Jon Watson: America’s Top Dog – Chamblee
Ahhh…Hot Dogs. Just thinking about them takes me to the way back when of my younger days.
The hot dog is a staple of the childhood experience for many Americans. Perhaps you ate them at little league games. Maybe your Mom used to microwave them for you at lunch every day in the summer. Or you could have been one of those poor kids who ate them boiled and cut into tiny pieces because your parents didn’t trust you to chew your food without choking.
However you had them, there is something distinctly red-white-and-blue about these tubes of mystery meat. Young or old, we love our hot dogs.
Well, Atlanta has a new hot dog headquarters, and these ain’t your momma’s wieners.
Open for less than 2 months, America’s Top Dog in Chamblee serves up some serious dogs. Offering all-beef Sabrett’s, spicy red hots, or “Obama’s Favorite”, the half-smoke, this place is a hot dog lover’s dream. Granted, these aren’t the fancy pants house-made franks you can get at some of the more expensive places in town, but we all know that isn’t necessary to have a damn good dog.
The first thing that you need to decide when ordering at ATD is do you go for the do-it-yourself 35-item topping bar, or do you go for their custom loaded “regional dogs”?
While the topping bar was certainly interesting, I wanted to see what these guys could do. First up (obviously) is the Georgia dog, a spicy red hot piled high with chow chow, spicy chili, pimento cheese, and cole slaw. While the heat from the red hot isn’t noticeable, the meat is as good as I can ask for, complete with that satisfying “pop” as my teeth tear through the natural casing. Cole slaw and chili spill over my cheeks as warm pimento cheese oozes from the bottom of the deli-style roll.
Thank you ma’am, may I have another?
The Biq Q dog comes just as strong : all beef hot dog topped with chopped BBQ pork, BBQ sauce, and cole slaw. The smoky chopped pork and sweet BBQ sauce make for some seriously satisfying toppings. Though I didn’t try it myself, the Cubs dog with all of the classic Chicago-style fixin’s looked deliciously messy and it’s high on my list of dogs to try.
And as an added bonus, you can get out of there on the cheap pretty easily. They regularly run some variation of a lunch special that will get you a dog, fries, and a drink in the $4-$5 range. Tough to beat that.
Sure, they serve things other than hot dogs—burgers, for example—but you’ll have to let me know how they are, because I’m sticking to the dogs from here on out.
11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 12 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, Closed Sunday. 3352 Chamblee-Tucker Rd, Chamblee, (770) 771-3823, americastopdog.net, $
- Jon Watson writes about Popular Eats for the AJC Dining Team. He also publishes his own blog, Live To Feast
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22 comments Add your comment
Kirk
November 4th, 2010
7:49 am
Oh great, another hot dog place I’ll have to stop by. Can my stomach take it?
Foodgeek
November 4th, 2010
8:32 am
Sorry to be picky, but the online menu says that the Red Hot on the Georgia Dog is “skinless Southern style.” You must have felt that “pop” when you ate the Big Q dog, which has the natural casing. I know, it’s a teeny quibble and I shouldn’t even mention it, but someone might be disappointed if he were a natural casing aficionado. Otherwise, nice write-up. I’m seriously thinking of trying it. What unusual toppings are on the bar? 35 toppings sounds like an awful lot.
Jon Watson
November 4th, 2010
9:04 am
@Foodgeek – You raise a great point, and it has actually made me realize something. I know that I’m remembering that “pop” with the right dog, because its in my notes (yes…I take notes…dorky, I know). But that dog also didn’t have any heat on it, which a red hot should. Not just light heat, but none whatsoever.
I think that they gave me the wrong meat in my Ga. dog. It can be tough to tell under 6 inches of toppings. So maybe I should put an asterisk by that one. Either way, it was still great!
As far as the toppings bar goes, there are a lot of variations of standard toppings (multiple types of relish, salsas, mustards, ketchups etc.), as well as some not so standard toppings like fried onions and crushed potato chips.
Feel free to point things like that out in the future. Keeps my on my toes!
Frank
November 4th, 2010
9:22 am
enough with the burgers, let the hot dog trend begin. too bad it won’t take off.
Kimbo
November 4th, 2010
9:25 am
It’s funny, because I was in DC this past weekend, eating a half smoke, thinking, “God, I wish they had these in Atlanta”. Better yet, this place is right in my neighborhood.
Jenny
November 4th, 2010
9:27 am
You forgot to mention the best part—their onion rings are the BEST EVER
Jenny Turknett
November 4th, 2010
9:30 am
Good sell, Jon! A hot dog with pimiento cheese? I’m there!
