The Dish: Hot dogs are on the menu at Baltimore’s buzziest bars

Customers who wander into NeatFreak, Fells Point’s newest cocktail bar, can order a martini however they like it: with vodka or gin, dirty or “le freak,” made with Hpnotiq liqueur. There’s even a non-alcoholic martini made with zero-proof gin.

But when it comes to sustenance, there’s only one real option: a $5 Sabrett hot dog with a ribbon of Plochman’s mustard on top, served in a Martin’s bun and tucked inside a silver dish.

To veteran bartender Matt Steinberg, the owner and operator of NeatFreak, a dog is the perfect complement for a bold and bitter beverage like a Negroni. Just as beer goes with pizza, he said, cocktails pair well with frankfurters.

“You can’t take an extravagant dish and pair it with a cocktail that’s also extravagant — that’s just way too many flavors,” Steinberg said.

More and more, local tastemakers would seem to agree. At many of Baltimore’s newest and buzziest cocktail bars, swanky lounges or shabby chic dives, hot dogs — and often hot dogs alone — are on the menu.

At the $1 million Werewolves Welcome in Old Goucher, they’re plumped in a vintage hot dog steamer, a nod to Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. At artsy Vision House, they’re served with an array of toppings, courtesy of a pitmaster who calls himself Mr. Roast Beast. When Magoobys eventually opens its intimate comedy club in Hampden, hot dogs will be on the menu.

It doesn’t hurt that the dish is pre-cooked and practically foolproof to prepare. At NeatFreak, which opens at noon, Steinberg uses a hot dog roller like the kind you might see at 7-Eleven. “It’s such a speedy thing,” he said.

Ex-chef Casey Jarvis was ahead of the trend when he began slinging hot dogs at various bars around the city from a metal pushcart. Today, the Glizzy’s Wagyu Dogs owner runs the kitchen at No Land Beyond, a board game bar located inside a former funeral parlor, and still pops up at bars and events around town.

Jarvis said a big part of the appeal of hot dogs is that they fit in anywhere — he has catered everything from weddings to bluegrass jams to fundraisers.

But they might fit in at bars best of all. In the 1970s, many bars and taverns served hot dogs along with bags of chips, said Randy Coffren, whose Snake Hill Sausage Grill opened in 2015. Generations of Baltimore bargoers might have stopped at a place like Polock Johnny’s or G&A Restaurant — neither of which remain within city limits — during a night out. Modern drinkers who want to check out an authentic Baltimore-style hot dog, which comes wrapped in fried bologna, can swing by the Attman’s sports bar in Harbor Point.

For Steinberg, though, it all comes back to baseball. “We all love hot dogs because it all reminds us of going to Camden Yards,” he said.

But he thinks the hot dog-and-a-cocktail trend is making the rounds in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, too. “Any kind of city that has a strong cocktail scene is gonna have all these bartenders at night wanting hot dogs and shots of Fernet Branca.”

Steinberg’s choice of Sabrett’s as a hot dog brand was a tribute to his dad, Paul, who grew up in Coney Island and was on hand at NeatFreak last week helping his son. “In New York City, all the hot dog stands you see all over, they’re all Sabrett’s,” Steinberg said. NeatFreak also offers vegan versions made by Impossible.

Mustard seemed to Steinberg to be the only natural condiment, despite that he once ran a ketchup company in Baltimore. “I like to streamline as much as possible,” he said. He chose the brand, Plochman’s, after the nearly 175-year-old, Illinois-based company shipped him 30 different varieties for free.

At NeatFreak, which takes the place of the former Greyhound Tavern and Canton Liquor House before that, humble hot dogs fit right in with an aesthetic that feels thoughtfully vintage without being precious. An illuminated display case houses bottles of liquor Steinberg has collected throughout his life, including a local bottle of rye distilled in Baltimore in the 1930s.

“I think that’s really a big part of this trend,” Steinberg said. “You can drink well in an unpretentious setting and have a nice snack.”

At some point, though, Steinberg plans to branch out beyond the hot dog by offering one of Baltimore’s other favorite meals: crab cakes.