Berkeley Dog
25522 Marguerite Pkwy Ste 101
Mission Viejo, CA 92692
Hot dogs and sausages have been the new food trend lately. There is the new Valhalla Table in Costa Mesa, Portillo's in Buena Park, and now we have Berkeley Dog in Mission Viejo. Berkeley Dog is the sister store to the legendary Top Dog, which has been serving Cal students since 1966. Top Dog started when a young man from New York needed help finding a good dog in northern California. So he took matters into his own hands and came up with Top Dog.
Berkeley Dog is located inside a yogurt shop in Mission Viejo. They have a straightforward menu. You can choose ten different frankfurters and sausages, all priced at $3.75. Their toppings include grilled onions, peppers, and fried eggs. Any of these added to the sausages will cost you fifty cents. They have a large assortment of condiments you may add for free. These include at least three different kinds of mustard, sauerkraut, and diced onions. So, let's look at what they have going on at Berkeley Dog.
First up in our cavalcade of sausages is the Bockwurst above. This sausage is half pork and half veal, with eggs and milk added. This had a very mellow taste, almost too mellow for me. It really did not taste like anything. This was Katie's favorite out of all the hot dogs we ate. She liked the texture and added sauerkraut and Dijon mustard to this one.
The Smoked Chicken Apple is next. This really had an unusual taste that you would not expect from a sausage. The sweetness from the bits of apple really shocked my taste buds here. I liked this one; it was the second-best out of the five that we sampled. Katie also liked this one second best, mainly because it is deficient in salt.
This is the Kobe Beef Dog. The menu says it is made from 100 percent premium beef. This dog did have a nice beefy flavor. Katie felt it was too salty, but I liked the taste of this hot dog.
The classic Frankfurter was next for us to try. We added grilled onions to this one. I liked this dog better with the onions. Both of us thought that this frankfurter really had a good snap to it, though Katie thought that it was too greasy and lacked the meaty flavor of the Kobe dog. I thought the flavor on this one was okay.
Our last stop on our adventure around Berkeley Dog is the Calabrese. This one was my favorite, made of pork, paprika, chili, and fennel. Katie thought this had way too much fennel, but I liked the spice, and this sausage made me wish I had gotten their Louisiana Hot Link. I added spicy deli mustard to this for an added kick as well.
I have yet to mention the buns at Berkeley Dog. I did not like them, and I thought they took away from the frankfurters and the sausages. The meat-to-bun ratio was all off for me. I would have just been so much happier with store-brand hot dog buns. The buns here are more of a French roll consistency, and I would have rather had softer buns. The star of this show should have been the meat, but it was overshadowed by the less talented bread.
I will probably give Berkeley Dog another shot, mainly because I want to try the Louisiana Hot Link. I will also add grilled onions to the other dogs to fill up the bun.
Out of five hippies (I am sure you get the connection), five being best to zero being worst, Berkeley Dog gets 2.5 hippies.
For more information on Berkeley Dog, click here: http://www.berkeleydogs.com/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment