When someone thinks of Philadelphia, the most common association between food and the city of brotherly love is THE CHEESESTEAK. The delicious cheesesteak, so good, yet so bad for you... its gluttony on a bun, you can actually buy one of the seven deadly sins (I recommend Pat's, BTW), it's amazing.
Anyway... the point is, it would have been very easy for Hot Diggity Dog to smear some Cheez Whiz on a hot dog, throw some grilled onions on it and call it "The Philadelphia", no one would have thought twice...
But they didn't, and I applaud their atypical approach.
First, I'll just get this out of the way, Philadelphia Cream Cheese is not actually made in, or from Philadelphia. Its no more a part of Philadelphia's culture than it is a part of any other city's culture, its just cream cheese, everyone uses cream cheese equally... but, you know, its called Philadelphia Cream Cheese, so okay, I get it, it makes sense. I'm not here to split hairs.
Second, what on earth is Miller's Hot Mustard? and why has it taken me so long to find out? its awesome.
I had no idea what I was getting into with this hot dog, the "hot mustard" idea turned me off a bit because I thought it was going to burn my mouth out of my face, but I figured the cream cheese would cool down whatever heat the mustard packed, and who knows, maybe I would like it.
I loved it.
It was a big sloppy mess, that is for sure, the cream cheese softened to the consistency of frosting, and this orange sauce/glaze poured over everything. This dog should come with napkins. Maybe thats part of the "Philly experience" with this dog, to get all sloppy gross all in the name of delicious bad for you food.. I'm in.
The mustard was not exactly "hot" (thank god) it was a lot of things, but not "hot", it was tangy, kind of like a sweet and sour sauce, but with a little more bite to it, and the cream cheese just balanced all of its complexities and the whole thing just worked, remarkably well. I've learned since that Millers & cream cheese makes for a "classic hors d' oeuvres" so I guess this all makes sense, so the next time I throw a cocktail party (like the countless cocktail parties I have never thrown over the years) I know what I am stocking up on... 100 "Philadelphia" dogs... and plenty of napkins.
8.7
HOT DIGGITY DOG is located at 1325 Fruitville Pike, Lancaster PA
Miller's Hot Mustard
It's called the Philly Stoop. That way, you avoid the need for napkins.
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