Hot Doggin' in Maine: Bloopers and Out-takes

Here is the latest blooper reel from our recent Hot Dog Tour of Maine.

Click HERE for Video on Hot Dog Stories

Watch for Mrs. HDM's "cheese rant." There's some funny stuff!

Hot Doggin in Maine: Wicked Good Wieners in Old Orchard Beach

On our second day in Maine, after eating lobster and hot dogs and drinking our fair share of beer, Mrs. HDM and I headed to Old Orchard beach for our next (and what proved to be final) Hot Dog Story of the weekend. This is a shot of the beach from the end of the pier- we like to soak up the honky tonk atmosphere before heading up to Scarborough.

After grabbing a beeyah at the peeyah, we decided to go in search of hot dogs for lunch.

Even at noon, the pier is packed.

This place had a good looking deal- hot dog and a Coke for only 99 cents. After peeking in the stand, I was so skeeved out, I kept going.

These corn dogs looked good, but I wanted a REAL Maine hot dog.

Deep fried Kool Aid? REALLY?!?!?!

There were several hot dog choices here, but...

..."Elvis" steered us to a new joint, right at the entry of the pier....

...Wicked Good Weiners! Wicked Good Weiners is open 11AM - 11PM, 7 days a week from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Wicked Good Weiners is owned by Brian Volz, a relocated Winthrop, Massachusetts native who has an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of cooking. He starts culinary school this fall.

His partner, Michaela McVetty, is a Maine native, walking comedy show, and business management major. The two got together on Wicked Good Weiners when Michaela overheard Brian talking about his new project and wanted in. Brian said there were a lot of people interested in partnering up with him, so he picked the partner who came up with the best name for the cart. How a kid from Winthrop COULDN'T come up with the "Wicked Good" tagline is beyond me! I PROMISED Brian and Michaela I would emphasize: THEY ARE BUSINESS PARTNERS-THEY ARE NOT A COUPLE!

The actual cart is a standard looking hot dog cart with five steam wells and storage. Brian was unsure of the manufacturer- he picked it up used on Craigslist.

One of the cool things about Wicked Good Weiners is, in addition to Oscar Meyer and Ball Park franks, they serve Jordan's Red Dogs (sometimes called Red Snappers). Jordan's is an old Maine brand of franks that went into business in 1927 and acquired the Joseph Kirschner Company in 1992. Tyson Foods had bought out Kirschner's and sells the Jordan brand out of their Augusta, Maine location known as Tyson Retail Deli. Maine Red Snappers taste like a regular natural casing dog, they just have some red dyes numbers 3 and 40 to give them the signature hue. The Red Snapper originated out of Jordans' desire to differentiate their dogs from others way back when. They have become a staple in many Maine eateries and have spawned other imitators.

A Hot Doggin' in Maine tour wouldn't be complete without some Red Snappers, so that's what we decided to have one. Each Red Snapper is cooked to order (I have NEVER seen dogs cooked to order from a simple hot dog cart) and individually checked for temperature with a digital thermometer. These were the freshest hot dog cart dogs I have ever encountered.

Mrs. HDM ordered up a chili dog with brie (she can't stand the "squeeze cheese") and...

CHOWED DOWN! The beeyah at the peeyah must have lowered her usual aversion to having her photo snapped while eating a hot dog.

I had the house specialty "Maine Dog." That's a Red Snapper with chili, cheese and bacon!

TIME TO

CHOW DOWN!

The dogs were great- nice and hot and the condiments were fresh. By far the best hot dogs on the Pier! Definitely

TWO THUMBS UP!

If you are looking for a fresh, cheap lunch in Old Orchard Beach, skip the grungy fry shops that have hot dogs as an "add on item" and go to the end of the Pier to Wicked Good Weiners for a genuine Maine Red Snapper! Tell Brian and Michaela "the Hotdogman sent me."

Check out the video of our visit to Wicked Good Weiners on Hot Dog Stories- you won't be sorry, Brian and Michaela were VERY funny.

Hot Doggin in Maine

Every summer, Mrs. HDM and I take a long weekend and head up to Maine. This year, we got in the car on Friday morning with no reservations for a place to stay and a mission to eat hot dogs, eat lobster, drink beer and hit the beach. 

We motored up route 1 with the top down. Our first stop was at Yank's Franks in Wells for a hot dog and a Hot Dog Story.

Further up route 1, we stopped at Shields Meats and Produce. They make Shields hot dogs and I wasn't able to get "the full story" this day, but I snapped some pictures of their Red Frankfurters (it's a Maine thing). I will be interviewing one of the owners later this week.

The next stop was in Kennebunk to visit an old favorite- Hot Diggity Dog- for another hot dog and another Hot Dog Story.

We headed up route 1 some more in search of accommodations and checked in at one of the most flea bag dumps I have ever had the misfortune to stay at. One local friend thought this place only charged by the hour.

Next we tooled down route 9 and took a cruise through Biddeford Pool before heading into Kennebunkport for some browsing and strolling.

This is a cool old Studebaker parked in downtown Kennebunkport.

After meeting an old friend for a drink, we headed out to Nunan's Lobster Hut for dinner. Nunan's is THE BEST PLACE TO GET LOBSTER ON THE PLANET!

Steamers...

...and lobster were the meal of choice.

I think this one needs more time in the pot!

After dinner, we hit a place out on route 1 in Arundel called Bentley's Saloon. They hang Harleys from the rafters- this one is a 1934 Harley.

They also play good music. Friday's band was The Ride and they rocked out some classics all night long.

Bentley's encourages patrons to dance on the tables and "ride the Hog." 

They discourage "support wear."

We got a much better motel room Saturday morning up in Old Orchard Beach and hit the pier.

We had a beeyah at the peeyah.

Then we had some Wicked Good Weiners and did another Hot Dog Story.

I don't think this guy is really Elvis...

After lunch we biked up to Scarborough Beach and spent the day there.

There were tons of kite surfers-this looks like fun!

Mrs. HDM was proudly rockin the six pack!

Someone always has some interesting sand sculptures working. This is a giant sand shark...

...munching on a Barbie.

After the beach, we cleaned up, headed back to Nunan's for dinner and snapped this picture of an old truck in a front yard. You aren't really from Maine unless you have an old truck in the front yard.

After dinner, we had a few beers with a friend and headed back to Old Orchard. We stopped in at Jimmy the Greeks in Old Orchard for a night cap and Mrs. HDM was psyched to see they had a mechanical bull. My back won't let me ride these things, but she went on it three times!

On Sunday it was a little more  beach, a little more strolling Kennebunk and dinner in York with my aunt and uncle. 

We love Maine!

I'll be posting the Hot Dog Stories we did on our trip (there are 4 of them) over the next week or so.