Did your favorite frank lead the pack? Read on.

Who doesn't love a nice Pig in a Blanket? Really, there's nothing better than the combination of juicy hot dog, encased in warm pastry. The only thing that could make it better is if you swapped out the pastry for a chewy, golden pretzel to make a Pretzel Dog. That's what Jennifer (known as iwantamonkey on Flickr) did and they look awfully good (I could go for one right now). Unfortunately, she doesn't offer a recipe for these creations. However, if you're intrigued by them, a Google search turns up a number of options.

Thanks Jennifer!

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Check out the valentine-themed bento by kayepants, with its cut-out cheese hearts, apple sauce with cinnamon hearts and cheesy hot dog hearts, which remind me of the disembodied lips in the opening sequence of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The cinnamon hearts were achieved using a stencil.

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Today's bento, from I Love Egg, features an "octodog" (a hot dog partially cut to create "tentacles"), which has been deep-fried to create better tentacle curling. Eyes are black sesame seeds. The octodog sits atop a bed of basmati rice with seaweed sprinkles and is accompanied by a tempura shrimp, slices of white peaches, nori crackers, broccoli and raisins.

Our intrepid pack of testers blind-chomped their way through fifty different franks, hot dogs and wieners in hot pursuit of the top tube steak in all the land. Not a single chicken, turkey or tofu dog made the final cut, while beef and pork reigned supreme. Did your favorite frank lead the pack?

Hot Dog Taste Test

This week, the Times is a little less pretentious and a little more...well, all-American.

Check out the interactive map of baseball stadiums across the country, and click on those featured for what to order and what to avoid at each.

The map is fun, as are the color photos of dishes at each stadium. But the quality of stadium food is highly debatable, especially if the food carries with it an air of nostalgia and tradition (ie: cheesesteaks in Philly or pizza in Chicago) or, y'know, if you've imbibed a bit too much (because let's be honest: after four beers, you won't care if the nachos are a little stale).

Although, I'll give it to the Times: the Philly cheesesteak shown in the photo was not a home run. Although I'll bet that somewhere out there, there's a diehard Phillies cheesesteak fan.

Ladies and gentlemen, appreciators of odd foods everywhere, meet the waffledog.

That's a hot dog wrapped in a waffle, doused in ketchup and eaten on a stick. Sound like a good idea to you? Me too.

In my opinion, the most surprising thing about this unusual treat is not the flavor combo (bacon and waffles are good, chicken and waffles are good, so why not hot dog and waffles?) but the fact that it was NOT made in America, proud home of so many foods-within-foods (think turducken - a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey - or mozzarella-stuffed pizza crust or cheesecake-stuffed chimichangas).

Nope, this baby was born in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, as reported on journalist Newley Purnell's blog. Apparently there are French fry-coated corn dogs to be had on the streets of Seoul, South Korea.

I wonder if I could replicate this with my waffle iron...

We don't usually hear or read too much about food cart vendors. You know the ones - everyone has grabbed lunch from them at some time or another - whether in an unfamiliar city with no immediate restaurant choices, on a quick break from a long meeting, food cart meals are the original "go-to meals," before the term "go-to meal" even existed.

But the anonymity of vendors has changed this week, as articles appeared in both The New York Times and The Washington Post about the food carts and the businesspeople who run them.

In New York, Latin food vendors who have served the players and fans at Brooklyn's Red Hook soccer fields for the past 33 years faced being ousted from their spots if the Department of Parks and Recreation succeeded in "regulating" its permit process. In the end, the vendors were all allowed to stay and were issued a new six-year permit. But despite vendor fees remaining about the same (about $10,500 per year), reps of the vendors worry that the permit's new rule of standardizing equipment will mean vendors paying hefty fees for updated ovens and plumbing.

In D.C., vendors are feeling similar pressure, but for a different reason: instead of cutting back, D.C. wants to expand, but not among the current food options. Instead, citing surveys of citizens who say they want a larger food selection, the city is opening up the market to companies like Zipcar, an electric car company that wants to expand into gourmet and healthy food vending.

In case there was ever any doubt, I've come across further proof that people really will do anything for a Chicago hot dog. The next time you get a craving, look no further than eBay. An enterprising individual recently sold a "Complete (non-eaten) Soldier Field Hot Dog (wrapper included)" along with a ticket stub from the NFC Championship. Wow, I am glad he specified that it was non-eaten.

Yes, the requisite question was asked. Q: Does this come with mustard, onions, relish, celery salt, and a pickle spear? Sadly, it didn't. Nothing but a bun and a wiener, so it is really only a pretend Chicago dog. However, the seller did have some friendly words of advice:

Who needs a wedding cake when you can have a hot dog from the 2007 NFC Championship Game to break out on special occasions?

