The Dog House Diner, located outside of the Encinitas Home Depot, has quickly gained a reputation as the source in San Diego for authentic regional hot dogs and sandwiches.
Sandy Cherman bought the former hot dog vendor out and transformed it from a basic hot dog stand into a hot dog nirvana that also has other regional sandwich specialties.
The Dog House Diner is the vision of Sandy and his family, who moved to Carlsbad, California, from New York six years ago after retiring from a 33-year career in the garment business. He worked as a short order cook in high school and college, and began living his dream of owning a restaurant when he bought the current location in 2009.
He collaborated with his son Justin, a CIA graduate, to create the menu of authentic specialty hot dogs from around the country.
Standouts include the authentic Chicago and New York dogs, Milwaukee brat, the B.L.T., Dodger Dog, Philly Cheesesteak, breakfast burrito, chili dog, and the Wiener Burger, which is a moist and tasty burger shaped into a long sausage form served in a French roll.
The garlic fries rock and the mated shake is a delightful blast from the past. The soda fountain serves up all kinds of regional drink specialties as well as Mexican Coke, which works perfectly with a good hot dog.
In all, they offer around 25 hot dogs, burgers, burrito, and breakfast sandwich selections along with a full selection of sides and a coffee bar.
"After living in New York City for years and seeing the passion that hot dogs and other regional sandwiches and street food evoke, I thought it would be a great idea to bring that concept to San Diego, where a good portion of the population is from somewhere else and longs for a taste of home," says Sandy Cherman, founder of Dog House Dogs.
"We source authentic ingredients and have them shipped in if need be. People know when you cut corners on their favorite foods, and we don't. It's paid off, as we can't keep up with the demand. We have also added some regional hot dogs after customers have requested them, like the Dodger Dog from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles."
The Dog House Diner is located at 1001 N. El Camino Real, Encinitas. Orders can be placed in advance by calling 760.635.DOGS. More about Dog House Diner, including a full menu, at http://www.thedoghousediner.com
