In a small storefront on Gilman Street, in the shadow of the gigantic Hub apartment building, you may find wiener shop, which like OSS, puts fancy toppings on a plain hot dog.
I really do mean plain. The bun-length, beef or vegan hot dog is jammed in a bun straight from the package. From there, it’s buried in toppings connected by a theme, all for $4.95.
Ones you may already be familiar with include the Chicago-style dog, topped with mustard, relish, peppers, onions, pickles and tomato chutney (but no poppy seed bun), and the Tucson Sonora dog, topped with bacon, avocado, mustard, cilantro mayo, pinto beans and pickled jalapenos.
The Vancouver Asian dog reminded me of sushi, and that’s because of the well-crafted sesame ginger slaw plus soy sauce, avocado and way-too-much wasabi mayo. For lack of a better term, the richness of this dog brought diminishing returns in enjoyment.
On the other hand, I was surprised by the somewhat bland taste of the New York street dog, as the pastrami kraut was not at all sour and wasn’t helped much by the mustard or NYC onion sauce.
Tater tots are the only other items on the menu. You can get them plain ($2.95) with your choice of sauce, and note, you will need the sauce, since these non-crunchy tater tots come from the oven, not deep-fryer. Try the awesome sauce, which uses a Sriracha-like sauce as its base. The other versions of tater tots come with cheese ($3.95) or chili-cheese ($4.95).
wiener shop is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday. You won’t find any seating inside, but there are a few tables outside.
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