Fei Fan Hot Dog Story

I am off to Boston today. Drew Bennet, from the Benspark Blog and I are heading into Chinatown to Fei Fan Eatery- a Japanese style hot dog joint that opened up a couple of months ago.

Watch for photos and a Hot Dog Story about our trip in a couple of days!

Two Hot Dog Stories this week

With the advent of Spring, the Hotdogman begins venturing out to explore new and exciting places to munch on that most ubiquitous of encased meats: the hot dog. I have two trips scheduled this week.

On Thursday, I will be heading into Boston's Chinatown to check out a Bostonian version of Vancouver's Japadog, which just opened an east coast location in New York City. Fei Fan Eatery is not affiliated with Japadog, but the style of hot dog and spirit of the place is the same. Joining me will be Drew Bennet from the Benspark Blog. Drew likes his hot dogs and will be accompanying me on the National Hot Dog Month Tour 2012 as co-host and camera man. He'll be coming on some of the Springtime jaunts as well.

Friday night features the return of the lovely and talented, processed cheese hating Mrs. HDM as we have a date night planned in beautiful Somerville, MA at Trina's Starlight Lounge. Trina's features gourmet style "haute dogs" on the menu every Friday. Boston Food Bloggers are invited to join us and CHOW DOWN on some dogs whilst quaffing their favorite libations from Trina's bar. Hope to see some fellow foodies from any food genre at the bar!

Hotdogman vs. Hamburgerman

Casey's Diner is near and dear to my heart. It's located in my hometown of Natick, Ma, and I had my first hot dog there in 1969 when I was four years old. The Casey family has been selling hot dogs in this town since 1890, which makes them the oldest, continuously run, hot dog business in the world! Casey's is housed in a lovingly preserved Worcester Lunch Car, which the family purchased in 1922.

Here's fourth generation proprietor Pat Casey, hard at work during the lunch hour.

Pat took himself away from the dogs for a minute to help me do a little commercial for the upcoming National Hot Dog Month Tour.

While hot dogs are normally the fare for me at Casey's, there are plenty of other things on the menu too- including some of the best hamburgers on the planet.

I decided Casey's burgers needed some Hot Dog Truck love, but I thought burgers were a bit out of my realm, so I brought in an expert. I reached out to Burger blogger and chef Richard Chudy. He runs the Boston Burger Blog. 2-3 times a month, Richard ventures out to burger joints, orders up, snaps some photos and reviews burgers in the city. Richard enjoys burgers from the simplest "greasy spoon" variety all the way up to expensive, gourmet style burgers. When he's not munching on burgers, he runs the Skinny Beet with girlfriend Katie Barszcz from A Small Boston Kitchen. Together they do catering, give cooking lessons, and work as private chefs. Food is their life. Richard and I snapped a photo in front of Casey's before jumping into the belly of the beast.

Also along for the ride today was Drew Bennet from the Benspark blog. Drew is a mommy blogger supreme, lover of fine foods, and he's going to be riding shotgun with me on the National Hot Dog Month Tour this summer. He even managed to score us a bunch of new camera equipment from Kodak for the tour.

After exchanging pleasantries, we ordered up some of Casey's famous cheeseburgers. We each got a bacon cheeseburger with onions grilled in.

While the burgers were cooking, Drew Chowed Down on a Hot Dog. Hey Drew- don't eat the plate!

I Chowed Down on a hot dog too. I usually get one as an appetizer when I have a burger at Casey's.

Before long, the burgers were done. Richard took a bunch of close up pictures of his before eating it. He has very nice burger photos on his blog.

Richard Chowed Down on his burger like a true pro. Note the  forward hunch while Chowing Down; he definitely gets some style points there!

I of course chowed down too. Drew ate his so fast, I didn't get a picture!

Judging by the smile on Richard's face, I'd say he enjoyed his burger! 

We both gave Casey's burgers TWO THUMBS UP!

Drew wanted a picture for his site. He even did a post and video on the visit to Casey's too.

For the rest of the story of the Hotdogman meeting the Hamburgerman and to get Richard's take on Casey's burgers, Check out Hot Dog Stories.

Hotdogman meets Hamburgerman

As you surely must know if you are reading this, I am the Hotdogman. One of the privileges that comes with that title is I get to go eat hot dogs at various establishments and write about it- or shoot video. It's a fun job.

There's a guy here in the Boston area who has a similar gig, the only difference is, he blogs about another All American delicacy: the Hamburger. Richard from The Boston Burger Blog is someone I have been following for a while, and I decided to reach out to him and invite him out to one of my favorite spots for a hamburger, Casey's Diner.

Yes, Casey's. While Casey's is renowned for its hot dogs, they make a damn fine hamburger too. They are consistently ranked in the top burger joints in the area, and with good reason; the burgers are out of bounds delish. Richard has never been to Casey's, so next Wednesday, March 14, we are going to check out some Casey's burgers together. Drew from the Benspark blog will be tagging along. He's practicing for the National Hot Dog Month 2012 tour, he's going to be my side kick and camera man. 

 It is sure to be a fun and delicious visit. 

Stay tuned....

The Hotdogman on Geek Dad's Weekly

Last week, I had the honor of being on the nationally podcast show, "Geek Dad's Weekly," with Daniel M. Clark and Andrew Bennet of the Benspark blog. Each week, a panel of dads gets together and talks about the issues of the day. Last week we talked about hot dogs, video cameras, New England life, business ethics, Affiliate Summit, Affiliate Improv, and camping with kids. You can listen to the podcast below.