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  • The sandwich of the summer is the hot dog. It always is.

    The sandwich of the summer is the hot dog. It always is.

    Several weeks ago, The Inquirer food desk deliberated on declaring a sandwich of the summer, after the New York Times designated Italian piadinas their pick for said title (a phenomenon that seems mostly confined to Brooklyn). Personally, I think the designation is pretty silly. Why?

    The hot dog is the sandwich of the summer. It always has been, but it’s especially true now.

    The Philadelphia area is a few years into a hot dog obsession that seems to grow in intensity with each passing summer — epitomized by the standing-room-only July crowds at Royal Tavern’s now-annual Dog Days of Summer hot dog bonanza, featuring chef Nic Macri’s proprietary hot dogs. (Royal sold nearly 10,000 dogs this summer; you can still try one until the end of August.)

    Hot dogs at Royal Tavern’s Dog Days of Summer special, held annually in July. (A few dogs remain on the menu in August.)Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Dogs have not only made their way onto more bar and restaurant menus — upscale and otherwise — at several places they are the backbone of the menu (see Ortlieb’s in Northern Liberties, Pip’s in Fishtown, Bad Nina’s in Germantown, the Hidden Dog in Haddonfield, and Dock Dogs in Margate). Hot dogs have become a hallmark of post-pandemic, inflation-era high-low food combos. Look no further than the hot dogs-and-fancy bubbles happy hour (Herman’s), wagyu hot dogs (Almanac), hot dog towers (Sonny’s Cocktail Joint), and rooftop hot dog fetes with oysters and caviar (Irwin’s) for evidence.

    The boom times won’t necessarily end after Labor Day, but, for many people, hot dogs have a season, and it is summer. After all, nearly half of the 100 million hot dogs made annually by Dietz and Watson, Philly’s homegrown deli meat maker, are sold between May and August, according to Lauren Eni Canseco, Dietz’s vice president of brand strategy and fourth-generation family owner.

    Food handlers packaging Black Forest Uncured Knockwurst at Dietz and Watson plant Philadelphia in 2025. Dietz and Watson produces and distributes deli meats, cheeses, and other specialty food products.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

    That the hot dog is the sandwich of the summer, here or anywhere, seems so obvious, it almost shouldn’t even need to be verbalized. It’s ballpark food, barbecue food — summer food.

    The one major hitch? The enduring, irreconcilable debate over whether a hot dog is a sandwich. This is well-tread ground among hot dog enthusiasts, a subset of civilization that is fiercely opinionated and quite vociferous.

    To give both sides of the argument equal air time, I asked several local glizzy authorities — makers, avid consumers, etc. — to weigh in. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Here’s what they said:

    Craig LaBan, Inquirer restaurant critic: Technically, yes. As much as a hoagie, or hot roast beef, cheesesteak or cutlet can be a sandwich. You put sausage on a bun and call it a sandwich. Hot dog is a sausage, so …That is not to say hot doggery is the same thing as eating a peanut butter and jelly. … and it’s true hot dogs can absolutely exist on their own — in a pot of beans or Korean Army soup, baked into a croissant, wrapped in a blanket, in which cases they are not a sandwich. So … now that I rethink it, a hot dog is NOT a sandwich, but it can become one.

    Standard hot dog with ketchup and mustard, hot dog with pepper hash, and hot dog with fish cake and pepper hash at Johnny’s Hots on Aug. 17.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

    Chris Barnes, owner of Lucky’s Last Chance: A hot dog is a hot dog! It’s unique and perfect and one of one. Anyone who says otherwise probably also likes ketchup on it.

    Jen Zavala, owner of Juana Tamale: Yes, a finger sandwich.

    Hawk Krall, illustrator and noted hot dog chronicler: I’ve always been a hard NO on this. Why?