Jon Watson
November 4th, 2010
9:31 am
@Jenny – I have yet to try the onion rings, but I definitely will!
Muffin
November 4th, 2010
9:36 am
They need a turkey dog!!! I’d be there all the time if they did because i live right down the street!
Jenny
November 4th, 2010
9:49 am
Was there Sat around 5 and only one guy working the counter; my friend and I had the place to ourselves. I got the philly and my friend got the chicago; we both liked our dogs, although i wish I had gotten fewer toppings so I could taste more of the dog itself. The cheese on the philly was nothing special but the bun had a nice chewy/toasty texture. But yes, the onion rings were the best part…apparently they’re made from scratch; I think the guy said they’re soaked in buttermilk. My friend got french fries and the whole meal she was stealing my onion rings because they were mind-blowingly good.
Jim H
November 4th, 2010
10:08 am
“Obams’s Favorite”? Is this a liberal dog joint?
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November 4th, 2010
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1164mgc
November 4th, 2010
11:22 am
Great review – when I saw pimento cheese and cole slaw I got kind of scared but the way you describe the dog makes me want to try it – and I’m a vegetarian! I might just try that combo on my “Not” dogs at home (with veggie chili), but I’m sure it won’t be the same! I’ll have to swing by this place to try the onion rings though….
Gelisha Taylor
November 4th, 2010
11:43 am
~America’s Top Dog~ The best darn hot dogs in Atlanta. Everyone should try it.
RK
November 4th, 2010
11:59 am
House-made dogs don’t have to be expensive — just check out the wonderful Hot Doug’s in Chicago.
PJ
November 4th, 2010
3:16 pm
Love the “gourmet” hot dog idea as one on my fav places to go is Dogma Grill in Miami. Hope the idea catches on around here & we see more of these places around town.
Jeff Brosman
November 4th, 2010
6:55 pm
Hey John …I am the owner of America’s Top Dog along with my wife. Just to let you know, the reason you thought your Georgia Dog had a natural casing that snapped was because we actually
deep fry it first (like they do in Jersey, Cleveland and other places) for a couple of minutes and then grill it so it gives that effect. We house make all the other components of the dog, including the chow chow, pimento cheese , chili and slaw. By the way we are opening a second ATD in Norcross sometime late winter or early spring and we have plans to open 7 in total primarily in NE and N Atlanta suburbs over the next 3 years. Plans are also in the works to open 5 units in Orlando. Thank You for the review…we work hard every day to give our customers a great product.
P.S. We could of gone with a spicier Red Hot, but after test marketing amongst consumers in this area, we found that the one we chose was most liked by our panel of tasters. The decision was made simply because we felt it would be the product that would be acceptable to the broadest base of customers. We are looking into adding a Veggie dog (we have a veggie burger) and a Turkey dog. We just havn’t found either that we feel meets our high standards. If you know of any please let me know.
Again, thanks
Big Jim
November 5th, 2010
10:57 pm
Okay, so the note that anything is Obama’s favorite is a turnoff, the joint is pretty cool. Had lunch there today and enjoyed it. Try the fresh fries, but don’t get anything bigger than the small order unless you have company. Note to the owners: Lose the Pepsi products. Some folks in Atlanta, including me, favor places with Coke products.
Les duLunch
November 6th, 2010
9:43 pm
Mr Brosman, I’m always happy to see restaurants open south of Atlanta, but Orlando is a little farther than I can go for a meal. Have you considered Henry, Clayton, or Fayette counties? We like good hot dogs down here, too.
Jeff Brosman
November 6th, 2010
11:02 pm
To Big Jim….we understand, Atlanta is Coke’s home turf. The reason we went with Pepsi was the 2 leading fountain sodas sold in town according to reports are believe it or not Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew ( yes even more popular than Coke) and the only way we could offer them was through Pepsi since they are the exclusive distributor in ATL. Les du Lunch we are considering opening eventually in Clayton & Fayette counties, however initially our expansion will be concentrated in DeKalb, Fulton & Gwinnett. Orlando is on the drawing boards because we have a serious investor down there, ready to committ to 5 restaurants over the next 3 years. By the way, thanks for your support!
KEAD
November 8th, 2010
2:34 pm
Sounds like one I’ll have to add to my must-visit list! Have you tried Barkers Red Hots on Windy Hill Road? I always go for one of their dogs when I’ve had a rough day at work. I <3 the chili slaw dog.
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