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.
27 responses so far ↓
1 DCBlogs // Feb 11, 2008 at 7:19 pm
[...] Busted! Your Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog is Illegal [...]
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
[...] hot dog (does this have a NAME??), Los Angeles: illegally grilled on the street and topped with grilled poblano [...]
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
[...] hot dog (does this have a NAME??), Los Angeles: illegally grilled on the street and topped with grilled poblano [...]
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
[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]
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
[...] The WallDisplaying 5 of 40 wall posts.See AllMark wrote at 10:05amHere is some baconews:http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/02/11/busted-your-bacon-wrapped-hot-dog-is-illegal/Jennifer wrote at 7:28pm on March 12th, 2009Ya had me at bacon……Bianco wrote at 2:06pm [...]
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
[...] CA and OR leading a charge to stamp out bacon usage?Busted! Your Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog is Illegalhttp://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/02/11/busted-your-bacon-wrapp…The bacon wrapped hot dog is a staple of Los Angeles street food and everyone from daytime shoppers [...]
19 Busted! Your Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog is Illegal // Aug 27, 2009 at 7:58 pm
[...] July 21st, 2009 · View commentsComments · News Busted! Your Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog is Illegal [...]
20 Jerome Watkins // Nov 22, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I’ve never seen a poblano chile served with a hot dog before. Do you even know what a poblano is? Those things are as big or bigger than your hand. The chile featured in your photo appears to be a serrano, but its possible that its a jalapeno. idiot.
21 Tonia // Apr 13, 2010 at 5:53 pm
What Ttm said. Boil first, then grill.
22 Nicolas // May 30, 2010 at 7:51 pm
That’s so Bizarre.
In Australia we always have our Sausages Grilled. I can’t remember the last time I had a Boiled hotdog – Mostly because sausages are closer to a butcher than factory processed frankfurters generally used in hotdogs.
Water can only reach a temperature of 100 deg celsius where as grilling gets to over 260 deg celsius which would be safer?
23 overview for socialfire88 // Aug 17, 2010 at 1:58 pm
[...] points 1 day ago[+] (0 children)socialfire88 2 points3 points4 points 1 day ago[-]Actually, it does get better. Also, the hot dogs are even better in Mexico. permalinkcontextWhat are things you assumed to be [...]
24 Tea Party? How About a Lemonade Party? « James Madison Institute // Sep 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm
[...] http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/02/11/busted-your-bacon-wrapped-hot-dog-is-illegal/ [...]
25 gnat-dawg // Jan 12, 2011 at 9:27 pm
these are the best…i can’t say i have one every day… but once in a while i will crave one…
once i had to follow along a lady with her cart carrying her soda fridge as we ran away from the cops…
it was the best bacon wrapped hot dog i ever had!
26 Lauren // Apr 16, 2011 at 7:23 am
Sneezing is illegal in LA. What else is new.
27 Vinnie The Pooh // Aug 12, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I eat these thing every week! the only health concern i have with them is that the have crack inside. I wake up at night feinding for heaven on a bun (heaven always comes in weenie form
. I have never once got food poisoning from these beautiful works of culinary progress! In fact I feel that it provides more sustinance than a pinks hot dog and 5 out of 10 times i preffer street meat over wurstkuche. wow! you can regulate all you want but it wont make a difference, the only place and time I got food poisoning was from In-n-Out! dont want to talk shit I still love that damn place, but im just sayin thats a really regulated establishment. And besides, who the fuck boils or steams a hot dog, its not human.
Leave a Comment