Oakland A's Diablo Dog

The second stop of the season had me at the Oakland A’s O.com Stadium (yeah, I hate that name too). Things have been quiet on the A’s front regarding new offerings for 2015. I guess they chose to forego entering into the crazy “who can outdo the other team” over the top hot dog madness. Their hot dog lineup, much unlike their on field lineup, looks much like it did last year.

Their specialty dogs are a trio of loaded dogs that include:

All Star Dog-mac n’ cheese and jalapenos.

Diablo Dog-nacho cheese, bacon and onion strings.

Bay Bridge Dog-chili n’ cheese.

None seemed to stand out and none were touted as THE dog to get, so I chose the most bold option and went with the Diablo Dog. I figured with a name like that it had to be something that would kick my teeth in.

Biting into the Diablo Dog is like expecting an attack from a pit bull and instead getting a face licking from a cocker spaniel. It wasn’t spicy at all and had way too much of that cheez-wiz type nacho cheese on it. It did come with a fork, and I needed it as it seemed to fall apart under the stress of the cheese.

Appeal-it has a catchy name and the ingredients sound good when read from the menu. 5

Ingredients-this should be a winning combo, but the nasty nacho cheese really kills the chance of the other flavors shining through. The onion and bacon were dehydrated bits. 3

Uniqueness-there are other ballparks with variations of the Diablo Dog. 3

Monstrosity Factor-like the previous ballpark, it is really just a loaded dog. 2.5

Value-this loaded dog cost a whopping $9. Overpriced for the taste, ingredients and serving size. 2.5

Taste-if you read my blog last year you know I am not a fan of Miller franks. I just don’t like the taste. Real shredded cheese would have given the dog a chance but that nacho stuff is kind of nasty. I did enjoy the onion strings. In the end I did not finish it. 2

APPEAL	5
INGREDIENTS	3
UNIQUENESS	3
MONSTROSITY FACTOR	2.5
VALUE	2.5
OVERALL TASTE	2
TOTAL	18

Some tweaks and imagination could really boost Oakland’s score. I get using Miller franks, they are a semi-local company. Other teams have figured out that biting the bullet and paying a little extra for a quality frank like a Hebrew National not only catapults the quality of the hot dog but means they will likely sell more of them. And for nine smackers, I want a quality dog.

I would love to design a dog for the A’s...I will even let them use my name on it. How about: the Marvelous Bastard Dog?