Memorable Meals: New York City's Best Hot Dog

Few food topics in New York generate as much furious debate as hot dogs. Pizza maybe, but that’s another post. On our most recent visit to the New York, my wife and I arrived with a comprehensive list of restaurants. We were still a little sketchy on the sightseeing, but every conceivable meal and snack was preplanned. Priorities, priorities.

As evening approached, we hopped the M1 bus uptown, I wanted to check out how the renovation of the Guggenheim was coming along. Instead we walked straight to the corner of 86th Street and Third Avenue for hot dogs from Papaya King. It’s a garishly-colored, neon-lit stand up joint famous for serving hot dogs and tropical juice drinks. There’s another one downtown and a few franchises too, but this one is the 74 year old original.

The dogs themselves, made to Papaya King specs by Sabrett, are cooked on a griddle and served in toasted buns. We both ordered the two dog special with Papaya Drink.

The tiny restaurant itself is not a great place to eat your meal, so we walked the two blocks over to Fifth Avenue and settled on a bench on the Central Park side. The weather was balmy and we enjoyed watching the city go by. It’s a pretty classy neighborhood with some of the most expensive real estate in America.

Right across the avenue at 86th is the Neue Galerie, the museum of Austrian and German Art that’s housed in a Gilded Age mansion. We didn’t go inside to check out Gustav Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which captured the auction sales record in June when it was purchased for $135 million.

Frothy papaya drinks are an excellent accompaniment to the savory meaty dogs, just the right mellow counterpoint. I can’t quite place the special spices in the franks themselves, but garlic is pretty apparent. The perfect, not overdone griddle-top cooking enhances the snap of the natural casing. Topped with a little brown mustard, kraut, onions or Papaya King’s own tropical relish they are, like the slogan says, “tastier than filet mignon.”

I think that they’re the best hot dogs in New York. I can’t wait to hear from those of you who disagree. Remember that disparate foodies like Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain agree with me. Bourdain wrote about perfect meals in the closing chapter of A Cook’s Tour: “Your last Papaya King hot dog takes on golden, even mythic, proportions when remembered from a distance.” How right he is.

Photo Credit: Christopher Gould (click the picture for near life size)

Tables with a view: Chicago

Dining can be about much more than food. I have always sought restaurants that have great views, devouring sights and nibbling lunch. Over the years I’ve developed a list of personal favorites like the Restaurant de la terrasse at the Samaritaine department store in Paris; George’s at the Cove in La Jolla; or the legendary Windows on the World, tragically destroyed on September 11, 2001.

Chicago, one of my favorite cities, offers a glittering cityscape at night and architectural splendors by day. Here’s my pick for how to spend one day eating and taking in the view.

Breakfast: McDonald’s at Chicago Place
This pick may come as a surprise, but it is undoubtedly the best view per dollar spent in Chicago. Chicago Place is a vertical shopping mall located at 700 N. Michigan Avenue. Head to the tenth floor and find the food court. It doesn’t look like much – look for the large dining room hidden past the counter. Floor to ceiling windows offer sweeping views down Michigan Avenue towards Tribune Tower and the bridge – the people eating in the food court don’t even know this view exists. McMuffin eating at its best.

Lunch: The Signature Room at the 95th
The highest restaurant in the country, on the 95th and 96th floors of the John Hancock Center. The food is quite good, although some critics grouse that it doesn’t live up to the prices. While that may be true at dinner time, lunch is a bargain, with most entrees priced $15 or less. The service is polished and the views are jaw-dropping. If you want to see the view by night, try their bar on the 96th floor. It’s a much more civilized way to take in the view than the public observation deck two floors below. For about the same price Joe Tourist pays for the observation deck, you can enjoy a signature martini in the swank surroundings.

Dinner: Everest
Chef Jean Joho has created one of the world’s best restaurants in a setting with incredible views. Located on the 40th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building you can enjoy a seasonal menu of local ingredients filtered through the sensibility of the chef’s Alsatian roots. It isn’t cheap, but you get what you pay for – it’s worth every penny. Savor the Roasted Maine Lobster in Alsace Gewurztraminer Butter and Ginger as you end the day here, high above the sparkling lights and remember perhaps, your breakfast McMuffin.

Photo Credit: Kevin P. Martin

World Food in Your Mailbox: Austria

It's the time of year where I check up on what's new in Germany, Switzerland and Austria for winter travelers. In addition to skiers, I always have a few folks who want to take in some Christmas markets and Alpine charm. It's nice to warm up with warm drinks and pastries after taking in the postcard-perfect winter scenes.

While looking at some menus, I was pleased to discover that the most famous maker of Linzertorte now delivers their famous cakes all over the world from their bakery in Linz. Konditorei Jindrak is the most famous maker of the centuries-old recipe of almonds and raspberry jam. I might order one for Thanksgiving.

Photo Credit: Austrian Tourist Office

Memorable Meals: Munich

I’ve gotten some feedback that some of you would like to hear about my favorite places to eat in the world. Today I’m beginning a series called “Memorable Meals” where I will write about those places that loom large in my memory, rather than my latest restaurant experience. I will, of course, include the latest information about the establishment in case you’re inspired to seek it out on your own.

There’s a German word, gemütlich, which means pleasant and congenial and has connotations of coziness. I found the embodiment of that word as I stepped through the doorway of a small 400 year old stone building in Munich’s Viktualienmarkt on a gray rainy evening. The Bratwurstherzl
restaurant is at least as old as the Viktualienmarkt, where meats and produce have been offered in the open air daily for nearly 200 years. I imagine that their earliest customers would feel right at home there today. Though it’s close to the heart of the tourist Munich, the majority of patrons always seem to be speaking German.

Here homemade bratwurst is grilled over beechwood coals and the local Hacker-Pschorr beer is tapped from a wooden barrel. Although there’s an extensive menu of Bavarian specialties, I wasn’t going to visit the Bratwurstherzl and skip the bratwurst. I ordered a plate of twelve sausages with Weinsauerkraut and a beer. Now before you get too excited about the twelve sausages, let me explain that traditional Bavarian bratwurst is made into small links about the size of American breakfast links.

The bratwurst was served on a heart-shaped tin plate with the Weinsauerkraut in a separate dish. It was quite simply the best sausage, the best beer and the best kraut I’ve ever had. Ever. The bratwurst was juicy without being greasy and was delicately perfumed by the beechwood smoke. The kraut was not too sour, filled with complex flavors, nothing like the hot dog topping we know in the States. The beer was sublime, with a wonderful yeasty, slightly floral taste and a long-lasting foamy head.

I think that this place is so special, that it’s worth visiting every time you’re in Munich to sample the old favorites and try new ones like traditional pretzels and schnitzels. My clients have come back with glowing reports after I recommended it to them. Why don’t you try it too?

Bratwurstherzl is located at number 1 Dreifaltigkeitsplatz not far from the Marienplatz subway station. They’re open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

Photo Credit: Becky Gould