On the way to Brooklyn

The Brooklyn hot dog tour, ” Hot Diggity Dog,” was run jointly by Green-Wood Cemetery, a national landmark, and The Brooklyn Historical Society, housed in another National landmark. But we’re not talking dogs, we are talking DOGS: frankfurters, if you will. We did not go to Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island which is THE home of the hot dog and of its founder, Charles Feltman. More about him later.

We met at the Brooklyn Historical Society, heard an intro and were oriented, then hopped on the Green-Wood trolley to sample excellent dogs at four places in Brooklyn. We concluded at Green-Wood cemetery where anyone and everyone is buried, and visited the tomb of Mr. Feltman.

Stop One: Prospect, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, an elegant little bar/restaurant with a classy menu. We were served foie gras hot dogs. They were tasty. This appeared to be a nice restaurant for dinner.

Stop Two: The Vanderbilt, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. We did not go inside; luckily it didn’t rain but was drizzly and overcast. The recipe for the hot dogs and brats; weisswurst and cheddar stuffed, were created by SAUL who owns a classy restaurant that earned a Michelin Star and that just moved into the Brooklyn Museum. 

We were served samples of the above which were delicious, very flavorful. I would definitely return to this restaurant.

Stop Three: Bark, Park Slope, Brooklyn.  This is a cute place next to a subway entrance that plays to the healthy, serving up locally sourced and likely organic fare. The dogs weren’t especially flavorful but the toppings were divine.

I enjoyed the food and I would return; the toppings made up for the underwhelming seasoning of the dogs.

Stop Four: Der Kommissar: Park Slope, Brooklyn. We were herded to an outside area in the back and served on slice each of a nondescript frankfurter and pickle with no bun. Nothing to photograph, the samples were gone in a flash and so were we. I would tend to think that after that lack of generosity and bite of that lackluster frankfurter, no one would return.

The fifth and final stop was Green-Wood Cemetery, a most amazing place; pre-Civil War, the most incredibly maintained, beautiful, bucolic site which is a historic and cultural center. It is a National Historic Landmark.

“The famous and infamous have continued to come to Green-Wood for over a century and a half now, bringing their lively stories and dark secrets with them. Green-Wood has more than 560,000 permanent residents, including Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Charles Ebbets, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Horace Greeley, baseball legends, politicians, artists, entertainers, inventors, and Civil War generals and other veterans (with more being discovered regularly by our Civil War Project). Here are only a few profiles of Green-Wood’s innumerable famous residents.”

We went to visit the mausoleum of Charles Feltman who invented the hot dog and sold them on Coney Island. He came up with the sausage on a bun to save money and not have to supply plates and silver ware. His employee, Nathan Handwerker left the business to start his own and became the Nathan’s that we New Yorkers know of. He outdid the business of Feltman. Still, Feltman was able to buile a mansion from his invention.

Here’s to the “hot dog.”

Ok, so it’s dinnertime and your starting to get antsy for something, I mean you have to have something and surely you are not going to cook. So where do you stop on the way home?

Gaby’s.