I just stood 45 minutes in line for a hot dog.
As a sportswriter, I wouldn’t stand in line 45 seconds for one in a baseball stadium. At Dodger Stadium, I wouldn’t get a Dodger Dog unless there was a rain delay, which happens at Dodger Stadium once every Ice Age or so.
In Vancouver last month, however, standing in line for a hot dog became an Olympic event. Every day, thousands of people lined up on two downtown street corners for the biggest sensation to hit Vancouver since smoked salmon.
The Japadog isn’t your average hot dog. It’s an American hot dog with a Japanese twist. Can’t have a ‘dog without mustard and relish? How do you feel about seaweed? Or teriyaki? How does a big dollop of pickled cabbage grab you?
It has grabbed the rich and famous, the poor and, obviously, the hungry. Vancouver’s Japadog stands have lured the likes of Steven Seagal and Anthony Bourdain’s “Without Reservations” TV show.
Rapper Ice Cube has gone 10 times. And he’s Muslim. He doesn’t eat pork. And he’s eating hot dogs? Yes, Japadog has a turkey dog.
These are some of the Japanese touches that lured me two blocks from the Main Media Center to stand in line for nearly an hour. Last week at noon I joined about 30 other people who were either curious or addicted.
Two people told me it’s worth the wait. One said the last line he got in for Japadog was two blocks long. The line for Canada hockey game tickets wasn’t two blocks long.
What’s so hot about this hot dog? A woman in line told me she read it was one of the “1,000 Things You Must Do Before You Die.” Before I scribbled that tidbit into my notebook, her jogged memory revised it to “One of the Things to Do in Vancouver” according to Vancouver magazine.
Undeterred, I inched ever so closer toward the cart and could see the Japanese penchant for photographing food. Six hot dogs were on display, all priced $4 to $6. So many condiments covered the tube steaks they looked like eels swimming in a bloody marsh.
The way the line was moving, I was so hungry I would’ve eaten a hot dog off a stand in the middle of the Amazon. In July.
This exploding business was started by Noriki Tamura, who became inspired by reading Richard Branson’s how-to business books. What’s so Japanese about a hot dog? Well, if you follow the disgusting sport of speed eating, you’d know Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi won the hot dog eating contest six years in a row.
No one, however, should dip a Japadog into water and shove it down your throat like you’re cleaning your toilet drain. The Japadog’s secret is Tamura uses 100 percent Kurobuta pork. Known as Berkshire pork in the U.S., it comes from a black hog that has become as popular in Japan as its larcenously expensive Kobe beef.
The key is the Japadog’s ingredients. The Kobe dog was sold out so I bought the specialty, the Kurobuta Terimayo. It’s a Kurobuta sausage covered in a sweet Japanese mayonnaise, teriyaki sauce and, yes, seaweed.
As I ordered, I noticed a Japanese woman carrying her infant son on her back wrapped in a shawl as she spooned the mayo and teriyaki on each hot dog. I asked the guy behind the cart if he was the owner.
“Thank you very much!” he said enthusiastically.
“No, where is the owner?” I said.
“Thank you! Thank you very much!”
He spoke no English. I wanted to ask him what I had just ordered. It looked repulsive. The seaweed is dry so it hangs on the fresh bun like kelp. However, the combination of sweet mayo and tangy teriyaki sauce coupled with a lean pork sausage inside a fresh bun made up for any sour aftertaste from the seaweed.
Tamura is planning stands in New York and Los Angeles with no intention of stopping there. The Olympics ended here Sunday but apparently the Japadog’s Olympic torch is just beginning.
John Henderson: 304-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
