Today, Explained - America’s best hot dog

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Chef José Andrés explains what makes the winning wiener. A DC hot dog vendor respectfully disagrees. This episode was produced by Kelli Wessinger, edited by Avishay Artsy, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. A Seattle hot dog. Photo by Scott Suchman and food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post/Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today explained, Sean Roms from here in Washington, D.C., outside the National Building Museum, where I'm actually standing next to the most popular hot dog cart in the city. It's called Scheisters. And we're here today because it's the summer, and hot dog is a classic summer food. Americans eat something like 20 billion hot dogs here, but we want to figure out what the best hot dog is. So we're going to ask some customers. Good bun is, like, number one. Also, don't cheap it out on, like, the beef.

eat meat, so I'd have to go with a delicious vegan dog. I generally go for the sourcrow and mustard. I would want to see ketchup. Just ketchup? No, ketchup and mustard. So the ideal is ketchup, mustard, relish sauerkraut. So to me,

a hot dog is about the experience with the people. It's about the friends we made along the way. We're going to ask celebrity chef Jose Andres, who recently tried to figure out what the best hot dog is, for his opinion on Today Explain from Vox. Support for the show comes from KPMG. In any organization, disruption is inevitable, but struggling through it doesn't have to be.

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Every episode, I sit down with innovators, researchers, and technologists to consider the questions that come after the AI breakthroughs. Questions that don't have easy answers, but need to be asked. If you're curious or concerned about AI, join me as we challenge assumptions and ponder the issues together. Find pondering AI wherever you get your podcasts. Oh my God. You look like today it's strange. It makes me want a hot dog real bad.

Jose Andres, internationally beloved chef, humanitarian men's World Cup champion fan, and author of the new book Spain My Way, Eat, Drink, and Cook like a Spaniard. Spain is where his hot dog journey begins. Okay, I had a hot dog in Spain when I was younger. We call them Perritos Calientes. Perrito will be little dog and Caliente hat. And in my early lives, I remember I love them with ketchup. And you could argue that the hot dog is the perfect way to say how old are you?

Because seems in the early days of your life you prefer it with the sweeter ketchup. and as you grow older, you prefer it with a more deep, harsh mustard. But your question is, do you remember your first hot dog in America? And the answer is, yeah. 1990, and I arrived New York, sailing in a tall ship in the Spanish Navy. four mast, 300 crew members, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for six months, true adventure, sailing in the open ocean, port to port.

And I arrived on a glorious day under the Barrasano Bridge, Lady Liberty Ellis Island, and we dock on the west side very close to 30th Street. Back in the day, we will get $60 per port that was paid. The Navy would pay every sailor. $60. And I remember walking that 30th Street, just coming off the boat, and seeing my first hot dog cart, maybe arriving.

8th or 9th Avenue. And I'm there and it's like 99 cents, I think I remember, were the price at the time. And I'm like, shit, I can buy 60 hot dogs. They asked me, what do you want? And I say, I want everything. When you don't know the answer, you just ask for everything. And they put everything on the hot dog

and was this, that sour crowd like an onion, like in a tomato thing, and the mustard. And they had this relish of food. cucumber. I put everything there. And I remember I had like three or four. This is the days I was beautifully skinny, taller than the trees, blonde hair and blue eyes, which I don't know what purpose serves to explain you my favorite hot dog, but what I'm only trying to tell you, I fall in love with the hot dog and I think the hot dog falling in love with me. America stole the hot dog from Germany, drew inspiration from Germany.

What makes it, you think, such an enduring American standard? Well, I don't think America stole anything from anything. Hot dogs, without a doubt, are part of the creation of America as a country in a moment that everybody, you know, working hard, working long hours. new country, new ways, very open. America has been, for me, always a very creative country. Like, you go to any American restaurant, American chefs. My God, I was always fascinating how they can mix any sauce or any ingredient from anywhere and make a dish.

And the dish is amazing. Why? Because in America, this freedom that America gave to the Native Americans were here, but anybody that came from a nation of immigrants, the freedom that everybody had to be bringing who they were, but also be free to try new things and mix new things, is what the melting pot of America has become one of the very unique places in the world for culinary, where nobody was afraid of, obviously, maintaining tradition,

but also to say, you know, if we mix A with B with C, actually it works. And guess, let me tell you, it does work. So hot dog, I think just became the spirit of America. I think hot dog, obviously, it's a great American thing that then you could argue is better hot dogs, worse hot dogs, better bands, worse bands, better ketchup, worse ketchup. But anyway, I think a hot dog in the heart of Fifth Avenue walking down Manhattan is just amazing experience that everybody at least has to do once in the lifetime. You know, you're talking about pork sausages.

