Lucky Dogs, Inc.

History – Starting in 1947, brothers Stephen and Erasmus Loyacano first bravely wheeled their first cart out onto the streets. By 1949, they considered marketing the carts, but reconsidered and turned to franchising or leasing. An advertisement touted the potential for investors: “Cruise the midway. Get around town. You and Lucky Dog follow the crowd.” “A red hot steam job that will roll up profits everywhere you go.” “Steam cooks 100 dogs, buns, and chili. Stores everything for 300 more.”

But by 1952, they had given up on the franchising idea. And in 1970 they gave up altogether and sold the business — Lucky Dogs Novelty Carts, Incorporated — to Doug Talbot and Peter Briant.

After a difficult period of dealing with health restrictions that almost caused the business to fail, they developed a sneeze guard and a fancy hand-washing system that made it possible to continue steaming buns and dogs the old-fashioned way — right in the carts. The rest is history.

Hot Dog History – although the ‘sausage’ is mentioned as far back as in Homer’s Odyssey, it is thought to have originated in Germany, although not without some controversy as to when and where; in the late 1400’s in Coburg or the late 1600’s in Frankfurt. Austrians stake claim as well pointing to the term ‘wiener’ and it’s tie to Vienna [Wien]. If not enough to argue about, more doubt is cast on who and when served the first dog in a bun.

Across the country –
Americans eat 20 billion hot dogs a year.
The New Orleans/Mobile area in 2004 ranked 7th in a top ten list of hot dog eating cities.
Although similar in that they are served from a mobile stand or out of a cart – be aware there are definite differences when buying a dog from the local vendor depending on where you are across the country…

Chicago – served with yellow mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomato slices, celery salt, served on a poppy seed bun.

New York – served with pale yellow mustard and steamed onions.

Kansas City – served with sauerkraut, melted Swiss cheese, and served on a sesame seed bun.

My personal preference is by far the Lucky Dog. This midnight snack, or more realistically 3:00am snack when stumbling along Bourbon Street, is just what’s needed to fuel up for that stretch between 3:00am and dawn..