Day 299 of 365 Things To Do brings us to The Slaw Dogs in Pasadena.  And… what a fun evening it’s been!  The Slaw Dogs was opened by Ray Byrne in February of last year and just celebrated their 1 year anniversary.  Prior to The Slaw Dogs, Ray worked with Il Fornaio, but per his mom Jennifer, always had a dream to go out on his own.

Ray loves food and he loves hot dogs… and he decided to put his passion into this business and based on the number of people going through his place earlier this evening and the number of raving fans, he well succeeded!

The menu is immense and can be a bit overwhelming.  Not only are there tons of unique combinations of various dogs, but you can as Mike Lawrence, one of the regulars, says “roll your own”!  In essence, build a hot dog, limited only by your imagination.

Here’s what Mike had to say and some of his suggestions:

The Slaw Dogs also has a vast selection of various drinks, ales, beer and wine.  Mexican Coke (talk about a sugar rush!) was on the menu for us and we had it with The Green Dog modified by removing PepperJack cheese and adding Sauerkraut and their special Mac & Cheese dog.  Delish!  One of the tips I learned from Mike is to order my dog wrapped in a tortilla.  It is way easier to eat and because the portions are so huge, easy to take home.  And, you can always ask them to cut your tortilla dog in half for easy eating and sharing!

We also tried the Belgian Fries which are twice fried – first time to cook the fries through and the second time for the outside crisp and their sweet potato fries.  You can order 1/2 and 1/2 to try both.  As we were getting ready to leave, Jennifer treated us to Magic Tots – sweet potato tots with 15 different flavors.  As Sasha said – “an explosion of flavors in your mouth.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Ray who was working on the 2nd Slaw Dogs to open this month in Duarte in the shopping center on the corner of Huntington Drive and Buena Vista, but I’m sure I’ll be back there soon!

Overall, a fun, friendly and delicious joint!

Lunch Specials are available Monday through Friday from 11 am to 3 pm:  $4.99 for a Vienna All Beef Dog with 3 standard toppings, Fries and a Fountain Drink.  Can’t beat that!  You can even order ahead and pick it up.

Location:
The Slaw Dogs
720 N Lake Avenue #8
Pasadena, CA 91104
(626) 808-9777

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