JDH Dogs, Part Deux

I'm not sure a veggie hot dog from a franchise deserves further investigation, but I'm doing it. Bored, deranged, have no life...that's me!

I really didn't see myself heading back to Johnnie's Dog House any time soon. Maybe in a few months when hungry on the 202 errand trail? But a couple of commenters (one on this blog, and one in my email box) had me wondering if I had been slipped a meat dog on my first visit. It was awfully meaty tasting.

I went in for lunch today (still crazy mad busy) to see if the dog part of the hot dog tasted any different than the first go round.

I decided to order mine with just coleslaw. They don't have a custom option, but you can tell them what you want on your dog. They'll just find the closest thing on the menu, and charge you for that. Kinda crappy, since my one-topping dog corresponded with the Southern Comfort dog with coleslaw and chili, and was at the highest end of the three-tier dog pricing scale.

Cheapo tip-o - if you can deal with any combination of ketchup, mustard, diced onions, and sweet relish, just order a plain dog and top your own at the condiment/napkin counter.My receipt said veggie (my receipt on the first go round said veggie, too), and the guy taking my order (if his name was Danielle, that was one ugly tranny) shouted out, "We need a veggie," after taking my order, so things were looking solid.

The first thing I noticed when I got my hot dog is that the dog was substantially longer than the one I got the other day. The casings were similarly pinched at the ends, though. The dog was grilled, just like the other day, too.

One of the reasons I went back to check things out is an email comment I got from a person who ate a veggie dog at the same Johnnie's location, and claimed that their's was not grilled. I thought, "Aha, I did get the wrong dog!" But I'm not so sure the commenter just didn't pick up on the grilling, but I wasn't there, so... These dogs are grilled slightly on a griddle, so no grill line marks. Unless you deconstruct your dog, it's hard to tell it's grilled. First trip; second trip. Pinched butts look the same to me.

I took a bite, and it tasted similar - very meat-like. We could attribute this to the fact that it's grilled on the same griddle as the meat dogs (this is something vegetarians must accept if eating outside of their own kitchen, or not in exclusively vegan/vegetarian restaurants), or the fact that hot dogs don't taste like anything but a hot dog. Slip a perfectly grilled veggie hot dog to your meat-eating friends; they'll never know the difference.

I tore the dog apart with my fingers to check the texture (I did the first time, too). Dogs don't have a true tell-tale meat texture; they're processed bits.Short dog; long dog. WTF?

Seriously, I have no clue what I got. Why was the second dog much longer than the first? I suspect the long dog was the meat dog because it was a bit greasy. I guess the only way to tell is order one of each (beef, turkey, and veggie) and break out the ruler, calipers, and taste buds, which I am not doing. Not unless some meat eaters want to participate so dogs don't go to waste.

Anywho...the dogs themselves taste fine. It's the buns and toppings that were a bummer for me -- no toasted buns and no veggie versions of baked beans or chili.

Oh, how was that coleslaw? Finely diced with an onion bite, kinda like KFC coleslaw, but not as sweet. KFC's coleslaw is much better. Another topping bummer.

So, to recap, that was a lot of work with inconclusive results for something as insignificant as a hot dog (I still love hot dogs). Any meat eaters want to have a party, sit around drinking, and measure their wieners so we can settle this? It'll be just like high school.

Update: Just got a call from the boy, who accompanied me on the first trip. He said there were a ton of long dogs on the grill, as opposed to short dogs. Long would mean meat, because it's not like they're serving up more veggie dogs than meat dogs. So, we're thinking we got veggie dogs the first time, and I got a meat dog the second time. Either way, it's not cool that they can't keep their shit straight.

Is there a JDH employee out there that would like to settle this? Drop me a line and let me know which is which.