Day 12 of the National Hot Dog Month Tour features a trip to Yank’s Franks in Wells, Maine. Mrs Hotdogman and I stopped in at Yank’s last summer, but owners George and Janice Yankowski have made a major change AND major news since then.
The first big news is that Yank’s Franks recently won New England Cable News’ “Baby You’re the Best” award for the Best Hot Dog in New England. That’s quite a feat since the hot dog business has only been open for two full seasons!
I am sure a big part of the reason they won is the other big news they had this off season: Yank’s started using Pearl Franks in their shop!
One of the things George and Janice (whom George affectionately calls “Hot Diggity”) pride themselves on is running a clean shop with the freshest, cooked to order franks and toppings. After a number of years owning The Maine Stay Inn in Kennebunkport, they know about hospitality.
George spent a chunk of his life as a financial analyst and Janice was a math teacher for 25 years. Owning a hot dog joint was on the couples’ “bucket list,” so when they sold the inn, they explored opening Yank’s Franks.
George has strong feelings about mayonnaise on hot dogs, so after visits to Fred’s Franks and Flo’s Hot Dogs (both hot dog joints that feature mayo on their dogs), he was ready for a debate! While we agree to disagree on the mayo issue, we are both firm on our disdain for ketchup on a hot dog. We yucked it up, chatted, and got some good footage for the “dogumentary,” then it was time to order.
I ordered up a Wells Beach Dog; that’s a Pearl frank smothered in Spicy Top Dog Mustard, Grilled Sauerkraut, Sautéed Onions and resting next to a slice of Applewood-smoked bacon, and served up on a grilled bun. All I could say to that is WOW!
EVERYTHING is better with bacon, and if it’s served up on a grilled roll- it ought to be illegal for being so good. Chowing down was definitely in order!
This was one damn fine hot dog! I can see why Yank boasts “frankly, we serve the best dogs!”
Enjoy the video!
Happy National Hot Dog Month!
The National Hot Dog Month 2012 Tour is brought to you by:
AffiliateTip.com
DreamMaker Hot Dog Carts
Kodak
Onion Crunch
Pearl Meats
Yanks Franks is gone. Mamma J’s is in it’s place. Still a dog centric menu
Yeah, they sold out this season. 🙁
I’ll check out Mama J’s next time I’m up there.