10 Most Expensive Hot Dogs In America
The hot dog is a quintessentially American food, and whether you call it a red hot, a frankfurter, a wiener, or anything else for that matter, there's no denying their popularity Stateside. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) — yes, that's a real thing — Americans consume about 23 billion hot dogs per year. That equates to about 70 hot dogs per American per year.
With so many hot dogs consumed across the country, variety has become the name of the game. Many major cities and regions have developed their unique take on this classic food item, and great hot dogs can be found in every state. Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the hot dog dishes dreamed up across the country carry a hefty price tag. While most Americans are used to paying $3 to $6 for a hot dog, you'll have to really ante up if you want to scarf down some of the priciest dogs in the land. So without further ado, here are the 10 of the most expensive hot dogs you can eat across America.
$15 Eastie Dog at The Quiet Few, Boston
Boston may be known for lobster rolls, baked beans, and cannolis, but there's another edible delight to try in Beantown — the $15 Eastie Dog from The Quiet Few, an East Boston whisky bar just across the river from the North End. This quarter-pound, jumbo Pearl dog is braised in beer and smothered with jalapeño relish, hot mustard, "everything" spice, and Cheez Whiz. It is then topped with crispy onion strings and delivered in a torpedo roll.
If you're really hungry and have got $55 burning a hole in your pocket, opt for The Big Papi – named for Red Sox legend, David Ortiz. This combo meal consists of two Simple Dogs (the restaurant's more affordable $8 dog), an ounce of EBO caviar, chips, and French onion dip. This meal also comes with a pitcher of Narragansett to wash everything down, and for the truly affluent there is The Kelly Rowland which replaces the 'Gansett with a bottle of Cava and costs $95.
$17.50 hot dog at Charlie's Sports Bar, Las Vegas
One of the most expensive dogs in Las Vegas can be found at Charlie's Sports Bar at the Wynn Resort and Casino. This build-your-own, $17.50 Chicago-style beef hot dog keeps it simple, with ketchup, mustard, relish, and sauerkraut available as toppings. For the price you might expect some fancier toppings, but that's it. Charlie's used to offer an $18.50 Korean-style dog, an all-beef red hot covered in mozzarella cheese and crinkle potato crust, but that's since been discontinued.
Charlie's $17.50 Chicago-style dog has met mixed reviews. One TripAdvisor reviewer said "My spouse had the hot dog and said it was delicious," while another customer went even further, saying, "We tried the posh hot dog, superb." That said, not all Charlie's patrons were thrilled with this expensive but simple dog. One Yelp reviewer said, "Philly Cheesesteak was good! Hot Dog and Nachos were a miss," while another complained, "My husband had the Chicago dog which was also mediocre. Chicago dogs are his favorite food and it was subpar and served on a normal, white junky bread hot dog roll."
$18 hot dog at Bar Pendry, Chicago
Pendry Chicago, a boutique hotel on the city's Magnificent Mile, offers an $18, luxed-up Chicago beef frankfurter at Bar Pendry, one of the hotel's dining spots. This Windy City dog comes cocooned in a Japanese milk bun and topped with truffle gouda fondue, pickled green tomato, and truffle mustard aioli, along with fries.
Pendry's $18 dog isn't cheap, but it pales in comparison to a high-flying hot dog that Bar Pendry offered for a limited time — an extravagant, $187 wiener celebrating Chicago's 187th birthday. This luxurious hot dog was only available for the first few days of March 2024, but it made quite the impression. Deep-pocketed diners were able to enjoy a French-style boudin blanc sausage served in a poppy seed bun, covered in granulated black truffle mustard, porcini rye crumble, and seared foie gras. It was served with an Old Fashioned concocted out of Makers Mark Cellar Aged Bourbon, Macallan 12-year-old Single Malt Scotch, Luxardo cherries, and dusted with gold flakes for good measure.
Were either of Bar Pendry's dogs reminiscent of a quintessential Chicago hot dog? Hardly. A Chicago-style hot dog is an all-beef frank topped with green relish, yellow mustard, pickle, sport peppers, chopped onion, tomato slices, and sprinkled with celery salt on a poppy seed bun ... and you can bet that most of these won't set you back $18.
