Locals Warm Up for the 2011 Hot Dog Tour

Mark your calendar with a dollop of mustard; Sept. 24 is the 8th Annual New Jersey Hot Dog Tour. Serious devotees of the dog gather for a day-long bus tour that with six stops where dogs and more dogs are on the menu (along with something to wash them down, of course).

The 2011 tour will take local foodies, fans from around the country, and even some serious eaters from Europe to the Galloping Hill Inn, Jimmy Buff’s, Soup or Dogs, Out of this World Dogs, Jack’s Frank and Fries, and – representing this part of the hot dog state – Manny’s Texas Weiners.  Last year’s tour included Millburn’s The Garage.

“We had a blast,” recalls John Lockedema. His first trip was the 2010 tour, and he’s on for another this fall. A longtime hot dog fan, Essex-county born and bred, Lockedema recalls Sid’s and Don’s Drive-In as long-ago favorites.

As aficionados know, hot dogs are prepared many ways in the Garden State, including “dirty water dogs,” deep-fried until the casing splits Texas weiners, and griddle cooked frankfurters. The tour will showcase those and more.

If Sept. feels too far away, Lockedema has local favorites to recommend. Lockedema likes the fried dogs at Clifton’s Rutt’s Hut, though it’s not about the atmosphere, he notes. For a griddle dog, he recommends the Galloping Hill Inn. “It’s a beef-pork blend,” he notes. He recommends ordering a “double,” which is served on a Pechter’s roll, custom-baked for the Inn.

Still hungry? “We are blessed,” says Lockedema, “with great independent butchers nearby.” Specifically, Lutz’s and the Union Pork Store are prepared to supply even the hungriest hot dog fan with the Garden State’s finest.

Patch will continue to cover the Hot Dog Tour. If you’re going, let us know.  And tell us in the comments where you would go if you designed the Hot Dog Tour.

For more info on the tour, email: benzee95@hotmail.com