Lawton's in Lawrence: Re-opening-TWICE?

A few weeks ago, I posted on How to Start a Hot Dog Business about an iconic building for sale in Lawrence; it's a hot dog stand that used to house Lawton's, an iconic hot dog stand that has re-opened under new ownership AND a new name.

The building has had some major issues the past few years. Heavy rains made the footings under the building unsafe- it sits right on a canal and the old septic system was compromised when excavation for telephone lines further compromised the footings.

The owner of Lawton's walked away from the lease on the property and is planning on re-opening Lawton's across town.

Meanwhile, the owner of the original building is reopening the now repaired original location as "Lawrence Famous Franks." He plans on selling similar fare: hot dogs, sausages, BBQ chicken, wraps, and lobster rolls.

Lawton's owner Joanne Curley doesn't relish the new establishment and feels the public will be misled by the new establishment in the iconic location.

You can read more about Lawrence's Weiner Wars HERE.

World Famous Pink's Hot Dogs Opens New Location

Hollywood hotspot Pink's Famous Chili Dogs will open a new location at the Cedar Point amusement park and resort in Sandusky, Ohio. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 14 at 11 a.m., the same day that Cedar Point opens for the season. It will be the first Pink's location east of the Mississippi River. The new restaurant will be on the main midway right next to Toft's Ice Cream Parlor. Guests will place their orders inside and will have a choice to eat inside or outside.

"Pink's Hot Dogs was established in 1939 by Paul and Betty Pink," said Richard Pink, owner of the restaurant. "It was established with just a little pushcart. My parents were out of work at the time and they were looking for employment.

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The World's Most Expensive Hot Dot

Here's a video that shoes the world's most expensive hot dog. At $69 a pop, it isn't your typical street food. For another buck, you could get 14 of my two dog specials!

My New Business Cards

I travel to 2-3 hot dog joints a week to do write ups for my Hot Dog Stories site. Sometimes I take my kids with me, sometimes I bring my wife, sometimes I bring a friend and sometimes I go alone.

No matter who is with me, I always end up chatting to the owner/operator and the patrons I encounter. I ask them all sorts of questions and tell them about Hot Dog Stories.

The question I am invariably asked during these conversations is, "do you have a card?" Up until now, my answer has been, "uhm, no."

Now I have a card and here it is!

I feel so "official."

I got the cards from Vistaprint. I designed it myself online and it only cost me ten bucks for 1000 cards! It was so easy and quick, I would highly recommend Vistaprint to anyone who needs new business cards. They even have FREE BUSINESS CARDS! You can get 250 premium quality, color business cards FREE! Order some for yourself today. Click here.

Now, when people ask for my card, I can say, "Sure! Here ya go."

Two fine words...

Hot Doug's is an "encased meat emporium" (aka hot dog joint) in Chicago. I've never been there, but I've seen the place on TV. He's quasi-famous for this saying on his wall:

You can even buy a Tee Shirt with the saying on it:

Without casting any aspersions on the hot dog or sausage and with all due respect to Doug, I can think of two much more fine words in the English language:

FREE BEER!

Guest Dogger

I'm a fan of The Ben Spark blog; I have been featured there in the past and I've gotten to know Drew- the author- a bit. He's an avid photographer and he takes a Photo a Day as a feature on his site. We have been exchanging emails and when he said he was going to be in Framingham, we decided to meet at the Trolley Stop for a few dogs and some good blog talk.

I have featured the Trolley Stop on Hot Dog Stories before, so I knew the food was going to be good. Make sure you check for a new installment on the Trolley Stop on Hot Dog Stories soon.

In this super electronic day and age where everybody "tweets" and "IM's" or texts each other, it's good to get together face to face with folks (especially "internet friends") every once in a while. What better way to "ketchup" with someone than over lunch at a hot dog joint?

Drew and I shared some ideas and we may be doing more joint ventures in the future.

You can see our hot dog story in a few weeks (there's a 3-4 week backlog on the Hot Dog Stories site). In the mean time, you can be safe in knowing Drew gave the Trolley Stop TWO THUMBS UP!

Lucky Dog 2

As I said in an earlier post, we discovered a great Hot Dog Joint called the Lucky Dog while vacationing in Venice, Florida. The first day we ate there, it was just me and the girls-I couldn't drag my son away from the fishing pier even with the promise of lots of food. Since we enjoyed our meal so much, we went back a few days later with EVERYONE and met up with Marty Surak-Dawn's husband-shown here with Kim(?) the server who had to deal with me and my ravenous children.



My veggyhead daughter ordered up a plain Tofu Dog which she actually liked! After eating it she was lobbying for me to carry them at the Hot Dog Truck.



The cheeseburger princess struck again with another (equally delicious I am told) bacon cheeseburger.



Another daughter had a very happy cheeseburger.



I just had one relish dog and the baby had another plain dog. My son went for the Jumbo Cheese dog- a foot long drenched with gobs of cheese.



The Lucky Dog is a real slice of Americana with good hot dogs and cheeseburgers. The owners are real nice folks too. If you're ever in Venice, FLA make sure you stop at the Lucky Dog. You won't be sorry!

Lucky Dog

Well I'm back from Florida and I am happy to say I missed a major snowstorm! 6 days of 80 degree weather and hanging out on the beach was tough to take, especially knowing I was missing out on all that shoveling!

One thing I like to do when on vacation is partake in local hot dog joints. This trip featured the discovery of Lucky Dog, a small, lime green diner en route to our favorite beach spot in Venice, FLA. We went at about 1:30 PM and there was good foot traffic outside.

We elected to sit at the counter and chat up owners Dawn Surak (below)

and her brother Alan Laskowski (below).
This is them when they were kids.


The Lucky Dog Diner has been around since 1952 and the brother and sister team bought it last year. They spent 4-5 months fixing the place up and painting it the signature lime green. Brother Alan did most of the work under the supervision of Dawn, who, by mutual admission, is the "real boss" of the Lucky Dog. The place is a real, honest to God, Hot Dog Joint with a sense of Americana you just don't get in the modern fast food establishments that litter the landscape of Florida (and everywhere else for that matter).

I told them about the Hot Dog Truck and asked if I could snap some photos and put them up here on theHotDogTruck.com. They were delighted and happy to share their story. Our server, Heish (sorry if I misspelled it) was not too keen on having her photo taken, but she took care of my gang so well, I can't help but embarrassing her!



While I perused the Hot Dog menu,



the kids ordered up milk shakes, cheeseburgers, grilled cheese and hot dogs. I got to chatting with the guy next to me and he let me take a picture of HIS lunch, a Coney Dog and a Cheese Dog. YUMMY LOOKING STUFF, eh?



My 11 year old daughter, who would rather eat a cheeseburger than just about anything else (she had at least one per day on our trip), said her Lucky Dog Bacon Cheeseburger was the best one of the trip!



The three year old got a plain dog while I opted for the Relish Dog which was topped with a "secret recipe" house relish that had a bit of a bite to it (it was very good) and a good old Slaw Dog.



Both were excellent! I was pretty hungry so I got my own Coney Dog for dessert!



YUMMY!

to be continued.....