Japadog

In early 2012, Japadog opened its doors in the East Village, giving everyone an opportunity to try their Japanese-style hot dogs that had become so popular in Vancouver. We were excited to try their hot dogs with savory toppings like Japanese mayo, seaweed, bonito flakes and miso.

Yes, they have ice cream "hot dogs" too!

Although they're Japanese hot dogs, we planned to visit for the Canadian portion of our WorldEats challenge. Japadog started in 2005 as a street cart in Vancouver and steadily grew to multiple street carts and 1 restaurant there. It's not cheap but the hot dogs are loved and famous in Vancouver. Also, since Asian cuisine is a big part of the Vancouver eating scene, for us that made Japadog a perfect stop for our Canadian exploration.

Imported from Vancouver

Since they opened last year, we've been to Japadog twice, most recently in December. It looked like they tweaked the menu between our two visits, adjusting for things that sold well and also newly available ingredients (I think they didn't have kurobuta yet on our first visit). We went the second time because we wanted our memories of the hot dogs to be fresh for our WorldEats post, but here we are in April posting about them. Time to do it before we have to go for a third time!

The menu, last December

The Japadog menu has lots of options and it's difficult to choose between so many things that sound so tasty. On our second visit, we saw this handy flow chart that helps you pick based on how hungry you are and your other preferences.

I really love this flow chart! Everyone should do this...

The hot dog I heard most about before Japadog opened was the terimayo. On our first visit, we got the classic beef terimayo, but on our second, we opted to try the kurobuta terimayo, advertised as a top seller.

Kurobuta terimayo

The terimayo consists of the hot dog (beef/kurobuta), topped with fried onions (although they seemed more stir-fried than crispy fried), teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo and seaweed.

Terimayo cross-section

From what we remember, this was good with both the beef and the kurobuta. The combination of onions, seaweed, mayo and teriyaki sauce went well together, so we could see why it had become so popular.

The second dog we got on both trips was the okonomi, which consists of pork sausage (probably not kurobuta on our first trip), fried cabbage, Japanese special sauce and bonito flakes.

Okonomi, March 2012

It looked a little different on our two trips (the dog from our March visit above and the one from December below), but I'm pretty sure they were both the okonomi as we were drawn to the bonito flakes.

Okonomi, December 2012

The kurobuta sausage worked really well here with its richness and saltiness. We love bonito flakes and eating that on top of a hot dog was a lot of fun. Bonito flakes just add so much flavor and made this a really tasty hot dog.

Okonomi cross-section (March)

On our second visit, we opted for a third hot dog instead of fries and picked one from the "heavier" portion of the menu - the croquette dog.

Croquette hot dog

The croquette dog had Arabiki pork sausage, fried cabbage and mashed potato croquettes. That's right, potato croquettes inside a hot dog roll. Starch on top of more starch!  If you don't want potato croquettes, you could always opt for your double starch through the yakisoba dog.

Croquette dog cross-section

This hot dog was heavy. We love potato croquettes and these were good, but it was kind of like having 2 different things - a hot dog and a croquette. Not sure how well those actually went together but they were tasty separately. The cabbage was good because it added some nice crunchy vegetables, which you really need after all these hot dogs!

On our first visit, we opted for a side of fries. They were just regular thin crispy fries (a little dry), but topped with a choice of seasonings. We opted for the shichimi (basically hot pepper/togarashi) and garlic powder, which was tasty, but in the end they were just fries, so we didn't get them again. You could also get sauces on the side like ketchup and wasabi mayo.

Togarashi fries

Japadog isn't the only Asian hot dog place in New York (there's also Asiadog) and isn't the only creative hot dog place in the East Village (can't forget Crif Dogs!), so it faces a lot of competition. But the Canadian import is a nice place to stop if you're looking for a Japanese hot dog snack!

Japadog is located at 30 St. Marks Place (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) in the East Village.