Seattle: Dog in the park

Dog in the park is a small, unpretentious food stall nestled in to a corner of a park just around the corner from Pike's Place Market. That means it's in a primo location, surrounded by luxury names and high-end products, endless swarms of milling, often quite hungry, tourists. Like I said, it's a pretty primo spot for a place that sells food, especially at such reasonable prices (considering it's in such a high-traffic, high-end area). The food is not going to be overwhelmingly fancy; there's no foie gras to be found, no flourishing of the plate, nay, there aren't even plates. Your food is wrapped in paper and meant to be eaten, now, before it gets cold. The premise, like most street food stalls, is pretty simple: after examining the menu and deciding what you want, you tell the friendly fellow manning the grill and he'll heat it up for you, fresh, so your food is steaming hot when handed to you. A novel touch, for us, was that he sliced the weiners in half, but this is genius in that it gives you even more of those delicious crispy seared edges of sausage. Yum. I opted for the Seattle dog, because it seemed appropriate and I like cream cheese, so it was an easy choice. I don't recall what style Antho ordered, but he prefers to keep his dogs clean and simple, so it was something classic without too many additions or toppings. We were both quite happy with our choices and devoured our hot dogs in glee, hardly wasting any time on photos or erroneous conversation. You know the food is good when it gets notorious chatterbugs to quiet down and focus.    

If I remember correctly, we ended up paying about $12 for our two hotdogs. Yeah, that's a lot when you consider the hot dogs at Costco that retail for only $1.50, but tourist tax is a real thing, and this is definitely one of the more affordable options in that particular corner. When you're hungry and need something quick, hot, and delicious, this isn't the worst sausage you could find going into your mouth on a street corner... 

 

Was that too much? I know, sometimes I just can't help myself. Anyway, it was a gorgeous, albeit slightly chilly, day when we were visiting the stand. It had a pretty regular turn over in our short time of waiting and then eating, and most people seemed to get their food in short order. I imagine that at peek tourist traffic times of year there may be something of a line to wade through to get your fix, especially if they've garnered any awards recently. 

 

Seoul: Dongdaemun Street toast

Korean Street toast is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Warm, sweet, eggy, crispy, toasty...it's all the things you need to cozy up and face the cold mornings, or to soak up any residual soju that might still be lingering in your well-partied belly. Whatever the case, I miss it dearly and look forward to recreating it for Antho and I at some point...until then I can reminisce about the butter-scented clouds drifting off the hot grill as the auntie's skilled hands grease, fry, flip, and toast away. There's a lot of options for customizing your toastie, too, whether you like ham or hamburger! I'd always opt for a coffee with my meal, because caffeine is crucial to my functioning like a semi-cogent human being many mornings. We've all got our vices, and coffee is at least a well-accepted and highly-accessible vice to have in Seoul. Coffee shops are practically everywhere- inside train stations, on busy street corners, nearly anywhere you can tuck a tiny business into. I mean, look at the vast floor plan these women had to work with!

That's it. That's right folks, that photo above comprises the entire floorplan of their restaurant. When you're in an area as densely packed and busy as Dongdaemun, in a city with land-constraints like Seoul, who's mountainous peaks not only prevent invasion but limit expansion, space becomes a premium. I was surprised to learn from friends who'd been living in Seoul that you can find reasonably affordable accommodations, as I'd expected rent to be quite high as it is in/near Tokyo. Businesses, of course, have to pay their share of rent and I'm sure it's pretty high in these corners, but people make do. And they make seriously tasty food out of these tiny, micro-kitchens. It's really no wonder I'm so enamored with the concept of minimalism and tiny-house living after seeing the incredible and ingenious methods people use to optimize even these little corners of the inner city for maximum practicality. With an item like this street toast, which is quite simple in concept but offers multiple means for customization, they're able to really hone in and do what they do best with a simple menu.

And believe me, that toast? SO GOOD!

More photos below...