Amazing Hot Dog

[NJ2FLA]

I have a job interview in Manhattan so I may actually be in town next week. I'll try to stop by.

Best of luck!

-Scott

[Jason Perlow]

New Amazing Hot Dog Photos:

Where the magic happens

Fresh cut Boardwalk-style French Fries

Just out of the fryer

Eggroll Dogs

Jersey Breakfast Dog

My Schmiero

Reuben Dog

Caped Crusader (Chili/Slaw Dog)

Nacho Dog (Salsa, Guacamole, Sour Cream)

Hotburger Hamdog

Hamdog Cross Section

Weiners in formation

[Rachel Perlow]

The place looks great, Eric, congratulations and best of luck! While all the signature dogs were great, our favorites were actually the simplest, the My Schmiero (the cream cheese is a great conveyer of the green onions, nice flavor/temperature/texture contrast on this one) and the NJ Breakfast (excellently fried egg binded to bacon wrapped dog with cheese). Fabulous fries and Boylan Red from the fountain. Excellent all around!

[Jason Perlow]

Initial impressions -- this may very well be the next legendary Jersey Dog spot. They're doing unique stuff with dogs that nobody in the area is doing, and by far some of the best fresh cut fries short of a fry specialist like Les Halles in Manhattan or on the boardwalk in Ocean City.

The 4 to a pound all-beef Best, when deep fried and wrapped with the bacon on a Martin's roll yeilds probably one of the best dogs in the area, and with the unique toppings really knocks it out of the park. Its a very rich dog, so if you are more on the milder, pork side of the fence with a traditional Jersey Ripper, you might think a little bit different -- all beef is my preference, so I'm definitely an adherent to this genre. My favorites by far were the Jersey Breakfast and the My Schmiero -- both ideally suited after a night of hard drinking. I liked both the Caped Crusader and the Hotburger Hamdog, however the chili (all meat, no beans) is a bit on the sweet side. I wouldn't want to eat a whole bowl of it as a meal, but it matches well with the dogs, although I think it could use a little bit more heat.

I think that Amazing Hot Dog is going to be here for a long time to come.

[Rebecca263]

Gorgeous food porn, Jason! We can't wait!!!! Those are amazing looking french fries! Guess I'll have to have a hot dog, too, now.

[Anonymouze]

Oh my... now I'll have to visit my grandmother SOONER... WOW. I have two words to say "HOLY Hot-dog" (or is that 3?) MMmmMMM that looks good.

[Holly Moore]

Are the fries twice cooked - blanched and finish fried?

Great pics - Lorelei could not sing a sweeter song to lure me to North Jersey.

[John]

Good luck, Eric. And great pictures Jason. Will you be open on Sundays?

[AlisonA]

Gorgeous food porn, Jason! We can't wait!!!! Those are amazing looking french fries! Guess I'll have to have a hot dog, too, now.

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Ditto.

I'm actually hungry again although I just ate dinner!

Wednesday is my current goal.

I'll report back if I go, but not sure I"ll be able to match the images Jason got.

AlisonA

[Curlz]

Are the fries twice cooked - blanched and finish fried?

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YUP!!

[Rosie]

Closed Sunday.

Wonderful pictures Jason. You should have a show with just your food pictures!

Ditto to what Jason wrote. These hotdogs are fabulous. Tried a few and my favorites are the hotdog with cream cheese and the breakfast dog with egg. Fries are fantastic also. Crunchy and greaseless. As good as Sammy's in Mendham which I always thought had the best fries in NJ.

[lano]

Is the restaurant officially open yet?

[Daniel]

Ejebud,

I have been watching this thread and I am in awe.. I wish you nothing but the best... Judging by Jason's photos and reaction it is clear your imagination and genius has been materialized.. Thanks for making the world a better place..

[Randi]

My new mantra is..."I want to go to Amazing Hot Dog!"

I have been dreaming of the fries (I am assuming I can get some cheese sauce on the side - I see it on the pic of the hotburger hamdog) and I can't wait to try the schmiero!

Ejebud, I am really impressed with your creativity!

Randi

[Curlz]

Is the restaurant officially open yet?

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Nope...Monday!!

[Rachel Perlow]

I have the take out menu right here... Yes, a side of cheese wiz is available for $1. Other good sauces available for the Belgian style fries as well, we had the chipotle mayo.

[john b]

If I'm headed north on the Parkway, how do I get there??

[Curlz]

Imho, I'd avoid the 3+ miles of stop-and-go of Bloomfield Avenue and take GSP Exit 145 to Rt. 280W to exit 8B (Prospect Avenue North--towards Verona/Montclair/the Caldwells). Go about 2 miles (you'll pass The Manor--keep going) to the intersection of Prospect and Bloomfield Avenues, turn left, and you're there! It's on the right, just after the Acura dealer.

Link to directions off of the AHD site are here.