    1. Sandwiches are commonly considered a complete meal. One hot dog is a snack. You need two or three to make a meal.
    2. Sandwiches are usually portable, packable. Something you can put in a Ziploc, bring for lunch, or save for later. This is not a pleasant or regular practice with hot dogs, they are designed to be eaten immediately.
    3. Sandwiches are usually COLD, unless advertised as a “hot sandwich.” Hot dogs are almost NEVER served cold.
    4. Hot dogs and sandwiches are best purchased from different sorts of vendors. You probably wouldn’t want a hoagie from your favorite Center City hot dog lunch cart; and you probably wouldn’t want a hot dog from your favorite Philadelphia deli (I’ve tried) — unless it was Famous 4th Street.
    5. I’ve been painting and writing about hot dogs for almost 20 years. Poring over old articles, menus, going back to the early 1900s. Very rarely, or maybe even never, have I seen a hot dog historically referred to as a sandwich.
    An assortment of classic hot dogs with mustard and ketchup writing at Ortlieb’s in Northern Liberties.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Nic Macri, chef at Royal Tavern: Considering a hot dog is a hot dog without the bun, I am going to say no. I’ll tell you what is not a hot dog — a sausage in a hot dog roll!

    Pierre Li Peters, aka @theehotdogsummer: A hot dog is not a sandwich because it’s an entirely different art form. A hot dog is a hot dog, even when it doesn’t look like the classic Nathan’s frank we all imagine. For example, a corn dog could be considered a part of the hot dog family but doesn’t really fit into the sandwich category … The beautiful thing about the hot dog community: It’s not limited in being classified as a sandwich; creativity flourishes due to unique characteristics shaped by the regions that enjoy them.

    Lauren Eni Canseco, Dietz & Watson VP: A hot dog CAN be a sandwich, but it can also be an ingredient, an entree, or a snack! If it’s a high-quality, high-protein dog, the possibilities are endless.

    Retro wall decor at Dietz & Watson pop-up store at Fifth and South Streets in 2019.JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

    Emilie Dormer, aka @glizzygirliez: In my heart, I don’t consider a hot dog a sandwich. A hot dog feels like its own category entirely. There’s something culturally distinct about it that gets lost when you simply call it a sandwich. That said, if you forced me to place it into one of the traditional food categories, I’d have to admit that yes, structurally, I guess that it probably qualifies as a sandwich. Bread, filling, handheld … the evidence is unfortunately there.

    Ralph Stollenwerk, artist and hot dog illustrator: I think a hot dog is as much of a sandwich as a hoagie. Nobody officially calls it a “hoagie sandwich,” [just] as nobody calls it a “hot dog sandwich,” but it is meat held between bread. I’m calling it a sandwich, but I would NEVER call it a sandwich in public.

    As for me, I pretty much agree with Stollenwerk. You can quibble with my headline, but the substance of the argument is undeniable: The hot dog is the sandwich of the summer, even if the “sandwich” is silent.

  • After years working behind the scenes, Royal Tavern chef Nic Macri is opening his own Center City restaurant

    After years working behind the scenes, Royal Tavern chef Nic Macri is opening his own Center City restaurant

    After decades of opening and running restaurants for other people, chef Nic Macri and operations executive Suzanne O’Brien are becoming owners themselves.

    The Royal Restaurant Group colleagues are joining cofounder Stephen Simons as partners in a still-unnamed Italian-inspired tavern planned for the former 1225 Raw space at 1225 Sansom St. in Washington Square West. It’s just steps off the 13th Street bar-restaurant cluster that includes El Vez, Prunella, Pearl & Mary, Double Knot, Vintage, Time, Barbuzzo, Darling Jack’s, and Little Gay Pub.

    The restaurant space at 1225 Sansom St. was last 1225 Raw and Sushi by Bou.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    The project remains in the design stage, with demolition expected to begin shortly. Simons said a late April 2027 opening would be the best-case scenario, though it could take about a year.

    For Macri, 41, the restaurant will be the big leap in a career that has taken him from his native Ontario to some of Philadelphia’s best-known kitchens and butcher shops. O’Brien, 58, has spent more than three decades opening and operating restaurants, including Dock Street Brewery, Cantina Los Caballitos, Royal Boucherie, and dancerobot, but has never before held an ownership stake.

    Macri, the son of Calabrian immigrants who settled in the Toronto suburbs, came to Philadelphia on a Drexel University soccer scholarship. After cooking at Osteria and Southwark, he founded La Divisa Meats, the acclaimed Reading Terminal Market butcher shop that established him as one of the city’s premier charcutiers. He joined Royal Tavern as executive chef at its 2023 reopening from the pandemic shutdown.

    The new restaurant will draw partly on Macri’s Sunday Sauce dinners at Royal, though he described the idea more broadly as “Philadelphia cooking with an Italian accent.”

    “It won’t be rooted in one particular style or region,” he said. “It’s more about the Italian diaspora than one specific place.”

