Mr. Mac's Canteen

838 Main St., Monroe, CT - (203) 459-9595

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Posted By Michael Stern on 12/27/2012 1:44:00 PM

Place your order for a dog, a cheese dog, or a chili dog, and as soon as the natural-casing frank is pulled up out of the hot oil and rolled around on the grill to get a crisp crust, it is bunned and placed in a cradle for the final dressing with your choice of mustard, relish, onions, bacon bits, or sauerkraut. It is then wrapped and/or put on a paper plate. Customers carry their own to a table in the spacious dining room.

The hot dogs are first rate; Mr. Mac's chili topping puts them over the top. The folks behind the counter usually warn first-timers who order chili dogs that Mr. Mac's chili is very, very hot; and indeed it is. Unlike typical chili-dog toppings or Coney sauce, this stuff is as dark as a good mole, and every bit as thick and complicated. At first, it tastes sweet, seductively so. In moments, the sweetness yields to blossoming heat and pretty soon your tongue is on fire, in the best possible way.

The signature chili dogs lead a broad fast-food menu that includes hamburgers and double hamburgers, fried clams and fish & chips, deli sandwiches, and morning egg sandwiches. One outstanding feature of all these items is the bun in which they are sandwiched: fresh, fluffy, quality bread.

Scorecard

Overall: One of the Best - Worth a Trip

Chili Dog	Hot Dog
Bacon, Egg & Cheese on a Portuguese Roll

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Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"The works: mustard, relish, onions, bacon, and sauerkraut. Buried underneath this wicked-good quintet is a firm, natural-casing hot dog. All in a grill-toasted bun, of course."
Michael Stern

"Four-alarm chili sauce -- no meat, no beans -- makes this snapping-firm hot dog one of the region's best."
Michael Stern

"Located in a strip mall by the side of Route 25, Mr. Mac's vividly spiced food makes up for the bland location."
Michael Stern

"As a research project, I ordered two hot dogs with no chili on top -- but could not, of course, neglect mustard and relish. Note the toasty inside of the bun: crisped alongside hot dogs on the kitchen's hot grill."
Michael Stern

"The last bite and very end of my Mr. Mac's hot dog, and my favorite part, where the natural casing twists together and adds a bit of chew to the muscular dog it envelops."
Michael Stern