The Seattle-Style Hot Dog

Photo by Kristen Kennedy from our Flickr pool.

According to Serious Eats, the Seattle-style dog exists:

Served at carts and trucks all over the city, popular for a quick lunch or after the bars at 2 a.m., the Seattle Style hot dog is a wiener or Polish sausage grilled and often split (to hold more toppings?) then jammed into a cream cheese slathered toasted bun.

We're divided on this: Some of us swear by it, calling the Seattle-style dog a staple of their late night drunken menu. Some who haven't heard of it were a little leery of putting cream cheese on a hot dog, but came around. The author of the piece writes that he's surprised by the lack of coverage on the Seattle-style hot dog. We're with him -- why isn't this on a t-shirt somewhere? Cramming a weiner full of cream cheese has got to be a regionalism, right?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Regis Lacher in Food on October 2, 2009 3:33 PM

Comments [rss]

rjh

Most of the writers at Seattlest are locals, though.

Not according to the bios in your staff list. (Not criticizing -- hell, most of Seattle is transplants -- just pointing it out.)

Regis Lacher

Eh, true, but it's all relative.

"Local" to me means "someone who has lived here longer than I have."

Let's get back to the CREAM CHEESE HOT DOG!! Since Hawk Kralls' article I see the Seattle Dog all over the internet but I have yet to work up the gumption to try one.

Regis Lacher

Totally agree, eye-shuh. I'm not advocating it to be a on shirt, I'm just a little shocked it isn't already. Think about how many other regionalisms are commercialized in the city.

I'm a transplant, but I consider myself a pretty acclimatized transplant, to carry on the gardening metaphor, which is why it surprised me. (Most of the writers at Seattlest are locals, though.)

eye_shuh

Also...are a lot of you guys transplants? I don't mean that in a mean way, but come on. T-shirts? You would ruin it entirely if you made it into a huge touristy thing. The best parts of Seattle are the parts only the real Seattleites know about.

eye_shuh

I get one every time I go to a Mariners game. SOOOOO GOOD! I wish I could get a late night Seattle-dog in the U-dist!

SeattleSarah

Yeah, Shorty's been making them for years in Belltown. Except they know to add the red peppers. Too many Seattlites are in bed too early to experience anything so indulgent or fun.

Erin C

I just tried my first Seattle-style dog the other night before going to a Mariners game. It was pretty tasty, not as weird as I'd expected! See it here: http://whrrl.com/experience/story/18494335?wref=per_1_4_ttl&sharer=6932097