Hofmann Hots is the hotdog restaurant that opened in Trinity Groves early this year. Phil Romano and partners built the 1950s-style diner on Singleton after buying their supplier, Syracuse, N.J.-based Hofmann Sausage Co., which has been around since 1879.
The wiener jokes are a challenge, and they are everywhere inside Hofmann Hots. “Grab your wiener here!” announces a sign at the pick-up window, for example.
If you can ignore the third-grade humor then, the hotdogs. The hotdogs are good.
The first one that caught my eye, the Himalayan dog, is the one I ordered. It comes with onion chutney, toasted curry aioli and fried onion straws. That’s right, a hotdog with curried mayonnaise. It tasted amazing.
The menu includes a plain dog and chili dog as well as a raft of specialties. Those include the sweet and smokey dog, with maple glaze, smoked gouda pimento spread and bacon. Diners can choose a German frank or kielbasa, and all of the dogs are served on buttery split-top buns. Everything on the menu costs less than $6.
Hofmann also serves beer and Dublin Bottling Works soft drinks. There also is a burger dog and a bologna dog, which we must try next time because low-brow gourmet is irresistible, and so is Hofmann Hots.
