Fourth of July, dog days of summer call for what else — hot dogs, served with a Baltimore spin

When Casey Jarvis decided to invest in a hot dog cart nearly two years ago, he figured he would be tapping into a niche market in Baltimore.

Instead, the business, Glizzy’s Wagyu Dogs, has been more popular than he predicted. Jarvis now sells hundreds of hot dogs at festivals and pop-ups, where he often encounters long lines of people waiting to get their hands on a frankfurter.

He seems to have tapped into a broader cultural zeitgeist. Hot dogs are having a moment: In Baltimore, they’re on menus in unexpected places, like Mexican food takeouts and ramen shops. Orioles fans go wild for hot dog mascots . Cross Street Market will host its third annual hot dog-eating competition this Fourth of July. They’re the subject of tattoos, memes, martini recipes , April Fools’ jokes and even a 65-foot sculpture in Times Square .

“There’s truly a cult following in America,” Jarvis said.

Independence Day, of course, is the pinnacle of the country’s hot dog fixation. Americans consume about 150 million hot dogs on the holiday alone, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council. Summer in general is prime hot dog-eating season, with an estimated 7 billion franks consumed from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

In the Baltimore region, hot dog vendors are getting ready for their busiest season. Hot dogs, says Jarvis, “are tied to good memories and cookouts.”

Enduring popularity

The humble hot dog has been a part of America’s culinary pantheon since the 19th century, though historians have traced its origins as far back as the Middle Ages.

German and Austrian immigrants brought the frankfurter stateside in the mid-1800s, and the snack established a foothold in New York City as well as in ballparks, where it was favored for its portability. The hot dog and baseball connection — as well as an appearance at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair — ”helped fuel hot dogs, culturally, as the great American food that they are,” said Eric Mittenthal, the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council’s president.

Whether they’re more popular now than ever before might be a matter of perception. Sales data for hot dogs has been “pretty stable” in recent years, Mittenthal said. Other metrics suggest hot dogs are enjoying a boost in at least some arenas, such as at Costco, known for its $1.50 hot dog-and-soda combo. The wholesale chain reported selling a record of nearly 200 million of the combos in 2023, and predicted it’s on track to sell more this year.

Mittenthal sees a variety of factors behind the food’s current popularity. For one, hot dogs are generally inexpensive at a time when consumers are facing price pressures on all sorts of household goods.

Then there’s a psychological reason: “Broadly, culturally, people are looking for things that make them smile.”

‘The customers know’

Few Baltimore-area hot dog stands inspire the same level of devotion as Ann’s Dari-Creme in Glen Burnie.

The small restaurant on Ritchie Highway has just a handful of counter seats, but sells about 600 hot dogs a day, according to manager Cindy Lombard, who has worked at Ann’s for 48 years. The restaurant is known for its fried footlong franks, as well as double and triple dogs, all served in a hoagie roll. If you ask for “everything,” the hot dogs come topped with chili, mustard and chopped onions.

The hot dogs — and the rest of the menu — have stayed fairly consistent since Ann and Ray Hines opened the restaurant in 1951. Some customers come in for a footlong every day; others buy hot dogs in bulk to take home and put in the freezer.

“We still use the same recipe for the chili,” Lombard said. “You can’t change much here because the customers know.”

For Baltimore’s newer hot dog vendors, breaking from tradition is often the aim.

Stuggy’s, founded in Fells Point in 2010, blazed a trail with its hot dogs garnished with crab mac and cheese. The restaurant now has a stand at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Newer additions include Sporty Dog Creations, which specializes in combinations like the Delight dog, topped with strawberries, arugula and feta cheese. Customers can choose from beef franks, as well as jerk chicken and vegan ones.

Sporty Dog co-founder LaShauna Jones said twhile some of their toppings are far from the norm, customers are generally not intimidated.

“People are really open to it,” she said. “They want to have a quick bite but they also want a fun, social experience.”

Riding ‘the wave’

At Killa Dogz in Northeast Baltimore, a “dog of the week” keeps an already creative menu fresh for repeat customers. This week’s special is the “chicken California,” a chicken dog with guacamole, bacon and ranch.

Fredericka Dockins and her husband started the restaurant on Belair Road six years ago. You can order a “Plain Jane” hot dog for $5, but the real draws are specialty combinations like a Hillbilly dog with sweet baked beans and cole slaw, or the Reuben dog, rolled in corned beef and topped with sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.

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Dockins and her friend Shana Sammons, who helps with the business, have noticed more creative hot dog combos popping up on menus around the city.

“When there’s a wave, people tend to want to ride that wave to get in on the popularity,” Sammons said.

At Toki Underground, a ramen spot celebrating its first anniversary in Harwood on Friday, a hot dog special is a throwback to the restaurant’s earliest days. Toki, which got its start on Washington, D.C.’s H Street corridor, used to serve hot dogs and broth at the U Street Music Hall.

“We have a long history of hot dogs,” said Toki Underground partner Jeff Jetton, and chef/partner Olivier Caillabet’s idea to serve a dog inspired by a Malaysian street staple, the ramly burger, was a fitting “play on Fourth of July and Americana.”

The special breakfast hot dog, served only on Toki Underground’s anniversary, will wrap a beef frank in an omelet with cheese, kewpie mayonnaise, Japanese barbecue sauce and caramelized onions.

From a restaurant’s perspective, hot dogs offer “decent cost control,” with relatively inexpensive ingredients. But they appeal to customers because they’re “comfort food,” he said. “Sandwiches never get old, whether they’re burgers or hot dogs.”

“I think it’s just something that’s never going to go away,” said Jarvis, who hopes his Glizzy’s Wagyu Dogs stand is “recession-proof.”

So far, enthusiasm for his hot dogs seems to be going strong. He’ll be serving franks Wednesday night at Oregon Ridge Park for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Star-Spangled Spectacular.

“I keep saying it’s going to slow down, but it just keeps busier,” said Jarvis, whose business takes its name from a slang term for hot dogs popularized in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington region. “The future is bright for the glizzy man.”