$18 Kobe Dog at The Mission, Phoenix
Sonoran hot dogs — originating from Hermosillo, Mexico — can usually be found for about $4, which makes The Mission's $18 Kobe Dog an expensive lunch if slumming it in Phoenix, Arizona. This meal consists of an Australian wagyu beef hot dog wrapped in applewood smoked bacon and tucked into a brioche bun. It's topped with red onions, green chile pintos, and Ají Rocoto — a type of Peruvian chili pepper. The Kobe Dog is then drizzled with Cotija crema, but it doesn't come with any sides. An optional $2 fried egg can be added to the Kobe Dog if the idea of a hot dog lunch costing $20 is somehow more appealing.
According to a review on AZCentral, the Mission's Kobe Dog is a laudable, expensive take on the traditional Sonoran hot dog, which is very popular in Arizona and the Southwest. That desert classic is one loaded weenie — a Sonoran dog is wrapped in bacon and doused in mustard, mayo, relish, and tomatillo salsa. For good measure, it is then topped with grilled onions, green peppers, chopped tomatoes, pinto beans, and shredded cheese.
$20 Katz Dog at Kings of Kobe, New York City
The $20 Katz Dog at Kings of Kobe in New York City is an ode to the legendary Katz's Deli, an old-school New York deli known for its pastrami sandwiches and famously cantankerous service. The Kings of Kobe Katz Dog is actually hot wagyu pastrami, topped with sauerkraut and brown mustard. All the hot dogs sold at Kings of Kobe are made from natural, all-American wagyu beef, and the prices range from $17 up to $20 for the Katz Dog. The $17 Mango? Let's Tango dog is slathered with mango jalapeño relish, lime mayo, and topped with crispy onions and bacon bits. The $18 Frydom Fighter is a bacon-wrapped fried hot dog topped with crispy onions and royal fry sauce.
Kings of Kobe has made its mark on the New York hot dog scene since opening in 2017 and has found its way onto many of the best Big Apple hot dog lists, including our list of the 13 best places to get a hot dog in New York City. This is a dog that seems to be well worth its money, with one reviewer on TripAdvisor confidently stating that Kings of Kobe offers the, "best burger and hot dogs in town."
$21.95 Chili Cheese Footlong at Serendipity 3, New York City
Serendipity 3 is an old-school-style, Instagrammable spot in New York City known for its sugary treats, such as the Frozen Hot Chocolate. That said, if the urge for meat sweats accompanies a craving to satisfy your sweet tooth, this is the place to do both. Serendipity 3 offers some of the most expensive footlong hot dogs in the Big Apple, with the $21.95 Chili Cheese Footlong, a dog covered in cheese sauce, cheddar jack cheese, Tex-Mex chili, and onion leading the way.
That's not the only pricey hot dog on Serendipity 3's menu. They also offer a $20.95 Bacon & Cheese footlong, which comes topped with bacon bits, cheese sauce, and Colby jack cheese. The most "affordable" hot dog at Serendipity 3 — if you can call it that — is the $18.95 Classic footlong, drizzled with Gulden's mustard. The hot dogs offered by Serendipity 3 seem to have been met with mixed reviews from customers with one Yelp reviewer saying, "The hot dog was the worst I've had," while another commented, "The footlong hot dog was very good."
$25 hot dog at Bar Coucou, Los Angeles
For $25, the country's fourth most expensive hot dog (technically a pork sausage, but you didn't hear that from us) can be found at Los Angeles' Bar Coucou, an upscale cocktail bar in Venice. "L'Haute Dog," as it's known, is a Peads & Barnetts pork sausage coated with cheese fondue and French onion marmalade. This swanky sausage comes with spicy mustard and pepperoncini, too.
Bar Coucou's L'Haute Dog has generated plenty of buzz, but it hasn't gone over particularly well with customers. One reviewer on Yelp said this pricey dog "... was just bad. Big soggy bun. Sausage drained in cheesy sauce, the sausage blob could have been anything." Another reviewer wrote that this $25 burger "... tasted something like you could make yourself at Trader Joe's for $10." Yikes.
