The Dog House of High Point: Best Hot Dog (and French fries) in North Carolina?

It may seem like all I do is eat. I'll admit I've been doing a lot of it. The food tour continues but so does life. Yesterday I had an interview for a job in Chennai India and it went well. Lately, I've been hiking in the Uhwarries and we went to Baden Road Drive In last night where it was filled with lifted trucks and confederate flags (can I get a Yee Haw?). I've slowly picking up a few words in Hindi, here and there. I've discovered the word bhenchod, is often used by normally well tempered individuals in a Pakistan vs India match. ;) North Carolina often feels more like a foreign land than those countries far away. I'm embracing it, southern comfort food and Americana in all its shame and glory.

I'm not sure it's done well for my diet. There was no way to get around the steamed buns at the Dog House in High Point. I'll admit, being a UNCG graduate I'll always be faithful to Yum Yums, but the Dog House has some seriously good hot dogs. What was really surprising was how amazing the French Fries were too.

The Dog House has been around since the 1940s and serves hot dogs in under three minutes. As the staff admits, you don't come to the Dog House for lunch, you come to eat... and then get the Hell out. It's a tiny little place that looks like the bar from Rocky. The interior is straight out of a movie set and probably hasn't changed much in fifty years. On the menu on the wall it reads "Tipping is not just a city in China." I'm not sure if that's racist or not but it's definitely North Carolina.

I ordered two hot dogs all the way. Mustard, chili and onions but I should have ordered the cheese dog because I quickly grew jealous of my date's superior hot dog ordering skills. We split a fry. The fries have this battered quality that made them quite delicious. It quickly became abundantly clear that these were the best hot dogs we've had in a long time. Steamed buns, proper franks, great chili and tart onions. These were first class, dirt cheap, ghetto fabulous. I felt like I was having an affair behind Yum Yum's back.

When all was said and done we were hooked. Right around the corner (you can walk to it) is the largest chest of drawers in the world (three stories tall).  As we stepped back from our lunch and the giant bureau, I wondered if all those furniture jobs of High Point that have gone overseas to places like China wasn't a twist of irony considering the quote on the menu at the Dog House? Then there's me, I have an advanced degree, I have significant international experience and yet there's just no jobs here in the Piedmont Triad. Hot dogs have nostalgia, they're America on a bun, but I can't help but wonder if time has run out for me and my lunch. Is it time to let go of the past? To move on?