New Eats: Sonic’s “Bacon & Blue Dog”
Having moved from New York (high-quality hot dogs, minimal condiments) to North Carolina (cheap chicken/pork hot dogs - sometimes glowing red - with tons of tasty condiments), I've learned to appreciate a wide array of hot dog varieties. When Sonic rebranded their hot dogs in four different styles, I learned to appreciate another style - the "Chicago Dog". The Chicago takes regular relish, onions, and mustard, adds in spicy peppers, a huge pickle wedge, tops it with celery salt, then puts it in a poppy seed bun. I've seen this style of dog on Food Network/Travel Channel-style specials and mocked it, but I'm strangely addicted to it. Must be the poppy seeds.
Recently, Sonic has introduced two more hot dogs, likely as a limited time deal - the "Kickin' Coney" and the "Bacon & Blue Dog". The former didn't interest me much, as it's just their regular chili & cheese dog with added crispy onions (good) and barbecue sauce (why?), but the latter drew me in. Bacon. Hot dog. Joined as one.
The "Bacon & Blue Dog" is a beef hot dog (all Sonic's hot dogs are 100% beef) "covered in crisp bacon, fresh lettuce, ripe tomato and blue cheese dressing on a poppy seed bun." Part BLT, part wedge salad, part hot dog. How can you go wrong? I hit my local Sonic, grabbed a Route 44-sized cherry limeade, and got a B&BD to go along with my usual Chicago Dog.
The verdict: decent, but not spectacular. It could be the way that it was presented - blue cheese dressing on dog, then lettuce, diced tomatoes, with bacon on top. With the amount of lettuce used, the bacon was nowhere near the dog, so you usually didn't get a bite with both bacon and dog together. The flavors were good individually, but when you did get a bite together, it didn't seem to blend. It was like eating two separate things at once.
So while I wouldn't refuse one if offered, I'll stick to my Chicago Dog, and leave the chili & cheese for my tots.