Burgers, Hot Dogs and Fries, Oh My!!!

I took my 6 year old nephew out for a few holes of golf, lunch and the normal tomfoolery that we do when I can steal him away from his Mom and Dad.  The boy, poor boy, I should say, always asks to eat pizza for lunch.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that the nearest place I would eat pizza is somewhere on the east side of the Hudson River and certainly not in Tennessee.  I suggested one of two places that I had never been to:  Five Guys or Cory's Dog House (no website). He chose Five Guys.  For a casual "not so fast food" burger joint the place was terrific.  I was most impressed to learn that they do not even own a freezer. (My kind of place)  Cooked to order, they offer two sizes of burger, aptly named "Little" and Regular.  Now the Little is not really little, it is a single burger while the regular is a double patty.  All of the normal condiments and toppings are available.  Terrific.  That is all I can say---just a terrific burger.  Fresh hand cut french fries  are available for an additional couple of bucks.  Be forewarned that the regular size fries will serve at least 3 or 4 so order prudently.  Although I am not a fan of "skin on" fries, the fact that they were fried in peanut oil certainly brought out the great fresh taste.  No wonder Phil Mickelson bought the rights to open Five Guys franchises in SoCal and dumped raving about the In and Out Burger chain. 

Well it was just a matter of time before I wanted to give Cory's Doghouse a shot.  Apparently not a franchise, at least not yet, the place is located in one of the largest shopping centers in Middle Tennessee known as Providence in Mt. Juliet.  Being a displaced New Yorker, I was really, really impressed that they served Sabrett's.  Now for the uninitiated and deprived, a Sabrett hot dog is the only hot dog served by the ubiquitous push carts in New York City.  They are all beef, natural casing dogs that have a unique "snap" when you bite into one.  Pure and simple: They are the best.  Coupled with NYC's unique onion sauce (Created by the late Alan Geisler consisting of onion, tomato paste, paprika, vinegar, brown sugar, hot pepper sauce and a couple of secret ingredients) there are few fast foods better or at least one that takes me back to my youth. Rumor had it that Cory's served a real NY hot dog.  They did---- sans the bread but that is no complaint.  They use their version of a New England hot dog bun (perfect for lobster rolls), butter grilled resulting in a moist and steamy bun about the thickness of Texas toast.  As to toppings, if they don't have it, it was probably never served on a hot dog.  They break down the menu by regions, East, West, North and South and a few places that don't belong in any of the above. Every possible regional variation of a frank is available. My guess is that there were over 50 versions of a hot dog on the menu, Of course, I went with the New York:  Sabretts, deli mustard,onion sauce (very close to the original) and the Connecticut:  Dog, raw onion, bacon and mustard. No respectable New Yorker would ever put yellow mustard on a  dog and they should have been using brown, but other than that just perfect. Frankly, they were terrific and if you can't find a dog to suit your taste, then you shouldn't eat dogs.