On Thursday, July 21 for the 21st day of my Eat a Hot Dog a Day in honor of National Hot Dog Month tour, I found myself in the hometown of my youth, Needham, Massachusetts.
That's the home of Dog Gone Ron's hot dog cart. Since 2003, Eric has been slinging dogs in downtown Needham and he's currently Needham's only mobile food vendor.
Dog Gone Ron's is located in front of the Mobil Gas station at 1111 Great Plain Avenue in Needham. It's owned by a classmate of my little brother's, Eric Wagner. Eric also owns the gas station, but he confessed he likes being a hot dog man better than a gas station man. He tows a small hot dog cart with a 1975 Chevy Blazer he's restoring (he's retired the 1971 Blazer he used to tow it with).
This is one of the smaller towable hot dog carts I have come across, but Eric manages to sell over 200 hot dogs a day. He's open from 11:30 to 3:30, Monday through Friday. He's also been known to do a few local events on weekends with his cart.
They serve up an all beef, skinless Old Neighborhood frank "dirty water"" style at Dog Gone Ron's. Eric says he grew up loving these hot dogs, that's why he sells them.
Like most hot dog carts, the condiment selection is streamlined. You can get hot sauce, celery salt, kraut, onions relish, brown or yellow mustard, and ketchup.
The dining room consist of a small bench surrounding a perennial garden in the corner of the gas station lot.
It was close to a hundred degrees outside, but Dog Gone Ron's was slammed at the lunch rush nonetheless. Eric sold a ton of cold drinks today!
The Boston Globe, who will be doing a feature article on yours truly in this Sunday's Boston West section, sent out a photographer to take a picture of me chowing down! That's Eric, the owner, looking on.
Dog Gone Ron's gets TWO THUMBS UP
HAPPY NATIONAL HOT DOG MONTH!
Stop by Dog Gone Ron's the next time you're in Needham. You can fill up your tank, then fill up your tummy. Make sure you tell Eric "the Hotdogman sent me."
