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The Infatuation
The Seattle Dog Power Rankings
By Gabe GuarenteAimee Rizzo,
19 days ago
Outsiders are sometimes (okay, pretty much always) horrified to find out that our hot dogs get smothered with cream cheese. The style dates back to a grunge-era bagel cart in Pioneer Square that doled out the late-night snacks to people stumbling out of rock shows. And it’s stuck around ever since. Not all Seattle dogs are exactly alike, and folks might debate essential components. (Is mustard even necessary? Jalapeños?) But there's no arguing that people have grown to embrace the schmear-slathered franks. Here are the places cooking the best dogs in town right now, ranked.
This stand located near Pike and Broadway late at night serves the Seattle dog upon which all others shall be judged. It’s perfectly salty and smoky, grilled with the meat split down the middle so that flames touch every inch. The translucent onions offer a pleasantly sweet jamminess that complements the gentle schmear of Philly cream cheese. There’s nothing fancy here, but when you’re five cocktails deep into a Capitol Hill bar crawl, it feels like you’re tasting the sausage of the gods. One that’s only $8.
Halcyon’s hot dog showing is Asian-influenced across the board (a bánh mì dog here, an okonomiyaki dog there). And their Seattle dog is a work of frank-based art. Everything is pretty standard at first glance, with an exemplary sizzled all-beef situation clinging to a hoagie roll by swaths of cream cheese. But Halcyon’s tweak involves hoisin-spiked caramelized onions. The result is sticky-sweet umami that swirls with the dairy to create a totally new condiment that we’d like to dunk some Ruffles in immediately.
Filing another dog in the “little twist” category, Octopus Bar’s permanent pop-up known as The Salty Shack also serves a great riff that we’d eat on the curb next to a dumpster, let alone in a pirate-themed dive. It’s a street dog by nature, with a supermarket frank and (most likely) a Franz bun. But then they go and drizzle spicy aioli all over the top. Sure, that sounds like overkill, but the sauce injects a squirt of zingy heat to counteract the beef grease and amp up the cream cheese.
It might not be the law to have a hot dog at a Mariners game, but it should at least be an ordinance—and the oversized Ultimate Seattle Dog is the one to get at T-Mobile Park. Some may prefer grill marks on their stadium frank, but we like that these are boiled with all those juices staying intact once you get to your seat. There’s also a nice sweet-to-spicy ratio of saucy onions and jalapeños. Just note that the overly soft bun can fall apart easily—stock up on napkins unless you brought a jersey change for the later innings.
Tio Baby’s is an inimitable palace of queso, really good zero-proof stuff, and salads that make us want to eat more produce. But it’s impossible to ignore their Seattle dogs, topped with giardiniera, crushed potato chips, and a swipe of sriracha-hondashi cream cheese (that we could use more of, by the way). Though, we’re here to specifically hype the non-meat version, featuring a vegan sausage that’s been deep-fried to mimic the blistered crackle of a hot dog’s casing.
You’ll find this cart parked outside Climate Pledge Arena before Storm and Kraken games, and they make a mean dog. The sausages are the plumpest we’ve seen from street vendors, cooked to an appealing char on a flat-top grill. There’s a hefty topping of silky onions and enough cream cheese to let you know it’s there without going overboard. We wish there was a tad more smoke to the meat, but at $10 it makes for a satisfying alternative to the overpriced, heat lamp-warmed food at the arena.
The Seattle dog at this 90s-themed brewery is particularly girthy and rich—if sausage is the priority, consider that wish granted. (Thanks, hot dog genie.) And the thick link’s supported well by a few elevated touches like a double-tangy combination of cream cheese and whipped chevre, pink pickled onion, and tender fried jalapeño slices dredged in cornmeal that add a decent crunch. The downsides? This sloppy beast is a structural catastrophe, and at the end of the day, there’s really no need to bring goat cheese into the equation.
The pop-up with a regular residency at Anchorhead on Capitol Hill serves a variety of hot dogs that live up to its name—well, lengthwise, anyway. Thickness, not so much. The Seattle dog is surprisingly narrow in diameter with not a lot of snap going for it, buried beneath a slurry of toppings like jalapeño relish and farmer’s cheese. Its saving grace is a fantastic brioche bun that we would easily eat by itself. And if you’re not a purist, the Friendship Frank with Spam has a nice kick (just no cream cheese or onions).
No, your eyes don’t deceive you in the dim light of this fancy cocktail bar. The price is $25 for a hot dog. And it’s good…just not $25 good. Yes, there’s salmon roe dolloped generously on top and the quality of the well-toasted, everything-seasoned bun is high. But with pickled red onions crowding the toppings, you’re getting salt on salt on salt. it’s also a mess to eat, unless you tackle it with a knife and fork like Frasier Crane. A better way to spend the money is to buy double the dogs (and a bag of chips) from street vendors just blocks away.
At this German-style beer hall, you’ll find lots of brats and other sausages, including a smoked Sky Kraken Dog infused with beer and jalapeños, and tucked into a cream cheese-smeared roll. The meat’s way too dry on that, though—we prefer the bar’s more basic Seattle dog without all the pale ale-infused nonsense. It’s much juicier, gets topped with feathery light onions, and comes with tasty fries all for $11. Grab a stein of pilsner and cheers to a good deal.
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