The $69 hot dog

[John]

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6785

When I see the term "haute dog" the hair on the back my neck stands up and all kinds of warning flags appear. Add to this the involvement of a chef and you are looking at a recipe for disaster. Pretzel dough? Maybe for a change of pace, but I prefer a quality food service individually baked hot dog bun. White truffle butter, duck foie gras, black truffles, ketchup (gasp!), vidalia onions, and black truffle dijon mustard?!! Is there a frankfurter in there? I call this a witness protection hot dog. The frank is hidden and/or buried under all that garbage.

Let me give you some advice. If you're in the area, go to Papaya King, order a hot dog (which I guarantee is better than this abomination) and save yourself $67 and change. Unless of course the woman pictured is included in the $69. She should be for that price.

Chef's,

I'm begging you, please leave the hot dog alone. Don't desecrate it with your crazy inventions. It's not broke, don't fix it. Stick with what you do best, high end food.

[Holly Moore]

Amen. Where were you John when gastropubs started mucking up hamburgers.

[John]

They're doing this to hamburgers? A sure sign that we're in the last days.

[cmling]

Truffle oil again. Sigh.

[MattyC]

Sure, that's going a smidge overboard, but to be the first naysayer to this, I don't mind a little sprucing up the the hotdog. The hotdog by itself is pretty boring.

And just to throw fuel on the fire, one of the best burgers i've had included foie and pork belly on it, along with mascerated cherries. Was worth the price, and was a million times better than some lame 80% ground beef with american "cheese".

[The Food Buster]

That hot dog is just ridiculous. What's the point of wasting something like black truffles on a simple hot dog?

Really, NYC is going overboard with all of these new food creations. Adding quality ingredients and a hefty price tag doesn't guarantee taste. To this day, I've never had a sandwich w/ foie gras and truffle oil that I actually liked, except for (quite ironically) Hot Doug's Foie Gras Duck Sausage Dog. But the price tag on that sucker was about $10, which is probably less than I'd have to pay just to get the foie gras from any normal eatery.

The saddest part, though? This is probably a brilliant move from a business standpoint. People in New York are just going to keep dishing out for that stuff, and it's only going to get worse.

[John]

Sure, that's going a smidge overboard, but to be the first naysayer to this, I don't mind a little sprucing up the the hotdog. The hotdog by itself is pretty boring.

And just to throw fuel on the fire, one of the best burgers i've had included foie and pork belly on it, along with mascerated cherries. Was worth the price, and was a million times better than some lame 80% ground beef with american "cheese".

If you think the hot dog by itself is pretty boring, then you're probably eating the wrong ones.

"you don't buy a hot dog called a "haute dog" and you don't get it from a fancy chef.

You get it from a guy in a tank top with hairy arms who is probably named Nick or Vinnie.

Guys like this have sense enough not to use white truffle butte...r and duck foie gras."

[MattyC]

If you think the hot dog by itself is pretty boring, then you're probably eating the wrong ones.

"you don't buy a hot dog called a "haute dog" and you don't get it from a fancy chef.

You get it from a guy in a tank top with hairy arms who is probably named Nick or Vinnie.

Guys like this have sense enough not to use white truffle butte...r and duck foie gras."

Never said I actually liked the 'haute dog' thing, that's a pretty dumb name, I agree, along with the fact I said it was overboard - but sorry I think hotdogs are a bit on the plain side? Didn't know my opinion was wrong. I think the pretzel bun sounds good. A little fun with classics never hurt anyone, as long as people keep an open mind about things, and whoever makes it doesn't go crazy adding shit to it.

And I love foie, although haven't had a foie hotdog. I ll have to give it a shot. Sounds good.

[John]

Never said your opinion was wrong, though I don't agree with it. I don't think a quality hot dog with a little mustard is boring. There are so many good ones, not to mention the different ways of preparing them. Sometimes I have chili, other times the unique relish at Rutt's Hut. Too many toppings mask the taste of a quality dog. If you can't taste the actual frankfurter, why bother with a good one? For me the excitement is tasting a unique, quality dog. Toppings are secondary and only get in the way.

[Sneakeater]

It's kind of funny that out-of-towners are presenting this as the kind of scam that "people in New York" will keep "dishing out" for, when it's so obvious that this is nothing more than a PR gimmick calculated to impress the tourists and suburbanites that constitute almost the entirety of this ice cream parlor's clientele. It's also obvious that NOBODY -- not even the tourists and suburbanites -- is expected to BUY this thing: it's pure PR, a pure menu gimmick (although I'm sure Serendipity wouldn't say "no" if some gullible big-talking tourist wanted to).

Congratulations on giving Serendipity exactly what it wanted.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Sneakeater (log)

[slkinsey]

This is a publicity gimmick, nothing more. I bet they haven't sold a single one of these, nor are they likely to have sold any of their $1,000 sundaes. The sundae they created exclusively for the publicity of having the "world's record most expensive sundae" and this "haute dog" is more of the same. Seriously, people, this is Serendipity 3. This is not an expensive restaurant taking db Bistro's (excellent) "high end burger" concept to a further extreme. It's a place that sells $13 sandwiches with annoyingly "whimsical" names like "The Virginia Slim Open" and has a signature dessert called "Frrrozen Hot Chocolate." It's the Upper East Side version of Bennigan's.

On preview: what sneakeater said.

Edited July 27, 2010 by slkinsey (log)

[Chris Amirault]

It's kind of funny that out-of-towners are presenting this as the kind of scam that "people in New York" will keep "dishing out" for, when it's so obvious that this is nothing more than a PR gimmick calculated to impress the tourists and suburbanites that constitute almost the entirety of this ice cream parlor's clientele.

You mean it's not the next Momofuku? Damn. I guess I won't drive down from New England so I can post about it here. Sigh.

[John]

It's kind of funny that out-of-towners are presenting this as the kind of scam that "people in New York" will keep "dishing out" for, when it's so obvious that this is nothing more than a PR gimmick calculated to impress the tourists and suburbanites that constitute almost the entirety of this ice cream parlor's clientele. It's also obvious that NOBODY -- not even the tourists and suburbanites -- is expected to BUY this thing: it's pure PR, a pure menu gimmick (although I'm sure Serendipity wouldn't say "no" if some gullible big-talking tourist wanted to).

Congratulations on giving Serendipity exactly what it wanted.

If you're talking about giving them publicity, I plead guilty. But it's bad publicity. I can post about this until the cows come home, but no one will buy this atrocity. If these so called chefs had to depend on "haute dogs" alone, they would go broke. When you add too many ingredients (that do not belong), you no longer have what most people consider a hot dog, but something that resembles what I would expect from Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. Or maybe lavatory. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "Haute dog" French for "I'm an idiot"?

[Sneakeater]

There's no bad publicity on this. This ice cream parlor will now be thought of as a place with fancy stuff -- willing to be fancier than an ice cream parlor ever needs to be. You've given them just what they wanted.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Sneakeater (log)

[Holly Moore]

This isn't about publicity but aesthetics. Gaudy is as gaudy does.

[IndyRob]

I think this whole concept has become tired. Throw some fois/truffles on something and call it expensive. Or, if you have no fois gras and no truffles, serve a peanut butter sandwich with a bottle of Dom Perignon.

Conspicuous consumption has never been better served.

[Sneakeater]

For an ice cream parlor like Serendipity, just being mentioned on a serious food board like eGullet is a major coup. It makes them look like they're in the same league as, say, Daniel, rather than (as Sam points out) Bennigan's.

OF COURSE this is tasteless. It's just not worth paying attention to. Nobody's supposed to ever eat it.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Sneakeater (log)