Actually, I gave Lucky 3 chances. I visited Lucky’s for dog tastings first on August 1st with Danita, secondly on September 11th (never forget) with my parents AND the third time was less than an official visit and more like my Dad just brought me two of the dogs I hadn’t yet tried – that was 2 weeks ago. All in all, I’ve sampled eight (out of eleven) of the specialty hot dogs on Lucky’s Queen Village Menu. I’m going to do my best to recount them all below.

BUT FIRST, I would like to call out that Lucky’s lists their hot dogs as “2nd place” to their burgers. I will admit, I never really gave their wieners the time of day before because I am always being called by the PB & Bacon burger, but there is a good reason I returned to this establishment thrice during my studies. Lucky’s menu mentions that they use “only the best local, natural casing dogs a.k.a frankfurters” – that’s a huge piece of information for me. Do natural casings a frankfurter make? I will have to put a pin in that for later. Lucky’s then settles these frankfurters “gently in butter toasted New England style (split top) hot dog rolls.” They also have veggie dogs available! The toasted roll, I’ve learned over the past 4 months (Jesus), is crucial to the overall rating of the dog; can take it from a 4 to 5 easily. That being said, I am working on what my rating scale should be for the purpose of this blog. Should hot dogs get stars? Gold medals? Blue ribbons? What about 1 to 5 “mustard squirts,” with 5 being the best, “would 1000% eat again”? We’ll play around with it. You let me know what you think.

On the first visit, we were in those peak “dog days of summer” as I mentioned a couple of articles ago, I met Danita (cast of characters, friends and fam mentioned in this blog and their bios forthcoming) there and Lucky’s “Hot Dog Summer Menu” was available. I was not expecting this additional hot dog menu, but I welcomed it. After all, I was suspecting this whole time that by undertaking this project I’d hit right on the zeitgeist. There were five supplemental summer dogs on this menu. I ordered the Kahuna Dog – “a bacon wrapped dog stuffed with American Cheese and topped with Secret Spot Sauce (who?) and diced pineapple and jalapenos” AND a Tango Dog – “pepper jack cheese, pickled jalapeno and red onion, topped with a cilantro cream drizzle.” I’m beginning to recognize a pattern of me really being into jalapenos on dogs (a la the Seattle Dog from the Royal Tavern review). Danita! I do not remember what you ordered, but I know you had two dogs as well. UPDATE from D on 10/15: “I went with something old and something new — the Sgt. Pepper and the Cart Dog from the summertime special menu.” Thank you, somehow there are still 2 types of dogs I hadn’t tried for myself from Lucky’s, so I am happy these could be included. We split some cheesy tots and had about three drinks a piece. I know I went with a tiki vibe for my drink which was screamin’ summer to me at the time and will make a reappearance a couple of entries from now when I talk about me and Jim’s visit to Ortleib’s. I recall the flavor or the dogs themselves wasn’t as good as Royal Tavern, but lord the toasted sturdiness of the bun really saved these from dipping from a 4 to 3 squirt rating.

I have more detailed notes from the second visit to Lucky’s with the parents. It is worth mentioning now that the proximity of my home and my parents’ home to Lucky’s is desirable. It’s much closer to my parents – maybe a 5-minute walk – making it only a 15-minute walk for me. My parents were already big fans of this place and so was I (I did mention the PB & Bacon, right? What about the Pickle Monster?) long before this hot dog experiment came along. Every time I go there, there is no pretense. The menu is the same, but they always have a monthly or seasonal special which is right up my alley. I like the drinks and the service and there is always a seat for my ass. For a low key, “I didn’t feel like cooking tonight” kinda night (that’s like 6 nights out of the week for me, btw), Lucky’s is a top spot. That being said, it wasn’t hard to convince my parents to come with me there for an end of summer, tubed meat smorgasbord.

My mother ordered the My Boy Bleu burger, her preference for burgers > dogs cited last week, but my Dad joined me on a 5-dog sojourn and an order of fries for the table.

1). Last Chance Coney – I never went chilli on a dog before this moment and I’m not sure why! To me, the compliment to each other is undeniable; something very cowboy about chilli and a preserved pork pipe. Which makes me question how chili became the title topping of a northeast beach town? We will get to regional dogs eventually, but if anyone has an intel on this, please advise.

2). Stinker – garlic butter toasted, fried onions, prov, aioli and kraut. Sauerkraut is another topping I did not appreciate until recently, but here I think it overpowered the rest of the toppings it was combined with. I was really looking forward to having that garlic POP.

3). Voodoo – shredded cajun chicken, american cheese, onion strings and another one of those secret sauces. How many secrets can one establishment have? Best not to ask I suppose. This was our favorite of the night. My dad, who I most likely got my appreciation for hot dogs from as I’m coming to grasp, described this one as “damn good.” It was more like a meal than the others. Also, chicken on a hot dog? – that was super novel to me. 5 squirts!

4). Scorpion – mac & cheese and (hello again) jalapenos. If these dogs had personality this would be the most taciturn of four, which was unexpected given its name. Kept waiting for that scorpion’s sting! But it wasn’t really talking to me - there was not a lot of flavor added by either the mac & cheese or the jalapenos. I think I would have enjoyed both more separately.

5). My dad had ordered a “naked” dog as his control for the experiment. Way to get into it, Pop!

Two weeks ago, when my parents were heading back to Lucky’s for what is obviously their monthly requirement, I had actually asked them to get me a burger! A text from my dad in reply said, “Did we have the 1 Up Dog and/or the Norc Dog?”

“Neither!”

“You got em.”

That is how I came to try the last two (I must have had them all now – right?) of the Lucky’s Last Chance hot dogs.

The “1 Up Dog” is topped with sharp prov and sauteed mushrooms. The garlic aioli makes another appearance here and I was surprised by how much I liked this one. The cheese and the aioli stood out more on this than on the Stinker. And I don’t really mess with mushrooms, but they just – worked? I wouldn’t overlook this one, friends.

The Norc was another chilli dog, but instead of shredded cheddar like on the Coney, this came with mustard and raw onion. It only took a 2-dog arc for me to go from being into, to not so into chilli dogs. It’s ok – coulda just been whatever mood I was in that day.

Last update for this week is that I received back the annual blood work results that I was fearful of looking at this time last week. I haven’t followed up with my doctor yet, but from what I can see everything is looking good. I was “green” (numbers within the “normal” range) all the way down the panel. It even looks like my kidney function (that’s the eGFR reading, kiddos) has improved. Maybe eating all that “Lucky’s” is rubbing off – I mean, it’s in the name.

If you’d also like to improve your kidney function, try visiting Lucky’s at one of their two locations in Philly - Queen Village or Manayunk. They’re on IG @luckyslastchance as well.