Is Pink’s Hot Dogs Worth the Wait?

Rating:

★★★★★

Pros

Solid Hot Dogs
Good Service

Cons

The absurdly long line

When I found Pink’s Hot Dogs was an LA institution, I’ll admit I was skeptical. There are not a lot of hot dog spots that have huge notoriety. Now before all the New Yorkians start lovingly cursing me out, screaming What about Gray’s Papaya!?” All I’m saying is on the list of food places to try in a place as big as Los Angeles, hot dogs wouldn’t have been first on my list. Mainly because some of the world’s best burgers come from California. So what’s the big deal with these hot dogs? Well, I parked my car and went to find out.

Like a Hot Dog, this Line was Pink and Long

The heading says it all along with the picture. Pink awnings celebrating 83 years of hot dogs. That’s a long damn time to be slinging franks! I thought maybe they were overdoing it, but after the LA traffic cleared up from the stop light I saw a line. And a monster of a line it was. The line wrapped around the building and went deep into the parking lot — a fact I wasn’t aware of until I crossed the street. Plus, it was only around 11:30 am. How long could I really be waiting for a hot dog? In hindsight, I shouldn’t have waited to eat breakfast before coming.

As I got into the elven-ty millionth spot in line, there was a variety of people. Locals and tourists alike. In fact, an entire Korean tour bus got off from their air-conditioned safe space just to sweat in line with the rest of us.

After snapping a few shots, I waited.

And waited…

And waited some more…

I stood in that line for forty-five minutes. The last ten of those minutes were made more bearable with the distracting menus of what seemed like endless hot dog varieties. Each with their own corresponding clip art flyers that definitely were made in Microsoft Word 2003. Oh, how I miss you Clippy and how useless you were.

Here are some of the wild and weird flavors of Pink’s.

The feet here faced the outside window counter, which I imagined was used for ordering in the earlier days of Pink’s.

Drew Barrymore’s signature hot dog sandwiched between the La La Land dog and the Philly Dog.

Speaking of sandwiched — Is a hot dog technically a sandwich? It is meat between two pieces of bread.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

What I do know is as you’re reading this, your internal (or external) monologue is likely screaming for either side. I’m glad I could raise your blood pressure.

A Classic 1950’s Hollywood Feel

Once I finally made it in the front door, the scent of hot dogs, chili, and onions mixed perfectly in the air. Not the overused oil smell either. Everyone who’s gone into a sleazy pizza parlor and knows the health inspector blessed himself and carried a crucifix before crossing the threshold recognizes that smell. But here? Clean and fragrant is all I got.

The smallish interior reminded you of a Happy Days soda pop “joint” meets Peewee’s playhouse. It wasn’t much, but there was a reason for that, which I’ll get to in a second. From end to end, the walls were littered with signed photos of celebrities like Will Farrell and Stevie Wonder professing their love for Pink’s Hot Dogs. Which makes me wonder how often do celebrities stop by that they get their own signature hot dog.

Luckily, ordering the hot dog and getting it took almost no time at all. Since I have played so many Sonic the Hedgehog games in my life, I decided to go with the not-too-badly-priced chili dog. The staff pleasantly and quickly got in my order, passing me my number. I moved off to the side to wait in their interior fifteen-foot-long seating area, but I knew I wasn’t sitting there. Not when the opening in the back of the seating area was so inviting. Soon after my daydreaming ended, they called out my number. I grabbed my foot-long hot dog and made for the opening.

One of the many reasons I moved to Los Angeles was for the glorious weather and Pink’s took full advantage of The Golden State’s hospitality.

I found and seat swiftly and prepared myself to carefully eat this potential catastrophe of a hot dog. I had eaten enough hot dogs at Phillies games and tailgates to know caution is the name of the game. Also, Pink’s piled on the chili sauce so even though I was thankful, I needed it not to splatter on some of my white clothing. Yeah. Poor planning on my part.

Pleasantly Surprising for a Hot Dog

I don’t hate hot dogs. A weird way to start a paragraph in a review about hot dogs, I know. But. I’ll say that I really have to be in the mood for one. Certain All-America core memories usually trigger this mood for me. Such as going to a ball game, hitting up a barbeque, and your friend daring you to eat a pack of hot dogs with the buns at said barbeque in under thirty seconds for an undisclosed amount of money. You know, core memories. I just so happened to be in the mood today, thus I came to Pink’s Hot Dogs. So far, it seemed like a good decision.

Before I give you my bite analysis (I like that. Bite Analysis.), — I need to tell you about the chili sauce aroma. I need to clarify two things. First, this is a chili sauce not straight-up chili, which you need to help keep the dog-eating experience cohesive. Otherwise, it’s like eating a sloppy Sloppy Joe. Second, it smelled great but it didn’t overpower the hot dog. Because of that, I could tell by the scent that, besides the longer-than-normal length, this was not an average hot dog. My first bite analysis proved thi

I’ll go over what hit me first. The bread was heartier than a normal hot dog roll. It was somewhere between a hot dog roll and an artisan bread roll you’d get at your local supermarket. Actually, that was pretty much consistent in the texture, the bread toughness, and the flavor. The chili was very thick and tasty but mild in spice as well as in flavor than I expected. Although, I will say it did perfectly complement the hot dog. The hot dog also sat in that in-between space of a hot dog and a sausage. The best way to describe it would be if a hot dog was in a sausage casing, was a bit juicier, and had more flavor.

Honestly, it was one of the best hot dogs I’ve ever had, but at first I was truly torn about my rating for a few reasons. I have had tastier Japanese hot dogs at certain carts in Los Angeles. However, I feel like with the addition of the toppings usually meant for sushi, at that point, it was more Japanese food than a hot dog. I’ve also had some mean sausage and pepper rolls at a few chains back east, but once again, not a traditional hot dog.

But if I’m being honest with myself, this may be the first time I’ve had a legitimately great hot dog. My brain had to soak that in for a minute, but it’s true. This was a damn good hot dog. No regular hot dog had even come close. Was the line worth it? Hell yeah! But next time I’m at that register, I’m getting two.

Here’s a picture I got as I walked out: a shopping-cart-shaped robot delivering someone’s Uber Eats. Enjoy.