Off Day: Tommy Dog

A rare off day while on the quest for the perfect ballpark hot dog. Since I know you are reading this in  your cubicle instead of working like you oughta be let me say two things: first, thanks, second, I am in Florida soaking up the sun. Now, please get back to work.

I am also keeping the tradition of presenting to you, for your salivating pleasure, one of the non-baseball hot dog hot spots that you should know about. Why? Because they are damn delicious; and sometimes you need a dog but can’t get to the ballpark. Well, I can, but you….well, you have to work.

Tommy

If you are near the Catskills in New York, there is a spot worthy of a lunchtime diversion. Along the side of route 213 just south of Rosendale you find an old bread delivery truck with “Tommy Dogs” scrawled across the hood. I was staying with Linda, a friend I met while hiking the Camino de Santiago last fall (yes, the one in Spain). I stayed at her place and took the train to the Yankees game and the bus to the Mets game. I could have driven, but I would still be there, stuck in traffic and having racked up about $24,000 in tolls.

Picnic On a Bun

Just behind the van is a picnic table and standing guard in front is a five-foot tall “hot dog man” (FYI, it isn’t me). The van has been a fixture on 213 for years, serving up what owner Tommy calls a “picnic on a bun.” The picnic consists of a type of baked beans, coleslaw and mustard over a Sabrett’s frank between a soft bun. Tommy got the idea from a truck his dad used to sell food out of. They sold primarily to workers building the “Big Allis” power plant in the 1960s in Queens, NY. Tommy started out with his brother and planted his flag on the spot alone 213 in 1994. Twenty years later Tommy is still cranking out his delicious and affordable “picnic on a bun,” otherwise known as a “Tommy Dog.”

This IS NOT a Self-Portrait

The drive from New York City north along the west side of the Hudson River is stunningly beautiful. And it is worth planning your trip through Rosendale and timing it so that lunchtime puts you at upstate New York’s most delicious dog spot...the renown “Tommy Dog.”