Obviously, pork sausages, you could say not the healthiest food in the world. There's a whole saying about how you don't want to see what goes into a pork sausage. I was eventually taken by that, and I started eating these beyond meat sausages. Now I hardly even eat those because I'm worried about my health. Do you care about the unhealthiness of a hot dog, of a sausage? What was the question? I got confused. My brain used move away.

I was salivating with the thinking of the hot dog. And we are having this conversation. And I don't have hot dogs around me. This is no way to do a podcast, man. What kind of podcast is this? Well, where are my hot dogs, Sean Dog? Why do they call you Sean Dog? I mean, get that out of here.

You're not living to your name, man. You're not living to your name. Okay, so repeat the question. What was the question? What do you say to people who tell you, Jose, I don't eat hot dogs? That's unhealthy. I want to eat a lean piece of meat or vegetables. Okay, okay.

Sometimes we forget that the healthy part, sometimes doesn't have anything to do with the food itself. I will argue that, yes, some things are more healthy than others, but the issue is about the quantity we eat. It's always about the quantity. Listen, true. Nobody eats healthier than me. And I am overweight.

Healthy food. doesn't equal your healthy person. The quantity you eat is the most important. I'm working on it and your lifestyle. And do you do sports? Obviously, yes, yes, we need to eat better. We need to be healthier. We need to be eating more lentils.

We need to be eating more chickpeas. I do eat a ton of them. More vegetables. A ton of it. More fish. A ton of it. More grains. A ton of them.

And we need to make sure that people have access to those. Because you realize that to be poor sometimes is expensive. people that live in low-income areas have less access to good fresh food that actually it's affordable. So, a hot dog in the right measure at the right time it's also part of a good diet.

So let's not demonize things for the sake of demonizing them. Everything has its time and everything has its moment. And I'm Jose Andres and I endorse these message. Okay, so it sounds like you would encourage people to live healthy lives, but that doesn't need to exclude you from eating an occasional hot dog.

And luckily for Americans, there are regional hot dogs throughout this country and lots of people putting a particular spin on this classic. And you recently ate many of them in a sort of competition for wirecutter in which you chose your favorite hot dog this country has to offer. Today we're lining up eight regional hot dogs, bracket style, to see which one takes the title. This is Wirecutter Taste Test. I mean, you tried New York dogs, Chicago dogs, Detroit dogs, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Kansas City, Arizona. There were a lot of toppings involved.

Yellow mustard, Chicago-style relish, diced onions, tomatoes, pickle spears, sport peppers, and celery salt. Sourcrowt, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing, and caraway seeds. Do you think there's such thing as too many toppings on a hot dog? I don't think it's too many toppings. Obviously sometimes I like the purity of it. If the hot dog is an exceptional one that sometimes they are local from your local butcher and they are delicious,

if you are able to grill them in an open fire, in a charcoal, don't tell me, but that exponentially already increases how good that hot dog is going to be. And if you have a band that is really, really warm and really even crispy, I like put a little bit of foliofoil on mine and then grill it over the open charcoal. And when the hot dog is of amazing quality,

call it hot dog, call it rats, or call it a bigger sausage, and you put it on the band, and the band is hot and the sausage is great, you could argue that with nothing, that bite of the bread with the same, sausage alone with the little of the fat that renders on the band, to me, it's going to be fascinating. So this is pure minimalism on a hot dog.

But you have to be hardcore to go that way. The band has to be exceptional and the dog has to be exceptional. Okay, I'm going to do a drum roll now. Which was your favorite hot dog that you tried with the wire cutter? America's best hot duck. At the end of all the hot dogs, I think, if I remember what I bought it for the Seattle-style hot-dog.

