Costco Waltham Hot Dog

[hargau]

I was in the area yesterday and stopped into Costco of all places for a quick lunch. I had never been and was suprised there was such a lunch crowd. Great deal for a decent hot dog. They advertise it as a all beef 1/4 lb plus dog. It is on a nice steamed bun and you can top with onions, and the normal condiments. $1.50 with a large fountain drink with free refills. Hard to beat that for value.

Over the weekend we were at George's coney island in Worcester where they charge the same for a pencil thin dog-no drink. But it does have their tasty chili sauce and something about the ambiance of the place is cool. Id say the Costco dog was = to about 4-5 of these dogs though. Im not sure where they even find dogs this thin, ive never seen them anywhere like that. Seriously only slightly larger than a pencil.

[trufflehound]

RI New York Systems are thin like that. In RI they aren't twisted with that ballooon knot on the ends. Haven't been to Georges in a while. Must go back and keep that in the back of my mind.

[hargau]

I dont recall the knot at Georges when i was there last weekend.

[joebloe]

Are they as thin as the ones in IKEA?

[trishaluna]

We love the Costco hot dog but after I found out that one hotdog has 32 grams of fat and 500+ calories I now split one with my DH. Ignorance WAS bliss. It is such a good deal and yummy. I believe I read somewhere that Hebrew National makes them for Costco.

[rlh]

I think the same folks make the hot dogs and the pizza - it's a marvel how many calories and fat grams they can cram in for such low prices...

[nincyh]

That "slice" of cheese pizza must easily weigh a full lb and at least a half pound of it is cheese. Let's see: 8 ounces of cheese = 800 calories, plus the bread, etc. A 1000 calorie "slice" of pizza: no wonder it's so good.

Okay, and their Berry Sundae (vanilla soft-serve yogurt with mixed berry sauce) is pretty great too. This isn't fine dining or healthy dining, but it sure is tasty.

[lergnom]

The frozen yogurt is better than most places and it has fewer calories, per various websites - than the pizza. The sites estimate that the slice, which is I think 1/6 not 1/8 of the pizza, is about 800 calories, meaning it's about 2x as much as a regular cheese slice. Most of the extra calories comes from the extra diameter of the pizza, that being 18" - I think - instead of 16" and the additional area that makes. The yogurt comes in at about 400 calories. Weird to think that dessert is less.

[hargau]

Woah! That is alot. They call them "kirkland" which is just their house name. Everything is kirkland around there.

[PinchOfSalt]

The hot dogs at Costco used to be identified as from Hebrew National. Now they are branded Kirkland (Costco house brand). Has the recipe changed? I don't know. But I was in the Waltham Costco just today, and there was a big banner by the fast food area, advertising the $1.59 Kirkland Hot Dog combo special.

[LStaff]

>one hotdog has 32 grams of fat and 500+ calories

Thanks for ruining it for me.

[MrsCheese]

Yeah, me too. I get one of those every time I go there. :-)

[MC Slim JB]

I guess it's no newsflash that hot dogs aren't especially healthy, but 16g of fat is about a quarter of your RDA. Yikes!

Incidentally, the manufacturer of the Kirkland Signature frank is reported elsewhere as J Bar B Foods of Waelder, TX http://www.jbfoods.com/ and unlike Hebrew National, they're not kosher.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[hargau]

Hebrew national shows their 1/4 lb beef dog to be 360 calories, 300 from fat, 33g total fat, 13g saturated, not to mention 1070mg sodium! http://www.hebrewnational.com/product...

[MC Slim JB]

Wow, that's eye-opening: the new product is practically health food, relatively speaking! I wonder how the Speed's dog compares nutrition-wise, but I can't find anything online about the Grote & Weigel frank served there these days.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[Dog Boy]

Mmm... Hot dogs.
Threw down a Speeds dog in the time it took my wife to run into Liquor Land and back. Once you pick one of those bad boys up, you can't put it down unless you have an entire paper towel roll handy. Took about 3 years off my life but worth it. Hot dogs are bad for you? who knew?
BTW - Pastrami sandwich they are serving now is money. Well worth a try if you have had the dog before.

[RVT]

Hey all you granola crunchers! Take it somewhere else! If folks wanted to be told how unhealthy things were, this site wouldn't exist. Let us enjoy our fat and calories in peace, I think folks already have a pretty good idea a Speed Dog may not be particularly heart healthy. But it tastes great so :p.

[bear]

I'm not sure that dog fares any worse on the nutrition scale than the grilled pastrami with swiss and mustard on a bulkie that I had last week. i guess I'm at the age when I can only splurge like that occasionally, so I make it something that's worthy.

Probably not a great idea to subsist on it, but once in a while is good for the soul.

[MC Slim JB]

I've been called many things, but never a granola cruncher! (I do recommend the granola at Cutty's, however.) I eat plenty of things that are bad for me, but as I would like to continue to do so for some time, I think it's useful to understand what you are eating. I don't count calories or fat grams religiously, but the numbers on that Hebrew National hot dog are pretty shocking.

And if you don't have enough reasons to already, nutritional info may steer you away from casual-dining chain outlets (The Cheesecake Factory and its ilk), which seem to deliberately supercharge their giant portions with ridiculous amounts of fat. If you're going to eat bad, eat bad well, I say.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[threedogs]

Couldn't say it better myself. Totally agree.

[nsenada]

That's a t-shirt I would buy

[rlh]

Have a look at the fat and calorie counts on most granola options and you'll see similarities to the CostCo hot dog (it of course has the added bonus of large amounts of sodium) - granola is tasty at times but not usually a healthy choice, either - really.

[nsenada]

Very true - I make my own granola, as a result. If I made my own hot dogs, I'd try for double the fat content in the Costco one, though.

[MC Slim JB]

I haven't bought a commercial brand of granola in decades (in fact don't eat it much, period). I'm going to guess that Cutty's is comparatively healthy.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[Cork]

2 things - Each Costco can orded their own product for the food bar, so some might still be using the HN brand. And for what its worth, if you need a hot dog fix every now and then (and who doesn't) , the HN 97% fat free taste the same and only have a few guiltless grams of fat in them, along with half a salt-shaker of sodium.

[deweyweber54]

hargau - Miss your blog.. are you still posting?
Your reviews on chowisms in the greater NW area of Boston are the best.
Keep up the good work, and continue to let us know what gems are around.
Dewey
PS: Off to the Fife and Drum at the Concord prison later this week.
Any experience?

[steve999]

It's not the (lack) of nutritional value of hebrew nationals that bothers me, it's how bad they taste. They may be the worst hot dogs I've ever had.

Kayem, Duetchmaker, and Jordan's are all much better. Now, if we could only buy Hoffman's in Massachusetts at the grocery store or warehouse club...........

[Berheenia]

Try Pearl - a real tube steak.

[trishaluna]

Sorry to be such a party pooper regarding the nutrition info :(
Trust me, I was not happy when I read it and thought of the number of times I've scarfed one of those down after a shopping trip. I like what MC said "If you're going to eat bad, eat bad well, I say."
That's my philosophy now that I'm nearing the big 4-0, I unfortunately have to count the calories and fat now and if I'm going to blow them on one meal, its not going to be a hotdog - even though they are very very tasty. It is shocking to find out some calorie counts from fast or chain food. Ohhh, to be 20 again.