Graham’s Hot Dogs | Bean Dogs in Fall River, Massachusetts

Beans Make the Dog

Franks ‘n’ beans are a time-honored combo almost everywhere. Some of the best are found in New England; few places put them together as nicely as Fall River, Massachusetts. Hot dog shops (of which the city has multitudes) offer both wieners and beans in one bun. This way, the beans become a condiment. I am especially smitten with Graham’s bean dogs because the beans are so darn good: brown-sugar-sweet, soft and goopy, laced with limp leaves of onion. You can bun the same good beans with chourico sausage, with kielbasa, or with a hamburger. Or, a dollar and change buys you beans-only in a bun.

Fall River Specialties

Should you be interested in outfitting your hot dog with things other than beans, Graham’s has a panoply: ground chourico, bacon, potato chips, Coney Island-style chili sauce, sauerkraut, onions sopped with hamburger juices (that one is known as a whimpy), and cheese. “Ho-hum, cheese,” you say? No, this is no ordinary cheese food product. When you order cheese at Graham’s, either on a hot dog or a hamburger or alone in a bun dressed with some of that Coney sauce and onions, you do not get Velveeta. You get something that has a rugged texture like moist breadcrumbs and is unique to Fall River. It is finely chopped sharp cheddar that strangely, even when hot, doesn’t melt into a blob. All alone, it’s a bit intense; with sauce and onions, it can be a wicked-good snack sandwich.

Not Much More Than Half a Century Old

Dating back to  the mid 20th century, Graham’s lacks the patina of culinary history that makes so many of the region’s truly ancient purveyors of bean dogs especially charming. Its school desk seats along the wall are relatively modern (only four score years old) and the façade is boring brickface. But the bean dogs and hot cheese sandwiches are exemplary.