Fab Hot Dogs

Serving specialty dogs from around the country, Fab Hot Dogs may be best known for their version of the New Jersey Ripper, a deep-fried wiener that’s bunned and topped with homemade mustard relish.

What to eat at Fab Hot Dogs

The Ripper hot dog, popularized by Rutt’s Hut in Clifton, New Jersey, is one of America’s greatest dogs. Thumann’s custom-packs frankfurters for Rutt’s with just the right ratio of beef and pork so that the skins tear while cooking in hot oil, because not every wiener will have the same response to being deep-fried. This Jersey specialty now has an imitator, although it doesn’t pose any threat to Rutt’s business since it’s located 2,800 miles away in California’s San Fernando Valley.

Fab Hot Dogs also uses franks “imported from New Jersey” for their Rippers, so we ordered the Bald Eagle, the Ripper with Fab’s homemade mustard relish. Nestled in a fluffy bun, the wiener has crunchy skin with an excellent snap, having ‘ripped’ aesthetically. It is the Bald Eagle relish, however, that truly makes this dog: a spicy, savory, dark-orange brew of sweet relish, carrots, cabbage, Mexican oregano, and mustard that is nothing like Rutt’s neon-yellow mild relish. We don’t deny that Rutt’s Rippers have a taste all their own, but frankly the Bald Eagle has tastier mustard relish.

We also indulged in the L.A. Street Dog, an all-beef wiener wrapped in crispy bacon and mounded with grilled onions, bell peppers, diced tomato, sliced jalapeños, mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup. This tribute to the controversial bacon dogs of L.A.’s downtown food carts (in 2008, police and health officials seized and destroyed carts selling bacon dogs without permits) is also outstanding, with the porky mélange of bacon and wiener immediately reminding us of Tucson’s Sonoran dogs. Naturally, Fab Hot Dogs has their own Sonora Dog with sour cream, pinto beans, salsa, and green chiles.

Other tribute dogs of note are the Italian Dog, stuffed in a sub roll with peppers, onions, and potatoes (like Jimmy Buff’s in New Jersey); the Fairfax Double Burrito Dog, wrapped in a tortilla with pastrami (like Oki Dog in Hollywood); Manhattan Dog with red onion sauce; Carolina Slaw Dog with chili and slaw; and the Chicago Dog with neon relish, tomatoes, and sport peppers. Burgers, fries, Tater Tots, and glass-bottled sodas (including Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink) round out the menu.

Original Post by Chris & Amy Ayers