Big Top Dogs

- Location:  Downtown - 201 E. 6th St. - @Brazos

- Hours: Thursday -Saturday: 8 PM - 3 AM
- Telephone: 512-484-0050
- Website: www.bigtop-dogs.com

- Cuisine: Late night hot dogs

Long before John Dawson had his hands in the mobile vending scene, his grandfather was selling peanuts out of a push cart in Toledo, Ohio.  A Greek immigrant coming through Ellis Island at age 16 his grand-dad eventually developed his street food business into a brick and mortar restaurant/diner that was called ‘Clean Bite’ where John’s mother spent time as a waitress during the depression and war years.  So it was a bit of fate that John would develop ‘Big Top Dogs’ after traveling to and living in New York, where his grandfather started their family’s journey to pursue the American dream.
 

As part of his mission to provide authentic New York hot dogs, John contracted with Sabret, which is a New York family owned business that offers nitrate-free 100% all beef dogs with natural casing that are also gluten free.  In addition to the quality of his food, the stainless steel cart also lends to the authenticity of his business.  So what makes a New York Style dog so unique?  John instructs, “Take a bun and a stick, put some push cart style deli mustard on the bun, then put the dog down and add the sauerkraut with onion sauce (Vidalia onions and tomato sauce).  Mustard is the foundation of everything.  If someone wants ketchup, they have to do it themselves.”