New York hot dog purveyors, you are letting us down. How in the world can a place in Arkansas be selling a hot dog more expensive than any available in the five boroughs? We are a city of $52-per-pound smoked salmon, $18-for-two soup dumplings, and $1,000 sundaes. Somebody here bought a freaking $689 t-shirt of bad graffiti last week and yet we can't manage a hot dog that costs a couple grand? more ›

So, the alleged Long Island "Hot Dog Hooker" was in court yesterday and she pleaded guilty to... prostitution. Catherine Scalia admitted that she agreed to serve up some pleasure after an undercover cop paid $50 for a hot dog, but then outside the courthouse, she told reporters, "Prostitution is sex. I’m not selling sex, I’m selling my cleavage." Confused? Yes, we are, too. more ›

Can you believe that someone selling hot dogs out of an RV on the side of the highway is less than scrupulous? the Post reports that Nassau County police arrested 45-year-old Catherine Scalia after she offered to perform sex acts on an undercover cop who bought two of her hot dogs. CBS calls the arrest "shocking," but a real bombshell would be finding a successful hot dog vender who uses a Winnebago and just sells hot dogs. more ›

Fans of hot dogs, Canadians and Japanese food will want to head down to St. Mark's Place pronto: Japadog has landed. The hyped Vancouver transplant opened its doors last night to hungry folks looking to indulge in the kind of hot dogs you just won't get at Gray's Papaya. Like the Terimayo, a hot dog topped with teriyaki sauce, mayo and seaweed. more ›

Actor James Marsden has made a career out of portraying the "Ralph Bellamy" role, as the guy who every leading lady dumps or treats as second banana: he was dumped by Rachel McAdams in The Notebook, he was jilted by Amy Adams in Enchanted, he was forced to raise Superman's kid in Superman Returns, and even as Cyclops, he was a background player in his featured love triangle with Jean Grey and Wolverine in the original X-Men trilogy (though we have been told that he did get Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses). But at least he has one thing to fall back on: he sings ok! more ›

Dirty water dogs, once the stalwart of street dining in this fine city, are being pushed out by hordes of fussy, health-conscious eaters who wrinkle their noses at the prospect of a mysterious tube of emulsified meat. What's taking their place? Organic, grass-fed, sustainably raised, locally sourced, non-genetically modified, nitrate-free, free range tubes of emulsified meat, of course! more ›

Before you start bragging to your friends about how you got the last package of Organic Purified Nitrate-Free Low Sodium Fair Trade Meat-That-Holds-A-PhD-In-International-Relations hot dogs at the bodega for the 4th, your cookout bonafides may just be a bunch of bull. Hot dog manufacturers are claiming that the USDA's rules for hot dog packaging that disclose whether or not the dogs contain nitrate or nitrite—preservatives that have been linked to colorectal cancer—are confusing and downright deceptive. Does this mean new gross labels for hot dogs too? more ›

When we heard that Snap, a new hotdog-centric food truck promising Chicago-style dogs was setting up shop here in New York, we must admit we were a bit skeptical. Both cities take their dogs very seriously—Chicagoans preferring all-beef sausages (typically Vienna) loaded into a poppyseed bun, topped with mustard, onions, tomato, a pickle spear, sweet relish, sport peppers and celery salt; and New Yorkers holding a deep and abiding love for Gray's Papaya-style dogs (usually Sabrett's) with kraut, mustard and onions. more ›

At first, this video will probably tug on your heartstrings, and you may very well be filled with a hollow sadness, for the subway rider seen here does not seem to have all her wits about her (the videographer speculates she's on heroin), and she's dressed like Charlie Brown. But then, after about 20 seconds, the scene shifts from sad to mesmerizing and then something else entirely—an ode to the resiliency of the human spirit. All those fights about whether eating on the subway should be illegal become moot—this video is, above all things, a celebration of the five second rule. (And at least she wasn't licking her shoe.) more ›

When Hot Dog enthusiast Takeru Kobayashi was not allowed to participate in last summer's Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest due to a contract dispute, he stormed the stage in a bizarre protest and ended up spending a night in jail. After that long night's journey into day, it seems he's decided to temporarily abandon the processed meat which he so dearly loves in favor of a different greasy treat: pizza. Kobayashi plans to eat a 12-inch pie on Saturday in Brooklyn, to try to break the world record, which was set in New Zealand in 2008 and stands at 1 minute, 45 seconds. Kobayashi previously beat his arch-nemesis Joey Chestnut in a pizza eating contest in 2009. more ›