It was like cream cheese. That's right. And it was the onions, and was the master, and had jalapinos. And I don't know, man. I think it was that grassy herb-like aroma of the jalapenos

with the touch of spiciness. And I'm not a spicy. lover per se, but the right amount, I love it. It's like was lifting up my taste bats, right? So this one, the right proportions, this one, you know, who was going to say that that kind of cream cheese kind of was going to make it the winner? Even, it didn't take away from anything. It was the perfect ambassador. It was like a diplomat. So for me,

that's the one that I love them. Do you disagree with Jose Andres and his Seattle dog? How dare you? Just joshing. So does the hot dog vendor you're going to hear from next on today, explain. When it comes to AI, there is what we could do and what we should do. What will we decide? I'm Kimberly Nebula, host of the Pondering AI podcast from SAS.

Every episode, I sit down with innovators, researchers, and technologists to consider the questions that come after the AI breakthroughs. Questions that don't have easy answers but need to be asked. If you're curious or concerned about AI, join me as we challenge assumptions and ponder the issues together. Find pondering AI wherever you get your podcasts. Support for today explained comes from Bombas Spring is here, perhaps. You're going outside, running, walking, just to get active again. It's the perfect time to upgrade your everyday go-chus with Bombas. Bombas sports socks are super comfortable and designed with sports-specific tech for running,

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150 million times an accountant. You can go to bombus.com slash explained and use a code explained for 20% off your first purchase. That's V-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash explained, code explained at checkout. Support of the show comes from Apple News Plus. Apple News Plus has everything you're into, news-wise, of course, all in one place. Over 500 publications covering the topics that matter most to you. I think you can find Vox in there. Thousands of recipes from celebrated food publications around the world.

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A hot dog carp? Oh my gosh, I think I see the guy. He's easy to spot because he's a hot dog vendor wearing slacks, a white shirt, and a tie in D.C. summer. They call it the swamp, folks. So are you going to start moving? Sure. So I'm going to go down to about 4th in G Streets. So we're sort of, we're at about the midpoint from my commercial kitchen to where I'm going.

I do not see a car. You are just pushing this, you know, silver hot dog cart the kind you'd see on a street corner instead of towing it. This is in part a performance art piece. And so I am quite literally throwing my back into the performance. That's a beautiful thing. And you're wearing slacks, Oxford's white shirt, red tie. And anything less would be cheating. I'm Isaac Stein.

I'm 32 years old. I live right here in Washington, D.C. And as my day job, I am a tax lawyer for the IRS Office of Chief Counsel writing retirement plan regulations. And your side hustle is? I am a part-time hot dog salesman. And you go by Scheisters. Absolutely. So let's talk about how this all starts for you.

I believe it's during a bit of a break in your 9-to-5, maybe a forced break. So this is in part a childhood dream of something that I had wanted to do since I was in seventh grade. And I operated the concession booth at a community event where the teachers from my middle school played against the imitation version of the Harlem Globetrotters. And I just had so much fun selling chips and soda. And I was way more interested in that than the actual game that I knew that I wanted to do something like that. later in life. Okay. Then after I moved here, I made the decision in June of last year to just get this. I had just been thinking about it repeatedly. So I did and it took me several months to get the cart and all the permits in order. And then I was up and running

by late September of last year. And then I was furloughed on October 8th. So I was operating before the shutdown, but during the shutdown, I was operating full-time. And now it's back to operating the way it was intended, which is as a weekend project. Are you what they call D.C. famous? I would consider myself a solid D-lister at this point. That's, hey. People are saying hello to you from their BMWs. Oh, it's a Mazda. I'm sorry, it's a Mazda.

Tell us about the nostalgia you're channeling. My early memories of hot dogs were growing up in Toronto, going to carts like yours, and the signature in Toronto is that it's like, you have more friends. Good to see you, buddy. Yeah. Is this what it's like for you usually when you walk?

I think you've been recognized like a half dozen times in three blocks. I just get hyped up when people are stoked on my concept or about hot dogs. Yeah. Hey, thank you. See what I mean? Oh my gosh. Thank you.

Every... D-list celebrity, but everybody knows who you are. Okay, I think I'm going to elevate you from D-List to C-List Washington, D.C. celebrity, if you don't mind. That's very kind. Okay, you were talking about nostalgia before we were interrupted by your fan club. And I want to ask you what that nostalgia is for? I mean, when I think about, like, my early hot dogs, it was in Toronto from cards like yours,

where I think Toronto's signature is... is just having like a million condiments, everything from bacon bits to banana peppers, to pickles, to mayo, to hot sauce, to barbecue sauce, to hot mustard, whatever. Anything you want, everything the light touches Simba, you can put on your hot dog. What is it for you? What nostalgia are you pointing this card at?

