The bacon wrapped hot dog is a staple of Los Angeles street food and everyone from daytime shoppers to late-night revelers seems to enjoy these so-called “heart attack dogs.” The traditional way of serving these dogs in L.A. is to top them with onions, mayo, mustard, onions, green peppers, ketchup and a grilled green poblano chile.
There’s only one problem with these bacon wrapped hot dog’s that everyone loves: they’re illegal. In Los Angeles, the law says that hot dogs sold by street vendors must be either steamed or boiled. For the bacon-wrapped hot dog to cook properly and taste delicious, it needs to be grilled. But grilling a hot dog is a violation of the L.A. health code for street vendors. Sadly, this is not a law that goes unenforced. There have been a number of different reports of food vendors being raided by cops.
(Note: photos via hexodus)
A recent article in LA Weekly shared the story of one woman who has finally stopped selling the bacon wrapped hot dogs after getting thrown in LA county jail. Now she attempts to sell her hot dogs without the bacon. Unfortunately, many potential customers pass on by after realizing she is offering only plain dogs, not the popular bacon wrapped ones.
So my question now is….why? Why can’t people eat hot dogs off a grill if they want? Why should a food that is such a part of a city’s culture be forced to operate in the shadows and back alleys?
Have you ever compared a grilled hot dog head-to-head with a steamed or boiled hot dog? When it comes to taste, there is no comparison. That’s without even including the bacon. People want grilled dogs, and they are being denied their street food of choice. Give the people what they want L.A.! Change your health code!
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: if bacon wrapped hot dogs are outlawed, only outlaws will cook bacon wrapped hot dogs.
19 responses so far ↓
1 DCBlogs // Feb 11, 2008 at 7:19 pm
2 MC Spanky McGee // Feb 12, 2008 at 12:14 pm
If lovin’ grilled hot dogs is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.
I think all husky people should unite behind this cause to repair this irrational health code!
WE WANT BACON, DAMNIT!
3 shatraw // Feb 12, 2008 at 2:37 pm
and like 99% of hot dogs are fully cooked out of the processing plant anyway. so what, they’re preventing a smidgen of food poisoning and no deadly parasites.
don’t even get me started on the taco trucks in this town.
4 Melissa // Feb 13, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Frankly, I don’t want to live in a world where grilling hot dogs hugged by bacon is illegal.
5 Drew Carey on Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs | So Good // Apr 26, 2008 at 11:41 am
[...] Good previously wrote about the controversy behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs in Los Angeles. In this 7 minute video for [...]
6 charlie // May 13, 2008 at 8:44 pm
dammit these are the best. wtf. i remember visiting LA one time to party with friends and family and we had some of these heavenly delights afterwards. the cops came and the vendors took off, leaving their carts which the cops started hauling off. i asked for one, and they said no. i thought they were just being greedy.
7 oldmartin // May 25, 2008 at 2:41 pm
i have been doing hotdogs this way for years!!
8 jjef1951 // Jun 13, 2008 at 11:15 am
Good ol’ California… the land of fruits and nuts.
9 Mariah... but not like Mariah Carey - The United States of Hot Dogs // Jun 27, 2008 at 3:11 am
10 aardvark // Jul 1, 2008 at 6:47 pm
How about calling it : The Kirstey Alley
11 Thought for Food - The United States of Hot Dogs // Sep 18, 2008 at 9:36 am
12 Liz // Nov 22, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I think the reason the grilled dogs are illegal is due to the grease left on the grill. It would attract roaches to the carts when they’re stored overnight. It’s a portability issue. I’m sure you can get a legal grilled dog in a restaurant. They have to clean the grill and I’m sure the exterminator comes every six months to keep the bugs away. But those carts….eek!
13 Your page is now on StumbleUpon! // Dec 9, 2008 at 2:40 am
14 TtM // Jan 9, 2009 at 11:02 am
Boil the dog, wrap with bacon, then grill it. Compliant.
15 Bacon Explosion | Facebook // Mar 16, 2009 at 3:54 pm
16 Francois // May 13, 2009 at 4:13 pm
They used to have these in some of the taco carts around here in Phoenix, but I haven’t seen one in years. They cracked down on that awhile ago. It began with just pre-cooking the bacon off-site and then assembling it, but a year or so back the bacon disappeared completely.
I’m all for street carts, though. And because of that, my immune system is practically reinforced titanium alloy.
17 Without a Traceroute» Blog Archive » Can’t Touch This // Jun 13, 2009 at 5:42 am
[...] them, you just wouldn’t know what to do with Portillo’s, Pink’s, or a deliciously illegal “heart attack” dog. Anyone feeling [...]
18 TMF: Unbeleivable / Retire Early CampFIRE // Jun 27, 2009 at 4:31 pm
19 Busted! Your Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog is Illegal // Aug 27, 2009 at 7:58 pm
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