Guest Author - Chidori Phillips
Peddling hot dogs from a street vending cart is nothing out of the ordinary, but when Japanese-born Tamura decided to top this all-American classic with his favorite Japanese ingredients, a new food sensation was born. Noriki Tamura moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2005, and sold his Japa Dogs from a vending cart. It took about a year for the notion to catch on but now, people stand in long lines at two different locations for his delicious Japanese hot dogs. A restaurant venue will be opening soon.
His website is most in Japanese and although you can do a Google translation, the results are odd. I gathered he first planned to go to NYC and open a crepe shop and that he and his wife took a vacation to Vancouver but other than that, it was too confusing for me to make sense of.
Good thing there is a large colorful menu in English. Japa Dogs use typical wheat hot dog buns and bratwurst. There are a few specialty sausages such as Kobe beef dog, kurobuta (black pork) and a jalapeno and cheese smokie but the mostly his menu items feature bratwurst.
And, if you’re still squeamish about the blend of Japanese ingredients with your familiar hot dogs, you can order “regular” hot dogs with no Japanese-style toppings. But somehow after viewing the menu, mustard and pickle relish just seem boring.
Just reading the menu made my mouth water. All the Japa Dogs sound totemo oishii (very delicious) and I hope Japadog comes to the United States soon!
Menu:
Spicy Cheese Terimayo (Most Popular): Jalapeno and Cheese Smokie, teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, topped with strips of nori. The menu says this item is “under improvement” but I wonder what they’ll do to it since it is their most popular menu item.
Oroshi (Japanese love!): Pork bratwurst, grated daikon radish, special soy sauce, topped with green onion.
Okonomi (Most Valuable Pork): Pork bratwurst, special okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, bonito flakes, topped with fried cabbage.
Ume (Special Plum Sauce): Bratwurst, red onion and special plum sauce.
Edamame (soybeans): Bratwurst topped with edamame.
Kobe Beef: Coming soon.
Kurobuta Pork (The Best Pork): Berkshire pork.
Terimayo Series: These are the same toppings as the spicy cheese terimayo but with your choice of sausage—turkey, beef, kurobuta pork, bratwurst, and veggie.
Regular hot dogs: Just the sausage with no Japanese-style toppings.
[url=
http://www.japadog.com/menu/index.html]Japa Dogs Menu[/url]
