19 March, 2012

Pauly Dogs

Comments : 1 Posted in : Food Trucks, Stands, and Carts, Grab and Go on March 19, 2012 by : The Gourmez

Pauly Dogs
Bryan Center Plaza
Duke Campus
$3.75—$4.50 per dog
Cash or Duke meal points only

Pauly Dogs is a cart that permanently resides on the pedestrian bridge at the Bryan Center Plaza on Duke’s campus. Being a fan of hot dogs with crazy toppings—-it’s more about the toppings than the meat for me—-I decided I ought to give it a try.

You can get standard all-beef hotdogs, 1/4 lb. all beef-hotdogs, chicken dogs, chicken sausages, spicy beef sausages, bratwurst, or vegetarian dogs. The price of a dog includes whatever toppings you want, and there are many choices on that menu! The options include your standards like chili and chopped onions, of course, but it ranges to ones like crushed potato, bbq, or Dorito chips to marsala sauce and Spaghetti O’s.

Now if you’re like me, that many choices can be overwhelming, so Pauly Dogs has a list of at least thirty different flavor combinations right next to the register, including a bunch of vegetarian ones. Just pick one of those at random, and you’ll probably be okay as long as you’re adventurous. My choices were the macaroni and cheese dog and the teriyaki dog.

First, the mac and cheese dog. I had this combination with the standard all-beef hotdog. The toppings were creamy macaroni and cheese, bbq sauce, bacon bits, and a blend of cheddar and jack cheeses. Both buns were of the chewy variety and not warmed up, which is a minus for me, but the mac and cheese went well with the sauce. Having a warm bun and warm mac and cheese would have made it phenomenal, though.

The second dog was a chicken sausage with teriyaki sauce, sriracha, chopped onion, bacon bits, and that cheese blend again. Now this dog was tasty! The chicken sausage was really good, with flavorful bits of herbs evident in the dog. It had a somewhat airy texture that I dug. I’m a spice fiend, so sriracha will always make me happy, and surprisingly, it wasn’t too much in combination with the teriyaki. The bacon bits and cheese blend were unneeded additions, but hey, who doesn’t like a little bacon?

Pauly Dogs are all done by water cooking-—if they were grilled and those buns toasted, I’d be unable to contain my excitement. Regardless, I still had fun eating my way through a few of Pauly’s combinations, and the man himself was super nice and proud of his combinations. I’ll be back for something with alfredo sauce—-maybe it’ll remind me of my high school lunch breaks when there was nothing better than a 7-11 dog smothered in nacho cheese and topped with diced tomatoes and jalapenos.

Reviewed 19 Mar 12.

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