Every since city mainstays Gray's Papaya raised their "Recession Special" to $4.45, we've been more inclined to indulge in 99 cent slices for our cheap meals. But the Gray's location on 8th Avenue and 37th Street is drawing the cheapskates back. Midtown Lunch confirms that outpost is now offering dogs for 50 cents each. Just in time to outdo Papaya King during their grand reopening. The counter clerk "wouldn’t say how long the deal would last," but one Yelper commented yesterday, "Right now, there is a 2 hot dogs and small drink deal for $2.50. A single hot dog alone is 50cents. Yea crazy midtown recession special!" more ›

Nathan Handwerker and his wife opened their now famous hot dog stand on Coney Island in 1916, but their annual hot dog eating contest did not begin that year—even if legend may tell you otherwise. more ›

Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is fresh out of jail after being charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct at this year's Nathan's Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. While he usually finds himself behind a stack of hot dogs at the annual event, this year he refused to bend to Major League Eating's contract and wasn't allowed to compete. Instead, the "Tsunami" showed up and stormed the stage. more ›

It's July 4th, on which we celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence (transcript) and the colonies' independence from Great Britain in 1776. And here's that famous opening:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. more ›

Earlier this week we learned that this year's Nathan's Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest would be lacking in both vuvuzelas and Takeru Kobayashi, meaning Joey Chestnut is a shoe-in for winning the competitive eating contest (this would be his fourth consecutive title). But why no Kobayashi? Early rumors mentioned a problem in contract negotiations, and now the Daily News reports on the finer details. more ›

This week, semi-professional roaster Rep. Anthony Weiner issued a report lambasting gold-retailer Goldline International and Glenn Beck for colluding to use fear mongering tactics to bilk investors. Always one to rise to the occasion for a bare-knuckled intellectual battle, Beck responded by creating the website "Weinerfacts.com", mixing attacks on Rep. Weiner with pictures of hot dogs. more ›

According to actor Sam Rockwell, currently starring on Broadway with Christopher Walken, "we all do impersonations of Chris these days, every actor has a Chris Walken impersonation." And in this week's New Yorker, it sounds as if Walken doesn't really get all of that. more ›

Since Mayor Bloomberg was robbed of his chance to engage in Weiner Wars this election year, he's settling for the next best thing—the Wars! Yesterday on his weekly radio show, Bloomberg was asked about the recent crackdown of illegal vendors outside the Met. Since it was reported that veteran Dan Rossi was taking advantage of a 19th Century law that allowed vets to vend without paying, more veteran have been making their way to Fifth Ave, many employed by vendors who use them to beat the law and allow them to sit idly nearby. The mayor said, "They hire a vet to stand there and [he] has nothing to do with [it]. That's as much fraud [as] minority and women-owned businesses where you just hire somebody that's a minority or woman and say, 'Oh, you're the name person.'" As for Pasang Sherpa, after being evicted from his $600K lease to vend at the Met, Rossi hired him to man his stand after seeing Sherpa crying on the Met stairs. Now Sherpa simply joined in on the "rent-a-vet" system, paying disabled Leo Morris Jr. $100 a day to nap in his car near Sherpa's new cart. more ›

The "Wiener Wars" taking place outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art may have sparked a debate over just how much money food cart vendors rake in, but one thing seemed agreed upon—Met vendor Dan Rossi was raking in the dough. Well not any more, the city says. A loophole for veterans allowed Rossi to park his cart in the high profile spot without having to (frank) foot the bill of $600k in rent paid to the city by Pasang Sherpa. But now the Vietnam Vet tells the Post that the city has declared the strip along Fifth Avenue "a street," meaning that his special privileges no longer fly there. Nonetheless Rossi tells the paper that he "would be back [today], even if it means getting arrested." He also tells them that he is the only veteran who owns his cart, but that other carts utilized the exception by hiring vets to man their stands. More concerning to us: if Rossi gets tossed, where will the recently evicted, overbidding Sherpa turn now?? more ›