    The menu will include fresh and dried pastas, house-made bread and salumi, preserved vegetables, and shareable large plates. Vegan dishes will be built around vegetables rather than meat substitutes.

    One likely signature is a house-made mortadella sandwich on ciabatta, which Macri hopes can become the restaurant’s counterpart to Royal Tavern’s burger. His charcuterie program will focus on one featured item at a time rather than a large assortment.

    “Especially if we’re making it ourselves, I want to highlight one thing and give people a chance to really enjoy it,” he said.

    The beverage program is expected to include wines by the glass, a larger selection of Italian bottles, frozen cocktails, nonalcoholic drinks, and a small beer list. Desserts will likely include tiramisu and seasonal fruit tarts or crostatas.

    Macri said the partnership offered a chance to take on more responsibility without moving away from the daily work of running a restaurant.

    “I wanted to do something slightly larger and have more involvement than I do at Royal Tavern,” he said. “This seemed like the best opportunity for me to grow.”

    He jokingly proposed calling it “Another Italian Restaurant,” an idea that did not survive.

    “I don’t think they thought it was as funny as I did,” he said.

    O’Brien brings deep operations background to the partnership. In 1991, she began waiting tables at the then-hotspot Metropolis — now the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store at 1515 Locust St. — and moved into management at the Palm and Cuba Libre before helping Simons and Frank build Royal Restaurant Group, whose holdings include Royal Sushi & Izakaya and Triangle Tavern. She is now the company’s CEO and said she would remain so.

    “I’ve opened many restaurants, but this is the first one that’s actually mine,” she said. “It’s kind of funny.”

    Macri was the deciding factor.

    “I trust Nic,” O’Brien said. “He just likes really good food. It doesn’t have to be fancy, and he doesn’t try to make things into something they’re not. We’re very aligned on that.”

    The restaurant will occupy the former 1225 Raw space and the adjoining former Sushi by Bou space, vacant since the city Revenue Department shut it down in early 2025 over tax and liquor-licensing issues surrounding the former operator, Glu Hospitality. The property extends a block to Chestnut Street, and will have about 100 indoor seats, a private dining room, and a courtyard and terrace that could accommodate about 40 more.

    O’Brien, who oversees landscaping at several Royal properties, including the seasonal PHS pop-ups, said the outdoor space and the building’s historic character would help shape the design. Ambit Architecture, which worked with Royal on dancerobot, is handling the project.

    The partners envision a restaurant priced between Royal Tavern and Royal Boucherie, with enough flexibility for a casual weeknight dinner, a date, or a family meal.

    “It’s going to be fun,” O’Brien said. “It’s the kind of place where you might come a couple of times a week, bring your mom to dinner one night, or go on a date another night.”

  • The best things we ate this week

    The best things we ate this week

    The Maddie J at the Biscuit Lady

    Two great new moves by Tara Finder at the Biscuit Lady’s Plymouth Meeting location: later hours on weekends (till 8 p.m. for dine-in or takeout) and a chicken biscuit sandwich that’s only available after 2:30 p.m.. The Maddie J is 5 ounces of crispy fried chicken juiciness, a slice of American cheese, and a swipe of house Buffalo sauce. There’s a huge crunch and a zingy kick, but keep your plate handy because the light, flaky biscuit can barely contain all that goodness. It’s the perfect late-day counterpoint to morning specialties, such as the smash burger with bacon, fried egg, and jalapeño pimento cheese (Don’t Go Bacon My Heart) and the cheesesteak riff with ribeye, Cooper sharp, egg, and onion (the Stella). The Biscuit Lady, 115 Plymouth Rd., Plymouth Meeting, 484-243-6957, visitthebiscuitlady.com

    — Michael Klein

    Three weekly specials from Royal Tavern’s July-only hot dog menu. From left: a fried Diamondback Dog wrapped in bacon with salsa and beans, an Old Bay Bomber topped with Old Bay macaroni salad and crab, and Barrel It Up The Bronx topped with onion sauce and brown mustard.Craig LaBan / Staff

    Dog Days hot dog specials at Royal Tavern

    If you grew up in a hot dog culture like I did, devouring every Coney I could find in metro Detroit, the snap of the natural casing on Royal Tavern’s bespoke wieners is a flashback revelation. The Bella Vista bar’s third annual Dog Days of Summer event is in full throttle through the end of July, and they’re not serving skinless franks — the industrial norm — here. The taut-yet-delicate resistance on these artisanal links unleashes a savory rush of meaty juice, the pureed pork-beef blend harboring a balanced soupçon of coriander, garlic, and applewood smoke.

