The best hot dog joint in CT was Jimmy's of Savin Rock in the old days. Then they went and tried to class the place up and ruined it. Both the dogs and fries were top notch back in the day. Currently? Suer Duper Weenie's pretty good, but way too pricey for hot dogs. Swanky Franks is OK.
As to hot dogs cooked at home, I'll 2nd
@8893 's vote for Millers Provisions in the old days, and Hummels now. I either split and fry them, or grill them, unsplit, but poked a time or two. Natural casing, of course. Skinless hot dogs are for people who boil them and put ketchup on them.
Condiment-wise, I eat dogs a variety of ways, none of which includes ketchup.
- Spicy Brown Mustard, home-made relish (made from kosher dill, not sweet pickles) and chopped/minced onions. The way I grew up eating hot dogs, and I still enjoy them this way.
- Just minced onions. I often order them this way when out, unless the setup allows you to put your own condiments on, since they always seem to put too much mustard and relish on them, and not enough onions.
- Chili (no beans!) & onions.
- Absolutely buried in fried onions. Fried onions kind of stand alone, and are never combined with other condiments
- Except bacon. Bacon and fried onions on a hot dog is an other-worldly experience. Or pastrami and fried onions. That's great, too. Now I want to go make some dogs with bacon, pastrami & fried onions. Kinda like the holy trinity of stuff on a hot dog for me.
- On a very rare occasion, I'll have a dog with cole slaw and a kosher dill pickle spear.
I once ordered two dogs with the works at the concession stand in an Alabama State Park. The woman looked at me funny, then served me two dogs with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and pickle slices. She responded to my "Huh???" by telling me that the works usually goes on a hamburger, not a hot dog. Truth be told, they weren't half bad.
And I really, really like corn dogs made with andouille sausage instead of a plain old hot dog. I call it Corndewey.
