Steve's Hot Dogs is Named the Home of the Official St. Louis-Style Hot Dog by City
On June 15, Christine Ingrassia of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen presented Steve's Hot Dogs with an official Aldermanic Resolution naming us the home of the OFFICIAL Hot Dog of St. Louis! The resolution is now proudly hanging in the dining room for all to see.
Earlier this year, we launched the “Road to the Official Hot Dog of St. Louis” bracket - pitting 6 hot dog recipes against each other bracket style over 5 weeks. At the end of that 5 week competition, you all decided the hot dog that you wanted to represent your city.
ICYMI... The 5 week St. Louis Hot Dog competition pitted recipes such as the Slinger Dog, inspired by Eat Rite’s famous Slingers, the Hill Dog and the Pork Steak Dog - all recipes inspired by your requests. The final winner of the competition, chosen by hundreds of customers - and the new St. Louis-Style Hot Dog - is our former HYAAAH! Hot Dog recipe - a smoked and grilled all-beef hot dog atop an Italian-style Vitale’s roll, topped with grilled onions, green peppers, banana peppers, bacon, and provolone cheese, topped with our homemade smokey pepper mustard.
The recipe was developed by our longtime Chef Joe Zeable back at our original storefront.
Joe wanted to use flavors that evoked St. Louis in the recipe, so the dog includes a smoked and grilled all-beef hot dog in an Italian-style Vitale's bakery roll that is lined with provolone cheese. ("We tried Provel cheese," Joe said in a recent RFT article "but it didn't work as well as a provolone slice.") It's topped with grilled onions, green peppers, banana peppers, bacon and Steve's housemade smokey pepper mustard.
The mustard is what takes the dog over the top. "It is bright, tangy, wonderful," Zeable says.
Why were we so focused on making this happen? Take it from our Head Honcho himself, Steve Ewing: “Historical accounts vary - but legend has it that the hot dog was either invented at, or at least made popular at the 1904 World’s Fair here in St. Louis. For that reason, it’s been a dream of mine for a long time to develop the official St. Louis-style hot dog and to be known as the home of the St. Louis dog.”
That's why we are SO EXCITED to share that - with YOUR HELP - we've done it!
As Christine said when she reached out about this honor, “St. Louis is quickly growing into a city that is known around the world for its culinary prowess. Steve’s has been a force in the St. Louis food scene - being creative in their recipes, generous in their collaborations and always giving back to the community along the way. We’re excited to see that they are the ones to develop this recipe - especially when cities like Chicago and Detroit have had their own style of dog for so long. It’s high time St. Louis had its own!”