[Randi]

I have the take out menu right here... Yes, a side of cheese wiz is available for $1. Other good sauces available for the Belgian style fries as well, we had the chipotle mayo.

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oooh! Yay! Isn't it funny the things that push us over the edge??

[Peter Conway]

Wow, beautiful. I'm on my way.

[Rachel Perlow]

Wow, beautiful. I'm on my way.

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I hope not, they're not open on Sundays, and well, not officially open yet, at all. Although I suppose they could have been there today going through last minute, pre-opening stuff.

[Rosie]

They open officially January 16, 2006.

[ejebud]

Wow, beautiful. I'm on my way.

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Although I suppose they could have been there today going through last minute, pre-opening stuff.

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Thankfully we are well prepared for our big opening day. We took the day to reflect on all that has gone on since Matt and I had our first meeting on March 29th 2005 over burgers at Pal's Cabin. It's hard to believe that it has been that long. I remembered the early days when Matt was still working and living in Manhattan. I spent my days scouring the Jersey landscape both city and country looking for that right location. With digital camera in hand and cell phone fired up I snapped away and made many a phone call to realtors and landlords and to Matt with either excitement or disappointment on the days finds. I scrolled through the pictures of possible locations today and had to LOL at the sorry messes that I actually thought had potential. My true desire to own a restaurant clearly blurred (an oxymoron) my vision in the early exploratory days of the then nameless,

Amazing Hot Dog. Towards the end of Matt's apartment lease in NYC, he came out here one night a week to begin the menu planning, recipe testing and sound boarding process of ideas, including finding a name. I had already posted this post

I liked TongoRads suggestion of Perfectly Frank and thought I would use it until Matt and I began playing around with using the word HAUTE DOG to indicate something different. We soon came up with Amazing Haute Dog. We sat with it for a while and changed it to its current configuration: AMAZING HOT DOG. We immediately secured the services of BizLogo.com and over the next few months created our logo. I was reminded by reading the Name Game post above that our original idea was to try and be all things to all people. I must have been insane. I also noticed that my post dated March 14th I was still working alone; Matt had not yet entered the picture, but by the time I posted again an May 13th, I began using the word WE. Interesting historical archive; this Egullet thing.

And so, Eric and Matt join together in their quest to rock the hot dog world. We had done allot of footwork in the first few months and by the time the July meeting of the Verona board of adjustments, we had signed on the dotted line on a location, had our logo designed, our name on it's way to the trademark office, our menu planned out, we were "on a roll" so to speak. We figured to open October one. Little did we know that the hoops we had to jump through were just beginning. We shook off the initial shock that we didn't get approval in just one meeting, and continued to cross some T's and dot some I's. We were using the Millburn Starbucks as our headquarters and played the waiting game, spending long mornings with the newspaper and eventually bought a laptop. There was no Board of Adjustments meeting in August so we had to wait until September 8th for our next shot at approval. We had gathered the Dream Team once again. This team consisted of our attorney, architect, engineer, meteorologist, ventilation expert, and chef (that's me). We were pretty certain that we had it in the bag. In the 11th hour, our attorney felt we needed more strength in the ventilation testimony as it was a sticking point being made by a neighboring resident of our location, so he asked for an adjournment. It was a prudent move on his part, but one that took both Matt and me completely by surprise. We were devastated. But with chins up, we met the next morning at Starbucks and discussed the next move. We went into "what if" mode and decided to again scour the landscape for a location to fall back on. We proceeded to drive hundreds of NJ highway miles over the next few weeks, eating our way into oblivion at many NJ Hot dog spots. BTW our favorites were Libby’s Lunch in West Paterson, and Hiram’s over Callahan's. We also like the Dog House on RT 4 I think it was. Anyway, we came up with nothing as far as locations went. It was disappointing to say the least. To make things worse, the next meeting was being held during Yom Kippur and we (our attorney and ourselves) are Jewish so we weren't heard again until November 10th. The final 2 months before approval were painfully uneventful. We did however rent a commercial kitchen and did final testing of our recipes and photographed our hot dogs to create our training manual for our employees. Finally our perseverance paid off and we were approved by unanimous decision. Thirty days later it was memorialized and 10 days after that it was un-appealable. On November 11th, we called all the vendors who were waiting in the wings for our approval and work began the following Monday. The construction has gone very well as seen in the pictures I have posted

here.

I want to thank the Egullet community for riding the roller coaster with us, and I look forward to serving you. When all is said and done, "we're just two local Jersey guys who want to sell hot dogs." Thank you for your continued support of AMAZING HOT DOG. It truly is "Time to make the hot dogs"

Eric

Edited after spellchecking

Edited January 16, 2006 by ejebud (log)

[John]

What time is Amazing Hot Dog set to open? Luckily, I have the day off and want to make it up there.

[Dana329]

From what I've seen on this site and people I've talked to offline, it's gonna be really crowded at AHD today. I'd better get their early!

Best of lulck, Eric and Matt, and see you at lunch!

Dana