Hot Dog Bar and Summer BBQ

I was putzing on Pinterest a few weeks back when I came across a photo of a hot dog bar. I thought the idea was brilliant so decided to host a bbq so we could do one, which we did this past Saturday.

Here’s how the hot dog bar worked. I assembled a bunch of different toppings like mustard, onions, beans, etc (I’ll give you the whole list in a moment). Then, after bringing in the bbq’d dogs, guests assembled their own favorite dog.

To help spur inspiration, I wrote up a “hot dog bar menu” of different styles of dogs. I also put out a blank “menu” and invited guests to create and name their own, which they did. Some guests got pretty creative, adding Mac n Cheese, dip, or even doing “everything”.

It was fun seeing what people came up with, and I think everyone, even our vegan friends (who we did vegan dogs for) enjoyed.

Following is what was on our Hot Dog Bar menu.

New York Style: Yellow Mustard and Sauerkraut

Chicago Style: Yellow Mustard, Relish, Diced Raw Onion, Chopped Tomato, and a Dill Pickle Spear

The New Englander: Baked Beans

Philly Dog: Peppers, Grilled Onions, and American Cheese

The Reuben (aka Kansas City Style): Sauerkraut, Thousand Island Dressing, Swiss Cheese

Italian Hot Dog: Grilled Peppers, Onions, and Potatoes, Ketchup, Mustard, and Salt and Pepper

(Almost) Texas Weiners: Bacon, American Cheese (Chili would have made it a Texas Weiners, hence the “almost”, but I didn’t have time to make chili)

So I had all of those toppings above plus a few others out so guests could make their own. And as I mentioned, I also invited guests to create and name their own style of dogs. Here is what they came up with.

The Chuck: Plain hot dog, nothing on it

The Fat Kid: Bacon, Onions, Peppers, Sauerkraut, Baked Beans, Tomato, Mustard

The Classic: Ketchup, Mustard, Relish

The Chobaz: Hot Dog with Mac n’ Cheese

The Viking: Bacon, Sauerkraut, Chicken, BBQ Sauce, Mustard, and American Cheese

Sub Chuck: Sub Dip on the Hot Dog

I wish I had photo’s of the various toppings and hot dog creations to share with you, but with 20 hungry guests we’d probably have lost a limb trying to hold them back so that Rachel could snap some photos.

So there you have it. If you’re looking to jazz things up the next time you plan on serving hot dogs to guests, consider doing a hot dog bar.

Now, of course hot dogs weren’t the only thing we served. We tapped into a number of our favorite summer recipes from our blog. Following photos and links to those recipes. Happy Eating

Pretzel Bites

We made this last week and, as I mentioned in that post, it was an experiment for our BBQ – a smashing success! We made these again for the party and they disappeared within minutes.

Submarine Dip

I was hooked on this dip the first time our friend Brook introduced us, so when she asked what she could bring to the party I immediately pleased for her to bring this dip again. It’s like a sandwich in dip form – has to be tasted to understand. Go try it!

Asian Cabbage Salad

We’ve made this salad at least 5 times since we first posted it last month, it’s that good. From the lack of leftovers, I think our friends agree.

Bacon Ranch Potato Salad

Bacon anything is good but this home made bacon ranch potato salad is definitely a couple notches above your regular boring potato salad. Even my friend Doug who protested “I don’t like Ranch” gave it a try and admitted it was good (he then proceed to scoop another big serving on his plate!)

Suburban Cheeseburger

This burger recipe has been my go to since we first tried it last year. The spices and herbs in this recipe just add so many flavors, these are truly delicious burgers.

So there you have it, that was our hot dog bar and summer bbq over the weekend.