On the way to basketball one night, I stumbled upon what appeared to be a food truck festival in a high school parking lot. I am nothing if not a man who takes advantage of such opportunities, so I pulled up and saw what they had to offer. A few of the trucks I had seen and eaten before, but some were new to me. One of these, freakishly painted as a Brisk iced tea ad, had just what I was looking for. Called The Greasy Wiener, this trucked dished out…well…hot dogs, with a side of sexual innuendo.
The dogs were apparently made with a home recipe and were all beef. They came with some pretty basic options and I went for The Berkowitz. This was a bacon-wrapped dog topped with chili and cheese. For good measure, and in a veiled attempt to sabotage my basketball skills, I also got chili cheese curly fries.
Within a few minutes, my name was called and my meal was ready. I took one hard look at my hot dog and nearly vomited. Not only was my hot dog topped with onions, but an entire pickle spear threatened the very existence of my dinner. There had to be some mistake, and in fact the mistake was completely in me, because the menu clearly stated that every dog was served with a squirt of mustard, onions and a pickle. I was sad, but undaunted as I set to work undoing the wrong that I had unknowingly committed against myself. I was mad at the truck, but mostly I was mad at myself. Eventually, my hot dog emerged from the vegetable carnage and I set to work.
I quickly realized that this hot dog was awesome. In the New Jersey style, the hot dog had been fried, which made it a bit wrinkly, but also juicy. It had that snap I’m always looking for in a good hot dog and the bacon was beautifully crispy. Although I had lost a fair amount of chili and cheese in removing the veggies, I could still taste them both and they made me happy. Surprisingly, they had a very good salt balance and had just enough flavor to complement the hot dog rather than overpower it.
The same went for the fries. Although they hadn’t been ransacked by veggies and pickles, the cheese and chili worked great together. The use of curly fries was a nice touch for a couple reasons. 1) Curly fries are awesome. 2) Curly fries are typically crispier than normal fries, and this held true here, so they were able to contain the chili and cheese without getting soggy. The cheese sauce was also not your usual nacho cheese, but a “truck made” mix that was a bit cheese wizzy, except as I said before it wasn’t too salty.
So once I got over my huge ordering mistake, The Greasy Wiener served me well. I don’t support the whole onion and pickle thing, but I do support the rest of what they are doing. I also don’t know if I support the fact that the truck seems to be sponsored by Brisk, but I suppose you do what you have to in order to keep slinging fried hot dogs in the streets of LA.
