Seattle lacks meaty offerings for hot dogs

By Marc Ramirez
Seattle Times staff reporter

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As if Seattle needed one more thing to squabble over with New York, there's no denying that you just can't find hot-dog carts on Emerald City streets the way you do in the Big Apple.

Sure, you see the rash of vendors that flare up for Mariners and Seahawks home games; many of those vendors pull late-night duty for Pioneer Square club hoppers. And downtown, daytime workers have at least two to choose from on a regular basis — a heavy-duty, if utilitarian, grill at Second and Pine, and another, more traditional cart at Fourth and Union.

Otherwise, finding free-standing hot dog carts isn't easy.

Maybe Seattle just isn't a hot dog kind of town? At one downtown stand, two young guys approached with Nordstrom Rack shopping bags. "Can I get the spicy Polish?" one asks? He pronounced it like the cleaning action. The other asked for a "kale-basa."

Maybe it's a matter of palate: "New York is very much rooted in being a town built by Europeans," writes New York native and Port of Seattle official Lawrence Molloy in an e-mail. "Their meat consumption included a wider variety of parts including the whole range of wursts and sausages."

"The East Coast is very much a meat-and-potatoes mentality, whereas Seattle is more of a fish-and-chicken mentality," adds Seattle event planner Alex Hayes, a former Manhattan resident.

It could be the pace, she adds: Seattleites don't buzz — en masse — through the streets like they do in Manhattan, where workers want to grab their hot dog and go.

Or perhaps, says Manhattan-bred Rep. Laura Ruderman, D-Kirkland, it's the culture: "In New York, everything is sold on the street, right? I was just there for a wedding, and walking down every street corner, there's something to buy. You just don't find that here — people go inside to buy."

But Dante Rivera, of Dante's Inferno Dogs in Ballard, thinks it's the hassle factor. County and city mobile-cart operation requirements are so strict, he says, that they deter potential weeniebes. There are fees for applications, street-use, space rental, fire permits and so on.

If he hadn't bought his cart in the first place, he probably would have given up himself, he says.
 
"It's sad," he says. "I love street food. It creates a sense of community."

Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com