Dan's Dogs
 Medina Ohio        Date of Visit  04/22/11          No Known Website

Who doesn’t like a hot dog? Even the vegans have some sort of vegetable slurry smooshed into a hot dog shape, it’s just part of Americana. We just got back from Dogland and have fresh and delicious memories from the newly crowned best dog in America (Gene’s and Jude’s) and the wildly inventive tube steaks at Hot Doug’s. I also recently stopped by Jib Jab for one of my favorite combinations. All of which made me sad there really is no local hot dog joint. But that is not entirely true. Every now and again we find ourselves in Medina and I have heard of a place specializing in hot dogs. I have looked for it several times when driving through but until today it has eluded us. No more!
 

Float Got a Huge Thumbs Up
 

We are going to be in Medina and this time I will not be thwarted. Dan’s Dogs does exist. I have driven past it a few times but it really doesn’t stand out from the street. You think I would have noticed the bright neon “EAT” sign in the window, but no. The inside of the place is simply awesome. It is set up like a classic diner and there are a lot of people working behind the counter making stuff…always reassuring when it’s not just a disaffected kid pulling sawdust filled casings out of lukewarm water. We are told to grab a seat and have a look around. The walls are plastered with hundreds of pages of colored bunnies and eggs, hand crafted by their youngest customers. Peeking through the artwork are loads of specials from different dogs to fish frys.

There are a bunch of different offerings…most of which consist of a variety of toppings for all beef hot dogs. We had also heard they have pierogies but they were not on the menu, turns out they only have them on Fridays…we’re in luck. To go with our starch wrapped in starch pillows we ordered chili cheese fries and four dogs. The dogs were a chili and onion, a Reuben, Zorba the Greek and the Mac Attack.

The chili is very fine grained and has a very mild flavor which allows more flavor from the dog but I would prefer something more assertive. The Reuben comes with thousand island dressing, swiss cheese, and kraut and tastes much like a thin Reuben. Zorba is dressed with dark green lettuce, feta cheese and olives. The feta and greenery was nice, I suspect the dog would taste better and likely more authentic if they used sharp Mediterranean olives instead of the briny black olives. The Mac Attack was loaded with their house made mac-n-cheese which was fab. All of the dogs are on pull-apart style buns (like are typical with New England lobster rolls) and are toasted on the sides for another layer of tastiness. We got all small dogs but all of the offerings are available equipped with a much larger sausage. The pierogies were fine and the fries had a nice dose of the same chili and a slick of bright orange and salty cheese stuff.

Steph also tried their “famous” root beer float. The epitome of the classic; the float comes in a large chilled stein and is conjured up with really good ice cream and really great root beer. Steph is an aficionado of this particular icebergesqe treat and she literally gushed about this particular version. Dan’s Dogs does not have the tradition of Gene’s and Jude’s or the whimsy of Hot Dougs. It won’t replace Jib Jab as my personal fav…but it is really nice to have a really good dog hut relatively close by. So many more versions to try, it’s gonna take a lot of trips. Which is just fine, great atmosphere, nice people and some seriously good and interesting dogs. Don’t drive past it as many times as I did.