, but it seems that New England Hot Dog Co. is trying to be all things to all people. It's been my experience that when a place tries to do too many things, rarely does it do all of them sufficiently. But again, I'll wait and see.

I know that they offer 2 different size Boars Head beef dogs, a Boars Head beef and pork, a Sabrett, a Best Kosher (from Chicago, not Newark), a poultry dog, a Maple Leaf brand beef and pork dog, and possibly others. Plus a variety of things that you can put on the dog. To me, the brand of dog, whether it has a casing, and how it is prepared is more important than all the crap you put on it. Much of the toppings I wouldn't even consider putting on a hot dog. Why ruin a quality dog? What I don't like about this place is that most of the dogs that are grilled are put on one of those roller grills. I much prefer a griddle or a gas/charcoal grill. Roller grills are for movie theatres. You can, however, request that your dog be prepared on a real griddle. I would suggest doing this as well as asking which of the dogs have a casing. In my opinion, if you are going out for a dog, you might as well get one with the snap that you can only get from a dog with a skin.

Boars Head all beef with a tight casing is one of the finest dogs you can sample, but here they offer the skinless variety prepared on a roller grill. Unless that's changed in the few months or so that I spoke with the owner and a couple of customers.

[menton1]

Sounds like a trip into the city for Papaya King is a better use of gasoline...

[Chris Amirault]

I'm not seeing New England hot dog brands on that list. Saugy's, at the least, should be in there....

[AJpros]

I am one of the owners of New England Hot Dog, in Freehold NJ. I just wanted to respond to a couple of small things. We appreciate the great feedback, which recently influenced a judging contest for our natural casing hot dog. It was narrowed down to 3 natural casing dogs and this past weekend the judges all agreed that the Boar's Head natural casing hot dog was the best - and it will be our main natural casing dog at our place moving forward. One small note - we do offer our dogs fried, just ask. On our next printing of our menu, we will be listing that as an option.

[John]

I hope that you wll prepare the Boars Head natural casing dog on a real grill; it makes a big difference. The roller grill, which I am not fond of, is made for skinless dogs anyway. Do you still serve the natural casing Sabrett? One of the few beef dogs, along with Best (Newark not Chicago), Usinger's, and one or two others that is in the same league as Boars Head.

I have been meaning to to get to Freehold as I have not yet sampled a Maple Leaf brand frank. For a beef and pork dog, none is better than a natural casing Thumann's on the grill. Sahlen's from Buffalo and the franks from Kocher's in Ridgefield Park are also exceptional. It would be nice to see one of them offered as they are hard to come by. Many places in North Jersey use the milder Thumann's made for deep frying, but only 2 places I know of use the griller and they don't spend enough time on the grill at either place.

Do you have a listing of the dogs (brand) offered?

[AJpros]

I hope that you wll prepare the Boars Head natural casing dog on a real grill; it makes a big difference. The roller grill, which I am not fond of, is made for skinless dogs anyway. Do you still serve the natural casing Sabrett? One of the few beef dogs, along with Best (Newark not Chicago), Usinger's, and one or two others that is in the same league as Boars Head.

I have been meaning to to get to Freehold as I have not yet sampled a Maple Leaf brand frank. For a beef and pork dog, none is better than a natural casing Thumann's on the grill. Sahlen's from Buffalo and the franks from Kocher's in Ridgefield Park are also exceptional. It would be nice to see one of them offered as they are hard to come by. Many places in North Jersey use the milder Thumann's made for deep frying, but only 2 places I know of use the griller and they don't spend enough time on the grill at either place.

Do you have a listing of the dogs (brand) offered?

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John - Are goal was to solicit a majority opinion of the best natural casing hot dog and Boar's Head registered a 88% tally for the best. For now, we are going to make this our natural casing offer since we have so many other types, sizes of hot dogs. The grill debate rages on - we get supporters of the roller, we get those that only want it boiled or fried and some insist on putting it on our griddle. To be honest, many people just dont have a strong opinion either way. I am going to look into the Sahlen's - never had one and always looking for a better dog! thanks

[John]

Thanks for your reply. Sahlen's is a great choice. Perhaps you want to look into Thumann's grillers. In my opinion the very best German style or beef and pork dog. This is not their deep fryer that is common in many north Jersey places. It's also much easier to come by than Sahlen's.

Boars Head is an excellent beef dog. Great on a grill (not roller grill) or in water. My absolute favorite is the 5 to a lb natural casing Best Provision dog out of Newark. Commonly known by hot dog aficionados as the Syd's dog after the place that served it for years; first in Newark, then in Union. Until Syd's lease wasn't renewed and they closed up, it was the most popular dog every year on the New Jersey Hot Dog Tour.

Two questions: do you still serve the Maple Leaf dog? What dogs were included in your tasting to determine the best natural casing dog?