In December, the backyard at quintessential Hell's Kitchen dive bar Rudy's was closed down as the ownership started building a proper fire exit to comply with safety regulations. The proper work permits were obtained, but soon bar owners' received a stop-work order, and were told that a "routine audit" of the work had begun. That was seven months ago, and they still haven't been able to make the changes. Now rumor has it that the lost revenue from the backyard has put Rudy's future in jeopardy. A New York City without Rudy's is simply unthinkable—as unthinkable as a city without CBGB, Siberia, the Cheyenne Diner, Chumley's, the Alphabet City Toy Tower, or, uh, Casbar. It's unclear how dire Rudy's status is, but let's not take any chances: bar workers have started a petition, online here, demanding that city officials from the commissioner of buildings on up to Mayor Bloomberg help expedite the stalled process so Rudy's can reopen the backyard. [L Mag via Eater] more ›

Yesterday the top dogs of competitive eating faced off at the scales. Reigning champ Joey Chestnut and six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi were weighed in prior to their annual July 4th Nathan't Hot Dog showdown tomorrow. Chestnut, 25, came in at 218 lbs, to his 31-year-old competitor's 132 lbs. The two have faced off four times, with each taking home the belt twice, so this year will be a tie-breaker. Chestnut currently holds the world record, with his 2007 performance of eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes more ›

That under-construction restaurant on Bergen Street in Brooklyn rumored earlier this week to be the long-awaited Shake Shack Brooklyn location will in fact open as a restaurant called Bark Hot Dogs sometime next month. At the heart of the project is a sustainable approach to fast food, featuring (you guessed it) hot dogs and condiments made in small batches from local, seasonal produce, like hot pepper relish and sweet and sour onions. more ›

Partly in order to commemorate the city's controversial reconfiguration of Times Square into a 58,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza, the 1949 Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra 1949 Technicolor romp On the Town (pictured; more) will be screened outside for free on Monday at 12 p.m., on Broadway at 47th Street. It's also the last day of Fleet Week, and because of this—but perhaps secretly because one needs a really compelling incentive to hang out in Times Square on Memorial Day at noon on the last day of Fleet Week, traffic or not—the folks from Virgil’s Real Barbecue, who are celebrating their fifteen anniversary this year, will hand out free samples of their Memphis-style ribs directly in front of in front of Times Square Information Center (7th Ave btw. 46th and 47th). All of this will go down between noon and 2 p.m., or until the ribs run out. Also on Monday, starting at 11 a.m., Hebrew National Beef Franks will be handing out 45,000 free hot dogs (and another 30,000 coupons) on the corner on 45th and Broadway. They'll also have mustard. more ›

Last night the 2nd episode of Top Chef New York aired, beginning with an oh-so-NY-themed Quick Fire challenge: Hot Dogs! After Padma declares that New Yorkers spend $100M a year consuming the "dish," the cheftestants were put up against the Top Dog (heh) in New York, Angelina D'Angelo (from Dominick's hot dog truck in Queens) and had 45 minutes to cook up their own recipes (which season 4 cast-off Spike says is enough time "to build a cart"). more ›

First the national debt clock runs out of placeholder digits, and now the price of two hot dogs and a drink from Gray’s Papaya—their legendary ‘Recession Special’—is increasing five whole cents short of a buck, from $3.50 to $4.45. On the subject of the price hike that he'd warned the world about last February, 72-year-old founder Nicholas Gray tells the Times, “It’s always very traumatic for me as well as the customers.” more ›

Today the Times takes a long, hard look at Jay Dines, an upstate farmer who was banished from the city’s Greenmarkets only to get thrown out of the Brooklyn Flea as well. Inspectors from the Greenmarket – who visit vendors’ farms to verify they’re personally growing or making everything they sell at the markets – have accused Dines of making his all-beef hot dogs and bacon from animals obtained elsewhere. Dines says he’s just “trying to keep from losing the farm,” but the reporter totally catches him in a lie about his hot dogs. more ›

If you're staying in town this weekend and still don't have plans for the 4th, it's not too late to catch the spirit of '76; there are plenty of barbecue options within the five boroughs, whatever your budget or neighborhood. All the events below take place tomorrow, July 4th, unless otherwise specified. more ›

After last year's Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, six-time world hot-dog-eating champ Takeru Kobayashi declared: "I will definitely beat him next year." His opponent, Joey Chestnut, had won by eating 66 HDB (hot dogs and buns) to Kobayashi's 63. Despite not earning his way in to the contest as a regional qualifier, last year's loser be on hand this year in an attempt to earn back the title. more ›