Umai Savory Hot Dogs

Every so often, I get an inexplicable craving for a hot dog. Once that craving is satiated however, I usually realize that a hot dog was not such a good idea after all. Something about pork and even beef wieners pushes my stomach towards malaise. I wonder why that could be? Don't read the ingredients list.

Anyway, that feeling came over me and I had looked at the Umai Savory Hot Dogs web site and some of the specialities sounded good. Located on Robson next to the long line up for Ramen Danbo, we waltzed right in and were also able to dine in.

So we tried a couple of dogs. First up was Chicago style.

They call it the Chicago Chopper here and ingredient-wise, it is pretty close to the original. They could have taken it a bit easier on the green relish and I would have liked to see a bigger dill pickle. Still, it was tasty and messy. Not too badly priced at $7.50. I don't know what you pay at Rogers Arena.

Next up was the Texas Roundhouse Dog. This was a chicken wiener (not very Texas at all) with batter-fried onions and barbecue chips (should be corn chips, shouldn't it?) and sauces. It was OK. Same deal, as in messy, tasty and the chicken sits well with me although, I would still not want to see the ingredients. Their website indicates that there are no by-products, fillers or artificial colourings and they use only premium cuts of meat so maybe that's OK.

We tried a burger because Marie is less keen on hot dogs than I. The Kyoto Baga includes cheese, batter-fried onions, creamy habanero sauce and jalapenos. It was a bit spicy and frankly, a pretty good burger! We were also taken with the brioche bun. Nice!

We rounded out the meal with Garlic Fries. These were crispy and quite garlicky (i.e raw garlic). Not too bad. 

The menu also includes wings, ribs,  noodles and a bunch different dogs (although the bacon-wrapped dogs didn't seem to be available and I was a little disappointed by that). They even have a sweet dog at Savory Dog namely banana and a couple of other desserts.

USHD is not Japa Dog but it is OK. Pretty typical fast-food dining room and service.

For what it's worth, we give Umami Savory Hot Dogs, 3 out of 5.