The Best Hot-Dogs In Brooklyn Right Now

A great hot-dog is a welcome treat at any time, but it feels like I eat a lot more of them when summer hits. A time-honored tradition: a glizzy straight off the grill at your buddy’s barbecue, or on the boardwalk after a day at the beach, or while sipping beers on the back patio of some local bar. Endless days and a juicy, snappy snack. During this amazing NYC Summer of Immaculate Vibes, it doesn’t get much better than that. 

But while there are lots of spots throughout the borough that do a fine job of feeding us franks, some dogs that are more memorable, and more craveable, than others. Here’s a look at nine of my current favorites, from places both well established and spanking new.

Peek Inn
38 Driggs Ave.

This spring, the folks at the increasingly expansive Meat Hook empire, which includes two excellent Brooklyn butcher shops (in Williamsburg and Carroll Gardens) and one great hamburger-and-martini restaurant (Cozy Royale), opened Peek Inn, a comfy corner bar in Greenpoint. There are lots of reasons to hang out here, from the chill local crowd to the fun cocktails and cheap, boozy happy hours, but what keeps me coming back are the Peek Inn hot-dogs. Made with Meat Hook’s signature dense and funky mix, these beauties are served at least six different ways, my favorite being the a homage to a roadside stand in Maine called Flo’s, which gets smothered in a sticky black relish (molasses is a key ingredient), a bit of mayo, and a generous sprinkle of celery seed.

Dog Day Afternoon
266L Prospect Park W.
519 Metropolitan Ave. (inside H&H Reserve)

Five summers ago, Jay Kerr and Joe Boyle rather audaciously opened a Chicago-style hot dog stand right on the edge of Brooklyn’s backyard (Prospect Park), and named it after one of the most iconic Brooklyn movies, Dog Day Afternoon. But instead of getting their assess laughed all the way back to the Windy City, Kerr and Boyle have become an integral part of the community, serving a crazy-good “dragged through the garden” Chicago dog, as well as an elite chili-cheese beast, a Polish Kielbasa, and a Hot Italian Beef sandwich—”served wet.” The place is so beloved, in fact, that they expanded into Williamsburg, running the kitchen at the divey H&H Reserve.

Bobbi’s Italian Beef
228 Smith St.

Speaking of Chicago dogs, Bobbi’s Italian Beef, chef Jason Lux’s reliably satisfying, retro-vibing spot on Smith Street, also makes a winning version of the Windy City classic: an original Vienna Beef frank nestled in a sturdy poppy-seed bun along with diced onions, tomato wedges, neon-green relish, mustard, celery salt, a pickle spear, and short peppers for extra bite. The chili cheese dog, the Ditka Polish sausage, and the namesake meaty sandwich will also make you happy here.

Hidden Rivers
291 Nevins St.

Brand-spanking new, like seemingly everything along the Gowanus Canal these days (seriously, stand on the newly reopened Carroll Street Bridge and be astounded by all the massive construction projects), Hidden Rivers is a cute cocktail bar with an even cuter backyard from Patrick Watson and Michele Pravda, the couple behind Smith & Vine and Stinky Bklyn. Booze, beer, and wine dominate the proceedings here, but there are a few food items too, including a delicious Gowanus Glizzy, the fat frank slathered in house-made pimento cheese and a bunch of zingy relish. Get it with a bag of chips and you’ll be fortified for another round or three of drinks. 

Fulton Hot Dog King
25 Elm Pl.

Fancy and/or fully loaded dogs are great, but sometimes you just want a couple of straight-up OG mustard-and-kraut numbers to get you through the afternoon. Remember when there used to be all those no-frills hot-dog stands and street carts everywhere, satisfying exactly that craving for hungry Brookynites? Only a few such spots remain, including the recently relocated but still true to its late-1980s, no-frills roots Fulton Hot Dog King, where you can cop a thoroughly decent dog for $3.50.

Frankel’s
631 Manhattan Ave.

Greenpoint locals and Bernie’s Zach Frankel and Taylor McEwan opened this bright and lively homage to the classic NYC Jewish deli back in 2016, and it seems like the place has been filled with pastrami and smoked-fish fiends ever since. My must-order here, though, has always been Frankel’s snappy frank, an extremely basic beauty in which each ingredient—dog, mustard, kraut, bun—aces its role. I’d eat here a lot more often if they stayed open past freaking 3:00 p.m. IDEA: Open a hot-dogs-only window in the summer and feed the hordes of bar crawlers in this part of town.

Two8Two
282 Atlantic Ave.

This 15-year-old local watering hole on prime Atlantic Avenue bills itself as a “bar and burger spot,” and all of the signage emphasizes the latter sandwich. And the burgers, which come in more than a dozen varieties, are worth emphasizing! But the stealth winner here may be the hot dogs—specifically, the signature Two8Two dog, which takes an extra-long frank and absolutely buries it in hatch chiles, a peppy special sauce, and, like, 16 pounds of gloppy melted cheese. It’s delicious, and such a glorious mess that you may be tempted to actually use the knife and fork that come with.

A Taste of Katz’s
445 Albee Square W. (inside DeKalb Market Hall)

Have you tried going to the world-famous, “established 1888” Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side anytime in the past few years? The block-long line of tourists snaking down Houston, literally every day, is insane. The good news for Brooklynites, though: Katz’s only outpost, in one of the city’s only not-depressing food halls, the subterranean DeKalb Market, is pretty much always readily accessible. All the hits are here, including Katz’s legendary pastrami and corned beef, but I can never resist getting at least one of their hot-dogs, which come beautifully charred, exploding with meat juice, and buried in excellent sauerkraut.

Santa Salsa
234 Starr St.

As much a dive bar as it is a hot-dog joint, Santa Salsa has been serving cheap booze and Venezuelan street food for some 12 years now in the party zone near the Jefferson L. The music’s raucous, the walls are covered with graffiti, stolen street signs, and skate decks, and the menu features tons of stoner-food standouts, mostly insanely laden burgers, sandwiches, and hot-dogs. Everything satisfies, and there are lots of vegan options, but my go-to is the namesake Santa Salsa dog, topped with chunks of fried cheese, bacon, onions, crumbled potato chips, and several spectacular sauces. Hits the spot every time. 

Nathan’s Famous
1310 Surf Ave.

Finally, here’s the granddaddy of them all, Nathan’s Famous, which has been feeding franks to Brooklyn beachgoers since 1916 and hosts the improbably popular (and, frankly, totally disgusting) hot-dog-eating contest every year on the Fourth of July. The flagship location on Surf Avenue can be a bit of a shit show, so I always try to hit the boardwalk stand near the Wonder Wheel instead, especially early in the day, when the line isn’t too long and the dogs have had time to get at least a little charred. Mustard and sauerkraut remains the ideal toppings combo, but the chili-cheese pup does the trick as well.

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