I want every new business in Saratoga to succeed. I go into Saratoga's new places with such high hopes and sometimes I'm encouraged, and sometimes I'm discouraged.
With that in mind, I hate to say it, but I'm not exactly feeling it with Alpha Dogs, the new hot dog place in that tiny little cave at 6 Phila Street that formerly housed among other things a bank vault, a laundromat, and most recently, a store selling high-end backpacks. My experience there wasn't awful, but if an entrepeneur is going to try to stake out a limited food niche then he/she better do it right and you better create future cravings so I keep coming back. Alpha Dogs did neither.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an awful experience. And they were only open about eight days when my wife Margarita decided she was in the mood for something quick for dinner, so maybe they will improve to the point that they do get it right and therefore create cravings in their customers. Time will tell I guess.
Part of the problem is that there is a stellar local hot dog chain called Ted's Hot Dogs in my home town of Buffalo. They broil their Sahlen's brand dogs over charcoal, and becuase Sahlens dogs are so delicious, they only need offer traditional toppings like relish, mustard, ketchup, sauerkraut, onions etc. It's the hot dog that's the center of attention, not a bunch of exotic ingredients. They handbread their onion rings and make real milk shakes. Suffice to say Ted's sets the bar high for other hot dog stands; my mouth is watering just thinking about a Ted's charbroiled hot dog.
Above: A Ted's in suburban Buffalo. Below: Some of Ted's hot dogs
Saratoga's Alpha Dogs offers a lot of creative ingredients for their dogs, which are cooked on an electric skillet. I had the “LA Street Dog,” a hot dog wrapped in bacon, deep-fried and topped with hot sauce, jalapenos and grilled onions, and Margarita got the “Tsunami Dog” with is a dog with teriyaki, grilled pineapple and green onions. The fries we ordered were undercooked and there was a pool of grease on the bottom - a result of not draining the grease properly and failing to briefly place and shake the fries on a paper transfer plate prior to serving. Like I said, I want it to succeed and they have been only open 8 days, but when a restaurant has a limited menu then they'd better get it right the first time or there may not be a second time.
The owners, Shelly and Mark Taber, are real nice and seem eager to please their customers. Perhaps the late night bar crowd won't be as discriminating, and along the way they'll improve to the point where they have a following. Or perhaps there is a niche to be filled for hot dogs with a lot of interesting ingredients. Because the place is so small, there is no seating available there so you have to take your food somewhere else to consume.
To read the Saratogian's article about Alpha Dogs, click here. The You Idiot blog also has a recent entry about Alpha Dogs.
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