On a fine spring day, I motored down to Bellingham, Massachusetts to visit one of the best and most interesting hot dog joints around- Larry Joe’s New England Fire Pit.
The last time I was here was the day after a hurricane last fall. Today’s trip featured much nicer weather.
Larry Joe is quite a character and he loves his work. I shot over two hours of video and will have four videos of my visit, the first one is embedded at the bottom of this post.
Larry Joe’s New England Fire Pit is located in the parking lot of Larry’s Package Store (that’s a liquor store to you non Bostonian readers) at 246 North Main Street (route 126) in Bellingham, MA.
The Fire Pit is a custom built Pace American trailer with a huge steam table, hot and cold running water, and a wood burning barbecue pit.
He even has a piano on board (there will be some video of THAT forthcoming).
It only took a few minutes for Larry to open for business- he starts his hickory wood fueled fire and propane fuels steam wells before he motors to his spot, so all he has to do is hang out his sign and start cooking hot dogs.
Larry Joe’s is open 11 AM to 5 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. He has a “soft close” meaning that if they’re still lined up at 5 PM, he’ll keep serving dogs.
The menu is simple: Hot Dogs and Soda.
Only Pearl brand franks are sold. He grills up a HALF POUND hot dog, regular style or extra hot Caribbean spiced hot dogs. The Caribbean dogs are made special for the Fire Pit by Pearl and they are VERY hot.
All dogs are served on fresh baked bread.
The condiments are: Larry’s special mustard blend, onions, meat chili, hickory/pineapple barbecue sauce, a cranberry walnut relish, tomato salsa, and a spicy pepper relish. All toppings are home made by Larry.
Each dog marinates in a special sauce before it gets grilled over the hickory wood fire. Larry continuously bastes each dog as it cooks.
Then he dresses them up…
and serves them. I had chili, barbecue sauce and onions on mine.
Time to CHOW DOWN!
Two thumbs WAY UP! These dogs are ridiculously good.
Check out the video, and when you stop by, tell Larry “the Hotdogman sent me.”
Where is the photo of that brave soul that ordered the fire dog with hot pepper salad on it ?????
Great Dogs! Larry is quite a character, played his keyboard while my dog was roasting. It was a meal and a show all in one. Very nice guy, definitely worth the trip!
Where did he go I drive by almost every day and nothing I hope nothing bad happened I would hate to have to never eat one of those dogs again they are soooo delicious.
He had a fire and will be back in a few weeks- Hot Dog Stories will be there for the grand re-opening!