Yes, I checked a bit online and the cost is prohibitive, especially when adding shipping.
Sickles may carry them as I know they have the Heritage Bacon, which is also very good. Will check later and let you know.
Steve I grew up “in the business” and have said; If the general public could work / see the going on’s in MOST common eateries they would probably never eat out again. I am NOT saying there are “gross” (some) violations, but it’s certainly not a hospital operating room back there. Also amazes me how many people consider “food safety” to mean from the stand up fridge behind the line, into the pan/oven. Truth is “kitchen handling/prep” is really the 2nd to last stop on the ride, the final stop being your table.
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Just checked and Sickles in Little Silver should have them.
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Another option in the Windmill franks. You can buy a two or three pound package I think.
100 years ago I worked as a waiter in various Borscht Belt hotels , the sight of tuna fish, egg salad & other similar things being made is the reason why I don’t eat certain things outside my own kitchen. Burned into my psyche forever .
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Not looking to go below my own"set" of standards . Max’s & Windmill certainly have a fan base. I am not one. Thanks though.
I brought some Conecuh sausage and bacon back with me from New Orleans, may have to pull some sausage out the freezer. Their bacon is fantastic as well
The grill winners (for me) are Hebrew National & Delicious Orchard , thanks to you all for your help. FYI sometime this summer I will have to grill up some Best’s
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Natural casing dogs are near impossible to find here in Charleston. I order “wieners” by the case for the freezer from Usinger’ s in Milwaukee. They’ll often offer $9.95 shipping to email subscribers.
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Having been in hundreds of commercial kitchens my main takeaway is that most are pretty clean and follow health department guidelines. I remember one in particular, Patsy’s, now closed, in Denver that I was blown away at how clean it was.
The most disgusting were some of the diners where we replaced the whole cook line. The build up of grease in some areas was repulsive.
Not a fan of outing places but take a look around the public areas in foodservice places. If the front iooks unclean, the back is probably worse.
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I really like Fork in the Road and buy them often at Whole foods. Lately I’ve also been buying hot dogs and other products from True Story, and they are great. We had BLTs with their bacon last night - excellent!
To your point if I walk into a Sushi place & it smells fishy I am gone.
Happened recently in Marlboro
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I grew up in restaurant kitchens. I could butterfly and devein shrimp before I could ride a bike.
And food safety for most restaurant owners is simply making sure the food does not fall on the floor before it reaches the customer.
If one is worried about food safety better to just eat at home and never go out.
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Exactly my friend!
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All we know is that we never had a hint of digestive distress after an Umbrella Room meal. Same for Papaya King’s similarly priced hot dogs not from a cart.
Papaya King without a doubt THE BEST hot dog in nyc. Umbrella room was just convenient. The White Castle of hot dogs.No taste but its always there.
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Not sure if they’re still as good, but a few years ago I would vote for Crif Dogs
When Costco discontinued Best’s, I was happy to find that their Kirkland beef franks taste, to me, identical to Best’s.
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Different animal IMO Papaya Kings are best when naked doesn’t need anything maybe mustard.
If one is worried about dirty water dogs, then I have a little vignette to share.
For anyone who enjoys Chinese fried rice and is a bit, um, queasy about “food safety” issues, stop reading (spoiler alert).
As a kid growing up in my parents’ Chinese fast food restaurant, I was tasked with preparing the rice for the fried rice for the next day’s service. So every night before we left, I had to make a tub of white rice and set in the fridge to cool and “dry” out for tomorrow’s fried rice that we would plate in our chafing dishes for lunch service.
Well, one night, I made the rice, but forgot to put it in the fridge to cool overnight. When we arrived that morning, aside from being scolded by my mom, I was told to figure out if the rice was useable (i.e., if it had “turned” sour). Well, even before I could get a taste of it, as I started to scoop the rice, a cauldron of cockroaches scattered out from underneath the pile of rice (no doubt keeping warm throughout the night).
Needless to say I was, um, a bit taken aback. My mom, the veteran that she was, simply kept mixing around the rice enough to ensure all the roaches were out, took a deep sniff to make sure the rice did not “turn” sour and proceeded to use it for that day’s fried rice.
Meanwhile, I was told no extra quarters for me during my lunch break to play Mortal Kombat as this was punishment.
We all carried on and to this day, no customer was the wiser. And probably better for it.
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