A blog by Cameron and Shannon

Last Saturday, Shannon and I visited Hot Diggity Dogs, a local purveyor of non-local hot dog cuisine. I came across it on Yelp! Nashville and couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard about it before. A hot dog place? Serving Chicago dogs? 5 minutes from our apartment? Unbelievable.

Needless to say, I declared a meal there to be top priority, and we forewent our (unfortunately) standard Saturday Taco Bell lunch to head over to Hot Diggity Dogs, because I don’t know if you’re aware, but the Chicago Dog is one of the greatest foods ever invented.

Now, even though I have only had Chicago Dogs from 3 different places (all in Chicago, mind you), I know what I’m looking for. I don’t want a Chicago-style hot dog — I want a Chicago Dog.

Here’s the deal. A real Chicago Dog must be all-beef and have mustard, onion, neon-green relish, tomato, pickle, celery salt, and sport peppers (which I usually take off because I’m a wimp). No ingredients must be missing (especially the celery salt). Also, I personally prefer that the toppings be generous, but within reason.

This is one of the dogs I had when in Chicago. It is not topped within reason.

One of the dogs I had in Chicago. The whole thing tasted of nothing but tomato and pickle spears. Too! Much! Tomato!

In any case, Hot Diggity Dogs is right around the corner from downtown, just off of 8th Avenue South, a couple of blocks from roads I drive fairly often. It’s a tiny place — I don’t have a picture of the outside, but there are some on the website. As soon as we got inside, I became fairly giddy. This place wasn’t gonna let us down.

Hot Diggity Dogs, interior. Not a square inch wasted.

The interior is downright teeny. We’re standing on the back wall of the building in this picture. There’s a little shelf and benches running the length of the building opposite the register, but other than that it’s strictly one-lane traffic. Apparently this place gets mobbed on weekdays, so a Saturday was probably a good choice. There’s a covered back porch with picnic tables, which is where we ended up sitting.

They don’t just sell Chicago Dogs — there are normal boring dogs, a Texas chilidog, a New York dog, a Boston Baked Beans dog … and they’re almost all a mere $2.75. (Here’s the whole menu.)

The one that caught my eye, however, was the Nashville dog. Slaw, mustard, onion, cucumber, and pickle. Cucumber and pickle! On the same dog! While not particularly remarkable, that’s at least compelling in principle. It’s not often you eat an item and the pickled version of that item in the same bite. (The Chicago dog also has cucumber on it. I guess they like cucumber.)

I ordered a Chicago Dog and a Nashville Dog, and Shannon just had a Chicago Dog because she hates cole slaw. They also give you your fries in a tiny paper bag, which naturally becomes incredibly greasy almost immediately, reminding you of how tasty those fries are. (They’re good fries. Nice and salty.)

Chicago Dog (L) and Nashville Dog (R). Note deliciously charbroiled beef. If you haven’t had a hot dog that looks like this, you need to start yesterday.

The verdict? Both were fabulous. The ChiDog wasn’t on the traditional poppyseed bun, but I don’t know what poppyseeds add to the equation anyway. (I’m assuming they add polkadottedness and not much else.) The tomato slices were nice and logical, not ridiculously gigantic like my previous example up there. The Nashville Dog is highly recommended - it’s creamier and less bitey than the ChiDog, but definitely holds its own.

I was thrilled to find Hot Diggity Dogs, thrilled that it was cheap and non-filthy, and even more thrilled that the dogs were well-nigh perfect. I hereby highly recommend this here establishment for all of your Nashville-based hot dog needs.