On Saturday, February 21 my youngest child, who's not so young, already in their mid-30s and I drove to Clifton, NJ to eat the famous Ripper hot dogs at Rutt's Hut.
What's so special about Rutt's Hut? It's been around for a long time and they do something different with their dogs, they deep fry them. I first heard of the place more than 25 years ago while watching Rick Sebak's wonderful documentary, "A Hot Dog Program." In the show's enthusiastic hour Mr. Sebak traveled around the USA sampling the regional and local frankfurters of note in those places. He was careful to say that he wasn't claiming they were the best, only that they were excellent examples of the locale. He ate in Atlanta, Chicago, Fairfield CT, Alaska, Los Angles, NYC and at Rutt's Hut in Clifton NJ.
My kid heard about it when they read a book by Jamie Loftus called Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs in which she took a road trip to eat hot dogs around the country while also exploring their history and nature. I noticed in a review I read of her book that she visited several of the same ones that Sebak highlighted back in the 1990s leading me to wonder if she was at all inspired by his film.
Rutt's Hut is one of those roadside restaurants that evolved from a stand. The parking lot was full but turnover was rapid. Inside the sit-down restaurant side there were a few tables open but people kept coming in behind us to fill them while others ate, paid and left. Nobody seemed angry or unhappy. At the table next to us, one of the patrons knew the Loftus book but not the Sebak movie.
We had a pretty standard order of two Rippers each with a side of french fries and fried onions. It was definitely a high-fat meal.
Rippers come in three varieties depending on whether you're a poppa bear, momma bear or baby bear. At one extreme are the Cremators, fried until they are black. On the other end, the In-and-Out, quickly fried. In between, the standard Ripper, which is what we had. On the table, their mustard and relish which work very well with the dogs.
We both liked them. They are different from other famous and somewhat more obscure hot dogs I've tried since seeing the Sebak program. Super Duper Weenies stand out for their toppings, Buffalo Texas Red Hots from Ted's are not hot spicy but strong with their garlickiness. All of them are yummy and while I don't eat hot dogs often any more, when I do I want them to be special. This was a special frank.
