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| - Hungry for some of Kevin Sousa's food, but the menu at Salt doesn't change frequently enough for your taste? While you wait for Union Pig & Chicken to open, Station Street Hot Dogs offers you a late new years gift - a closed hot dog shop, revived by Sousa and his brother to create fun but still sophisticated food.
Upon walking in to the shop, you're greeted with two familiar features - First, a wide open kitchen, striking due to the fact that a hot dog joint is usually the type of establishment where you'd rather not see environment your food is being cooked in. This, though, is spotless and currently manned by some familiar faces from Salt's kitchen(easily identified by their tattoos and Salt T-shirts under their aprons).
Second, a large chalkboard menu above the register. Hot dogs range from a standard dog($4) to a Sweetbread-laden frank topped with an apple mostarda($9), with most of the dogs featuring American(Chili,saurkraut) or Asian(kim chi, sweet soy sauce) influences. Other items on the menu include fries, optionally fried in duck fat($3/$5) and mexican coke($2). Around the outside of the restaurant is a bar with stools for seating, and a few trays of condiments(ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar, sriracha).
We ordered a Hawaii dog($5), a Devil dog($5), and a Kim chi dog($7), along with fries. The Hawaiian dog tasted fantastic, sweet and salty all at the same time, though I wasn't pleased to find a small garnish of fresh mint, an herb that I'm not fond of. Surprisingly, the mint wasn't a deal-breaker for me, but I would have enjoyed it more without. Also, they are unfortunately not immune to the age-old mistake of putting watery toppings on a hot dog - the bottom of the bun turned to mush and the two halves had split by the time I could pick it up. The devil dog was a bit bland, egg salad, tabasco, and potato chips tastes about how it sounds, and was not very spicy at all. As a chilihead, I'd prefer to see a non-tabasco hot sauce used here, and this turned into the spicy dog expected it to be.
The kim chi dog was the star of the show, though. If you've ever gone to the Brooklyn Flea and stopped at Asia Dog, you know how wonderful of a combination kim chi and hot dogs can make. I've searched high and low for a competitor to those wonderful dogs, and now there is one mere blocks away from me. Covered in kim chi and kewpie mayo(a japanese brand of mayo made with vinegar and egg yolks), garnished with bonito and strips of nori, the flavors of this were spicy and creamy and bold and salty - my favorite combination. I did find the price tag to be a bit hefty, but I've spent more on bad downtown lunches, so it could be worse.
The fries were tasty, well-fried and salty, but not particularly notable. My only other complaint of this place would have to be the atmosphere - it was almost dead silent, even the guys calling out the order numbers was quiet. A hot-dog joint where you sit on barstools, to me, should be boisterous - cooks yelling, pans banging on the griddle, etc. Hell, at least put in a jukebox or something.
Other than that, this is an awesome reinvention of an East Liberty landmark. I urge you to come give it a shot and see what an inventive hot dog can taste like, especially with the awesome hours(open until 11pm Mon-Sat!!). Also, I urge you to take a look at the fantastic website of this establishment, I was really impressed by the design.
--Also, they offer Smart Dogs as a veggie replacement for any menu item. I'm not a fan of them, though, as their texture is too far off(feels like lumpy pudding) - I wish they'd take advice from Franktuary and get a local option, and a veggie option that doesn't try to imitate.
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