Who indeed, dude? Who indeed? I'm fairly certain most prospective brides would completely agree with you too.

In case you were wondering (and I know you were), the item sold for $6.49 plus a $20.00 charge for overnight shipping. The hot dog was to be frozen and shipped out late in the day to minimize thawing time. Whew, that's a load off my mind. Wouldn't want it to go bad or anything.

No, that's not some euphemism for playing football or for having sex, it's the attempt to eat the specialty dish at Mulligan's Bar in Decatur, Georgia, the HamDog. It's a hot dog wrapped in a hamburger patty, deep fried, covered in chili, cheese, and onions. Oh, and toss a fried egg and some french fries on there too.

Somewhere, Homer Simpson is drooling.

As the article says, it's not the healthiest of meals, and the South has become known as "The Stroke Belt," sort of the headquarters of the national obesity epidemic around the country. But everything in moderation I guess. It's not something you'd eat every single day, or maybe more than once a month, but it's certainly something I'll tackle if I'm ever in the area.

Did you know that a place that sells hot dogs is called a "doggerie"? Neither did I, until I heard writer Paul Lukas use the term to describe hot dog vendors in his quest for the best hot dogs in New York City. He feels that hot doggeries are steadily becoming more common, as more New Yorkers accept that a great hot dog can be a whole meal, not just "a snack to be eaten on the run." His quest was designed to help hot dog lovers in the big city find their way to the most satisfying dogs.

He set a few ground rules: all-beef with natural casing for the dogs, and toppings had to be either mustard and/or diced onions. He found a lot of dogs, but not all of them were up to snuff. Here are some of the best:

• Brooklyn Diner USA - Really good, and really huge, dogs. Their "15-Bite Hot Dog" measures 15-inches in length and 5 inches around!
• Crif Dogs - Skip their signature deep-fried dog and go for the all-beef, which is crisp and delicious, especially when washed down with a shot of Jägermeister.
• Katz's - Super beefy, these dogs deserve the name "tube steaks." The buns aren't as good as the dogs, but you'll get over it once you start to dig in.

The driving force behind the changes that Dunkin Donuts has gone through in the past year seems to come from the three private firms that bought the company last year, steering it away from tradition and into new markets. Some changes, like adding smoothies and better coffees, are minor, but others are big. The chain does 70% of its business before 11am but several locations will now begin offering more savory lunch and dinner menu items in an attempt to attract customers throughout the day.

So far, at least three of these concept stores are planned, mostly to be in existing locations. They will offer foods such as hot dogs wrapped in pastry and flatbread sandwiches. The stores will also have a design makeover, with wooden chairs instead of plastic swivel ones, and with more liberal use of the chain's signature orange and maroon colors.

Since one previous attempt to sell sandwiches and soups was not a success, the Dunkin' executives have to hope that the new concept catches on with "the Dunkin' tribe," or they'll simply have to go back to the drawing board yet again.

All the Chicago beef and hot dog fans out there should appreciate this one. GreaseFreak.com is a photographic survey of meaty Chicago fare like beef sandwiches, hot dogs, chili, Italian subs, burgers and (shrug) turkey clubs. While the site's host, Peter Strazzabosco, claims to not be a fast food expert, he does a good job of outlining the qualities one should look for in aforementioned foods. He also rates each of his "intimate shots of greasy edibles" with stars for taste, presentation and ambiance. As you might imagine, the list of hot dog places is quite extensive.

In the movie Grease, Danny Zuko gets stranded at the drive-in theater when Sandy storms out on him. As he sings a strange advertisement for the snack stand rolls on the screen behind him, complete with dancing sodas and trick-trained hot dogs. The song is great, but it is hard to tear your eyes away from those anthropomorphized snacks. I saw this video of about one of those snacks, giving a little backstory and spinning out a rather clever little tale of what happened to Jerome, the Marching Gumdrop, when he left "The Lobby Gang" - featuring Pops Corn, Bonnie Bon Bon, Smokey (a pack of cigarettes isn't exactly refreshing, but whatever), Hot Doggy and Sodey Pop - and struck out on his own.

It's strange, it's funny and, as if that weren't enough, it stars a talking gumdrop.

[via tgwae]

The folks over at Gothamist decided to liveblog the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog contest, which is fortunate for everyone who wasn't able to make it out to Coney Island today to watch in person. They reported that, after a grueling 12 minute battle, Takeru Kobayashi emerged victorious with a new world record of 54 hot dogs! That breaks his previous record of 53 1/2.

If you recall from earlier, this means that Kobayashi ate more than 16,500 calories in that short time period. Is it worth it? Well, not only does the winner get the glory of being the most recognized eater in the world, but he (Kobayashi, in this case) gets to take home the mustard-yellow championship belt for another year.

Update: You can view a videoclip here.