Had an interesting encounter downtown today. Those of you that I’m friends with in bigger cities won’t think this is a big deal, but as a kind of sprawled out city, you don’t see a lot of street vendors here in Little Rock. Sure, there’s random Taco trucks, but not downtown. So what’s there to get for grub if you like your food from a rolling cart? Enter Hot Dog Mike – a photographer turned Hot Dog slinger. My buddy Casey had told me about him, having seen him on Twitter, and then I saw him in the Arkansas Times and decided we had to go get a dog the next time he was Downtown.
Today was the day, Twitter announced: ” @HotDog_Mike: I’m here! Downtown: take 7th towatds main. I’m on the right just before past Louisianna(mk RT in drive) http://bit.ly/dls4Ln ”
In what only a tame, awkward shut-in might call an adventure, we drove around Downtown attempting to locate the sole Hot Dog cart, and after almost giving up and going the Bar-B-Q route, we saw him off of 7th and Louisiana between the Arkansas DHS building and the AT&T building, in the alley, serving ‘em up.
He’s a cool guy and he deftly deflected a lady saying that his “Italian Dog” should be called the “Dago Dog” with a understated “Naaaaaaah.” which got laughs from myself and my fellow dog fans.
Anyway, Hot Dog Mike is awesome. I had two Sriracha Dogs (or as Hotdog_mike says: “Sriracha Dog w/diced sweet onion & cucumber SPICY COOL GOODNESS”) with cucumber, onions and a line of Mayo to cool it off for $4. I brought a Diet Mountain Dew with me (because I’m addicted and have issues), but he’s got several different kinds of drinks and some chips, too if you’re not a well prepared world renowned male model like myself.
SYNOPSIS: Good food, A Where’s Waldo adventure, Fun service and it’s cheap. What’s not to like?
You can find out where Hot Dog Mike is at any given time here: http://www.twitter.com/hotdog_mike
