Customers exiting the Home Depot locations in Sunset Hills, Brentwood and Chesterfield Valley do a double take when they see the Dirty Dogz hot-dog stand condiment table.
That’s because owner Jason Gaines keeps more than 200 condiments for customers to put on the dogs, brats, hot links, Kielbasa, Polish and smoked sausages, and turkey dogs. It’s a positively gluttonous array of around 50 mustards, 12 ketchups, 20 barbecue sauces and 100 hot sauces, plus horseradish sauces, wasabi and mayo. The sight of all the little jars clustered in neat rows is enough to make a foodie want to begin some serious empirical testing to determine the best and the hottest.
“Sometimes people don’t even really want the hot dogs – they just want the condiments,” admitted Gaines.
The accommodating snackmeister (who, incidentally, races hot-air balloons when he’s not dropping dogs in buns) said that he started his stands about five years ago with a selection of only about five mustards at each location. “Customers kept recommending different mustards and sauces to me, and I bought them, and it just kept growing,” he explained.
Now, in addition to being able to top your dog with the usual relish, kraut, sport peppers, onions, etc., you can try such exotic condiments as Silver Spring Peppadew Mustard, Blair’s Wasabi Green Tea Hot Sauce, Melinda’s Habanero Ketchup, Marie Sharp’s Grapefruit Pulp Habanero Hot Sauce and even a thick, tasty honey-based barbecue sauce concocted by a St. Charles farmer.
The condiment combinations are pretty much endless – unless you happen to disagree with Gaines’ sports allegiances, that is. A sign at each Dirty Dogz stand reads “Prices double for Chicago Cubs fans.”
– Byron Kerman
Photo by Byron Kerman
This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2010.