So the piece that's my own is my childhood memories of hot dogs on the grill. For other folks, I'm trying, to, with a bit of a modern twist with the bun, I'm trying to recreate 1960s New York with the food. And are you from New York? I'm from fake New York, so I'm from suburban Connecticut. Hot dogs are an emotional food. I mean, that's part of why I picked it in the first place. Everyone has their own connection to it. So I can, I've made this cart based on what inspires me and my specific idea, but people will experience it in their own way, and that really

makes me happy. What are your go-to condiments? This isn't a very big cart as carts go. I imagine there aren't that many. I have relish, ketchup, mustard, pickled onions, Jardiniera, which is Chicago-style pickled vegetables and kind of a spicy oil. So my, what I call the correct hot dog, and normally I thank my customers for their compliance when they order it, which is mustard and sauerkraut. And nothing else? And nothing else. That's it. If producer Kelly were a little bit closer to the mic,

I know she'd say something like, what about ketchup? I think ketchup, so, I mean, the harshest I'll be is to say that, in my view, ketchup, which on a hot dog is something analogous to a speeding ticket. I mean, pay your 50 bucks and just move on. Something like mayonnaise, on the other hand, is just such sensory hell. I mean, this is, in my view, capital murder. on a hot dog. Well, we're coming off talking to chef Jose Andres, another DC food celebrity.

And he recently, with the wire cutter, tried to determine which is the best hot dog in the country. And I have terrible news for you. And maybe you know this as a hot dog aficionado. But he chose the Seattle dog, Isaac. And the Seattle dog features some ingredients that you don't even carry in there. Cream cheese, I believe slathered on, caramelized onions, which I don't believe you mentioned, and jalapenos. And I got to ask, as someone who thinks there's a right way to do a

hot dog, what do you make of chef Jose Andres choosing that as his favorite in the country? So I really want to emphasize that Jose Andres, I respect this gentleman. He's a good man. He's a very kind man. He's also been locally very kind. He served food to federal workers during the shutdown. and I think he's just an all-around excellent individual. However, I would say on this specific issue, he is absolutely dead wrong. I would say that the onions and the jalapinos, that could work. It doesn't bother me, but this cream cheese does not belong on a hot dog at all. Can I tell you his rebuttal to you?

Because we thought you might say that. So we asked him what he would say to you if you said that. Sure, I'm interested. Humanity has, through thousands of... of years move forward because always somebody began doing something different. We went from eating raw meat to start cooking the meat when we control fire. We began not only controlling the fire and cooking the meat, but we began curing the meat. I'm guessing that the people that were eating the mammoth, they were making

mammoth steaks. In the moment someone began curing it or smoking it on brining, someone told them blasphemy we used to eat the bison's raw and now you're cooking them blasphemy if every time in humanity move something forward we will say blasphemy we wouldn't be here overall i'd say all of these are fair points my main response is there's the old maxim if it ain't broke don't fix it on on one hand we need to evolve past eating raw mammoth meat. On the other hand, after we've discovered fire, there's not really much more to do with it.

Jose Andreas said that if you have the best hot dog in the city and we're the nation's capital, then you have the best hot dog in America. Your thoughts. I appreciate the sequence of logic, but I cannot claim that title. Okay, Kelly, at long last, we have our hot dogs. Yours has ketchup and mustard.

mine has mustard and sourcrow. The correct way. What are your thoughts? You were admiring the bun, I believe. The bun is so glossy and beautiful. It's not your traditional hot dog bun that comes out of a bag of the store. It's so pretty. You ready to try these things?

Yeah. Here, cheers. Cheers. I'm not going to get your ketchup, though. Oh. Kelly made the show today with help from Abyshire Artsy, Gabriel Dunedav and Patrick Boyd. The rest of the team, Danielle Hewitt,

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When it comes to AI, there is what we could do and what we should do. What will we decide? I'm Kimberly Nebula, host of the Pondering AI podcast from SAS. Every episode, I sit down with innovators, researchers, and technologists to consider the questions that come after the AI breakthroughs. Questions that don't have easy answers, but need to be asked. If you're curious or concerned about AI, join me as we challenge assumptions and ponder the issues together. Find pondering AI wherever you get your podcasts.

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