    Royal Tavern chef Nic Macri — whose butchery chops are still intact from his charcuterie run with La Divisa at Reading Terminal Market — began Dog Days two years ago as a labor of love to boost the bar’s typical summer doldrums. He ended up selling over 5,000 dogs that first July, then 7,000 in 2025, limiting it once again to the month due to the logistical challenge of transforming his small kitchen into a temporary frankfurter factory. This year, the restaurant aims to hit 10,000. To do so, Macri has turned to Happy Valley Meats to co-pack its proprietary recipe with responsibly-raised meats.

    But the creative challenge is still considerable: Four new preparations are unveiled every Monday for five weeks, pairing different techniques (steamed, chargrilled, fried, griddled) with an array of flavor toppings. No modifications allowed. I was charmed by the Baltimore-themed picnic of a dog last week topped with Old Bay macaroni salad and a scoop of fresh crab. But the purist in me kept returning to the Bronx-inspired steamer topped with saucy onions and brown mustard that still allowed that quality link to shine. There will be new cast of dogs next week themed to the World Cup, then a final quad dog bracket to bring it home, culminating in all 24 returning July 31 to celebrate a month of memorable wiener studies. The chef insists it will then be time to return to the fall programming of burgers, smoked beef, and fish sandwiches, no matter how much I plead our case: If Macri hasn’t turned Philly into a true hot dog town by then, no one can.

    Royal Tavern, 937 Passyunk Ave., 215-389-6694, royaltavern.com

    — Craig LaBan

    Loaded fries at El Sazón R.D., 1030 N. Second St.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    Loaded fries at El Sazón R.D.

    El Sazón R.D. in Northern Liberties only serves three things: smash burgers, empanadas, and fries — all with a Dominican twist. Luckily, it does them extremely well. The smash burgers have a crisp, lacy edge and come topped with queso de freir, a fried slab of slightly salty white cheese that elevates the sandwich from just a burger into something I’d wait in line for.

    The limited menu’s true hero, however, are the loaded fries. The dish is a decadent play on salchipapas — a street food ubiquitous across Latin America that combines fries with cut-up hot dog links — that comes with cubes of queso de freir and two hefty drizzles of tangy mayo-ketchup. The franks are juicy enough that they pop in your mouth, while cubing and frying the white cheese basically renders them into delectable cheese curds. Beware, though: These fries are very heavy, a meal in and of themselves that I often have to follow up with a nap. El Sazón R.D., 1030 N. Second St., 917-920-1316, elsazon-rd.com

    — Beatrice Forman

    Gyu-don at Haha’s Kitchen, a food cart that typically parks at 471 N. Seventh St. in Spring Garden.Kiki Aranita /

    Gyu-don at Haha’s Kitchen

    When Shikoku, Japan, native Shiho Utsunomiya first came to Philadelphia in 2000 and tried a Philly cheesesteak, she exclaimed, “This is a gyu-don! Well, the meat is anyway.” Eighteen years later, she began serving a chipsteak-based gyu-don at her food truck, Haha’s Kitchen (“Haha” means “mother” in Japanese), which typically parks in Spring Garden. The $10 bowl has tremendously tender beef, laced through with sweet, slow-cooked onions and decorated with a neon pink crown of pickled ginger. Served over steamed kokuho rice, it’s decadent and filling, and perhaps one of the best lunch deals in town.

    It’s also a marvel to watch Utsunomiya doing absolutely everything in the cart, from taking orders to preparing a large menu that encompasses American lunch standards like Italian sausage and hot dogs to chicken karaage, onigiri, and of course, this magnificent gyu-don. The best part of lunch may be witnessing how her cheerful but fierce independence comes to bear in the small kitchen. Utsunomiya worked at the now-closed Hikaru in between bearing and raising children, “but it’s very difficult to have kids and work in a restaurant kitchen,” she said. You should also grab one of the $3.50 tuna mayo onigiri for later. Generously sized and lovingly made, it tastes like a Japanese mother tucked it into your lunchbox. Haha’s Kitchen, 471 N. Seventh St., instagram.com/hahas_kitchen

    — Kiki Aranita