So, is Bar Coucou's extravagant hot dog the Los Angeles standard? According to PBS, it's a no. They reported that the standard Los Angeles hot dog typically consists of a bacon-wrapped, all-beef dog topped with jalapeños, onions, and peppers. As for the most iconic Los Angeles hot dog? That's got to be the chili dog (topped with mustard, chili, and onions) at Pink's, a Los Angeles institution that's been slingin' red hots since 1939. The best news is that Pink's chili dog costs just $6.95, more than $18 cheaper than Bar Coucou's offering.
$25.99 Bloody Mary Dawg at Gordon Ramsay Burger, Las Vegas
The third-most expensive hot dog in the country — and the most expensive dog in Las Vegas — is the $25.99 Bloody Mary Dawg, found at Gordon Ramsay Burger. The Bloody Mary Dawg is a footlong dog wrapped in bacon ... just in case the footlong sausage isn't enough meat for the carnivorous crowd. This dawg is covered with bloody mary ketchup and relish and then topped with crispy onions. One OpenTable reviewer raved about the Bloody Mary Dawg's taste and looks, saying "The Bloody Mary dawg was delicious but its presentation is worth the price alone."
If Ramsey's Bloody Mary Dawg is a bit too rich, there is a less-expensive (but still expensive) Ramsey alternative — the Straight Up Dawg, costing $23.99. This hot dog option is the more standard option — although there is nothing standard about a $23.99 hot dog — consisting of a footlong hot dog covered in ketchup, mustard, onions, and dill pickles. Straight up it may be, but that doesn't mean the Straight Up Dawg is lacking in the flavor department — one OpenTable reviewer called Ramsay's basic hot dog "... to die for," while another said, "you can't go wrong with the Straight Up Dawg."
$27.50 Boomstick Dog at Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that goes for the hot dogs too — this nearly $28 dog sold at Globe Life Field (home of the Texas Rangers) in Arlington, Texas puts a new (and expensive) twist on the ballpark frank. Available since 2015, the Boomstick Dog is a 2-pound, all-beef tip-of-the-cap to former Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz, who played for the team from 2006 to 2013 and whose bat was nicknamed the Boomstick.
This 2-pound hot diggity dinger comes covered in chili, melted cheese, caramelized onions, and jalapeño peppers. According to one baseball reporter who tried this Texas-sized monstrosity at the 2020 World Series, the Boomstick Dog reportedly weighs a whopping 3 pounds with all the fixings. Since the start of the 2023 season, the Boomstick Dog has been accompanied by a cousin — the $34 Boomstick Burger. This 2-foot-long Nolan Ryan hamburger patty is topped with chili, nacho cheese, jalapeños, and crisp onion rings. It is meant to serve 4 people ... or just one person, if they're really hungry.
The Boomstick Dog hews faithfully close to what is known as a traditional Texas hot dog. According to the NHDSC, a traditional "Texas dog" is an all-beef frankfurter doused in chili, nacho cheese, and jalapeños, but it is much smaller than the Boomstick Dog and it definitely won't cost you $27.50.
$29 hot dog at Mischa, New York City
The $29 pork-and-brisket hybrid hot dog at Mischa, a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City, is currently the most expensive hot dog on sale in the United States. This upscale New York City spot spruces up the simple hot dog into a thing of bourgeois beauty and taste. Measuring 9 inches long and weighing 80 ounces, the Mischa hot dog is made in-house and is a dry-aged combination of pork and brisket, housed in a natural hog casing. The Mischa dog is served on a potato bun and accompanied by yellow mustard, green pickle relish, kimchi, chili crisp, and pimento cheese. It is warmed in beef fat and mixed with mashed potato flakes for a one-of-a-kind taste and texture.
If you think Mischa's $29 hot dog is deliciously crazy, you aren't the only one to think so. In a review of this swanky hot dog, the New York Times referred to it as "obnoxious ... also lovable." The review praised the Mischa dog's smokiness and notes of garlic, calling it a "lowbrow-highbrow stunt ... got to be the greatest sausage in a bun in the city."
How does the $29 Mischa hot dog differ from a classic New York-style wiener? Significantly so. New York hot dogs are typically known for their simplicity. The common hot dog snapped up from city street vendors is an all-beef hot dog topped with spicy brown mustard and either tomato paste-slathered grilled onions or sauerkraut.