“Hot Dog Buns, Nu-Way Weiners” Macon, GA 2019
“Love this place.... I used to go everyday during a 15 min break I had a work. We would race to our car about 4 of us would pile in and haul butt down to this establishment we had enough time to get back before that break was over. Very good and priced well for a hot dog stand.” - Ben L. Review from Yelp
Frankfurter Queen, Photographer Unknown
Do you remember seeing that article last year that said every hot dog you ate would take an hour off your life? 1 If you were like me and love yourself some hotdogs, you were doing some back of the envelope math to see how many years you’d already racked up. Well, we both know that “study” was both not surprising and total junk science.
Hotdogs have a bad reputation. They are representative of unhealthy and factory processed food. Even most of the major fast-food chains don’t have hotdogs on the menu. 2 Hopefully wherever you’re reading this, your state has multiple regional options to get your dogs from. Both unlucky for tastebuds and lucky for my “health”, most of my favorites require more than an hour drive so I don’t get to them too often.
Here’s my top 5 Hotdog joints in Georgia
5. The Varsity - The one you probably expected. Yeah it’s so well-known but the quality still holds up. The main location stopped the carhop service with covid and never brought it back, which knocks it down on the atmosphere judging. Lines can be stupid long, so don’t go on the weekends.
Hotdogs are solid. Chili is a bit bland, so I skip it and go with slaw dogs. Be sure to ask for a side of onions to top the dogs.
4. Martin’s- This is hyper local to me3 and would be on the top 5 biscuit list as well. A couple locations have some old school drive-in vibes but most of them are run of the mill fast food buildings. Only open until 2pm everyday, but can get a dog at 5:00 am if that's your thing.
Hotdogs are good, but the buns aren’t great. They’re top split which I think throws off the ratio of bun to everything else. Chili and Slaw are both great. Not a bad idea to order two chili slaw dogs and onion rings, dump them on a plate together and toss the buns.
3. Willie’s Wee-nee Wagon- Glynn County’s finest. Located in Brunswick, Willie’s only knock is they don't have slaw. You can get a side of kraut, but it’s a little lackluster. Hotdogs are great, but probably not even the best thing on the menu. Both the pork chop and fish sandwiches are equally as good.
Order 1 Chili Dog and 1 Brunswick Dog (Mayo, Ketchup, Cheese, Grilled Onions)
2. Zesto - If you’re unfamiliar with this Atlanta spot, it is the best fast food restaurant in existence. Everything is great and the selection is crazy. Burgers, Hotdogs, Fried Chicken, Fish (including a footlong fish sandwich), Gyros4 , and the best soft serve ice cream. I used to live next to the Little Five Points location which is now sadly closed.
Footlong Dog is fantastic. Already comes perfect with chili, slaw, and mustard. Skip the fries but save room for ice cream, I’m partial to the butterscotch crown or the banana shake. The 100% beef weiner is the only knock and what keeps it from the top spot.
1. Nu-Way Weiners- If you’ve made it this far and made mental notes of the e before i spelling of “weiner”, then hopefully you know that’s an homage to my number one spot. Nu-way started in central Georgia which is also where I spent my formative years (8-19). You could assume this is homerism5, but my opinion is that the slaw dog is representative of a regional Georgia speciality and also my favorite style of hot dog. Nu-way is at the top of the slaw dog game.
In addition to having the tastiest slaw and chili, Nu-Way also has red-hots. If you aren’t familiar with red-hots, they are a beef and pork blend Weiner that is bright red. Looks great, taste even better. Hot dogs are so good, Oprah went and ate 2 1/2. Be better than Oprah and go ahead and get 3.
“Varsity Stairwell” Atlanta, GA 2018
“Martin’s Drive-thru” Douglasville, GA 2018
This place looks like it has long closed, but probably had a good slaw dog. Taken in South Atlanta.
And finally, a note on bologna. In conversation with my four-year old the other day, we concluded that bologna could essentially be described as flat hot dogs. So maybe this Labor Day, hit up the deli counter and get some thick sliced bologna, hamburger buns, chili, and slaw and make you a flat hot dog sandwich.
Of course, I had to include this photo. I had been photographing bologna in a number of different ways and none of them excited me. I started throwing this bologna6 on an unfinished floor. Knew when I looked through the viewfinder that it was going to work, and it did. Still have large prints of this available if you're interested.
“Bologna on Floor” Archival Pigment Print, Variable Sizes
Alright, now you know what to do, send me your hotdog recommendations that aren’t in Georgia or your favorite Georgia spot that I didn’t include.
*The title was a nod to the brief internet joke 2016 presidential bumper sticker of Anthony Weiner and Eric Holder.
It was actually 36 minutes.
Sonic, Dairy Queen, Krystal. All available with Chili. Will give the nod to Sonic because you can get a footlong and coleslaw.
There’s 6 within a 10 minute drive of my house.
Zesto was started by a Greek family.
In 2002, the New York Times proclaimed Nu-Way as the Best Slaw Dog in America, so there’s that. Read it here
I had it out of refrigeration all week while trying to photograph it, so throwing it on the floor didn’t seem wasteful at that point.