05/22/2026
i DO love a hot dog on memorial day, y'all. it takes me back to the gatherings we used to have at my grandparent's house with all the family. there's nothing like the first bite into a southern dressed dog that can bring my grandmother's laugh to my ears, my cousins yelling tag or gotcha, it just transports me to my childhood.
in southern West Virginia we did a hot dog like this:
-dog-ketchup-mustard-chili-slaw (Earl and my mom would both add chopped onion and sweet pickle relish, to each their own...) note: our hot dog chili had no beans and our toppings were added in the order listed, no exceptions. if you put the mustard on top of the slaw, you'd get thrown out of the yard.
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as i was preparing for this post i looked up what other areas of the country do to their hot dogs and i was NOT prepared!!
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Northern California!! y'all are crazy
-dog wrapped in bacon (this is apparently a western thing), with lettuce, tomato and mayo
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Carl and Neil Fletcher from Dallas, Texas claim to be the inventor of the corndog, i dug in a little and couldn't find proof of this claim, just others who also claim to have invented the corn dog. the best corndog i ever had was in the Reading Terminal Market in Philly. it was served with a hot honey mustard dip. gah... so good.
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Detroit, y'all do it a little like Skyline chili! shredded cheddar cheese, raw onion and beef chili with beans
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Chicago takes it next level with SO many large toppings, i'm not sure i wouldn't need a fork for this kind, but it looks amazing. they do fresh tomato slices, big pickles, hot pepper, sweet onion and looks like mustard and chopped onion are optional.
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and last one on this list, but certainly not least original, is New York. y'all do a spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut and sautéed onion.
now, this couldn't be farther than the taste i want to have in my mouth as a southern woman on memorial day, but i'm sure you look at our chili and slaw and think the same thing! that's why we all get to decide what our favorite things are! ahhh, choice. it's a beautiful thing.
how do you dress your dogs where you're from?
AND/OR what did the internet tell me wrong about your region?!
