New Way Lunch

Hungry in Glens Falls, we pulled to the curb to investigate a storefront diner on South Street. “You looking for the hot dog place?” a pedestrian asked. “It moved.” He pointed up the street. Interesting as the diner was, we figured that the unsolicited tip was worth following. So we drove a few hundred yards to the new New Way Lunch, which has a sign outside boasting that it has been world famous since 1919.

While the interior is indeed modern, New Way’s hot-dog cookery is timeless. Slim, non-Kosher franks are griddle cooked and slipped into soft, warm buns. The fundamental dressing formula is a trio of mustard, diced onions, and a finely-textured beef sauce that has a peppery tang. It is a small package; we observed that big guys ordered them by fours and sixes. Take-out customers come for dozens.

Hot dogs are the claim to fame, but there’s a small menu of other items, too: char-cooked burgers, a Philly cheese steak, fried fish and chicken, and a Greek salad. For a quick lunch north of Albany not far from the Northway (I-87), New Way is a nice little cheap-eats option with unique regional flavor.