1106 Woodland Street
Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 226-2622
The monkeys (Satchel, 8, and Jiro, 6) and I were driving around in East Nashville on Sunday while Warren tested at a Kendo seminar. I had planned for us to eat breakfast at Bongo Java, but obviously 9am on a Sunday morning was not the best time to go. When we drove by there was a huge crowd waiting to get in. We ended up eating homemade biscuits at a friend's house and then checking out I Dream of Weenie on our way to Dragon Park.
I am so not a hot dog person, but I simply could not pass up the opportunity to eat at a hot dog from a stand crafted from an old VW Bus! (Warren's dream is to convert an old VW Bus into a sushi cart.)
The kids had really gorged on biscuits and insisted that they didn't want hot dogs. They only wanted chips and drinks. Whatever! It was up to me to be the official taster.
The menu features six regular offerings that come with mustard and onions unless you say otherwise (turkey and tofu dogs can be substituted for the same cost) and there's also a daily special:
1. The Frank & to the Point, the standard-grilled weenie with ketchup and sweet relish, $2
2. The Slaw Weenie with homemade coleslaw, $2.50
3. The Dill Weenie with a dill spear nestled beside the weenie, $2.50
4. The Chili-Cheese Weenie with spicy hot chili and cheese, $2.50
5. The Rebel Yelp with Chow Chow (a southern sweet and spicy relish) and jalapenos, $3
6. The Flamin' Frank, which is the Chili-Cheese Weenie fired up with hot salsa and jalapenos, $3
(I didn't note the daily special. Oops!)
I was tempted to go for the Flamin' Frank, but I was worried about eating one of those whilst driving around a strange city. I still wanted something spicy, so I went with the Chili-Cheese Weeenie with spicy hot chili. I got the monkeys each a bag of chips and an orange soda to share. Our total was like $6.
The interesting thing about I Dream of Weenie is that there's nowhere to sit. A sign in the window explains, "Inquiring minds want to know...why don't you provide a place to sit? Because I Dream of Weenie is a mobile food vendor, Metro says we're not allowed to provide seating. Go figure!"
I recently wrote an article about Memphis' goofy (read: restrictive and crazy) health codes, so I completely understood this. The Weenie is creatively circumventing this rule by providing plastic table cloths for people to use a picnic blankets. Several families were picnicking on the grass under the trees nearby. There were also several people eating at picnic tables at the business behind the weenie-mobile. (My understanding is that the owners of the two adjacent businesses chipped in and started I Dream of Weenie together, so it makes sense that they would allow people to sit there.)
I would have loved to have had a picnic, but the monkeys wanted to get to Dragon Park ASAP. They generously allowed me to scarf down my hot dog in the front seat of the car while they yelped, "Let's go! Let's go to Dragon Park! NOW! Hurry up!"
I have to say that it was a damn fine hot dog. Maybe I should eat them more often! I'm just sorry that Warren missed out. (I thought of getting one to go, but then wisely thought better of it.)
Next time you're in town, don't just dream about a weenie, eat one.
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