Full Moon Bar-B-Que - What's A Moon Dog?

What in the world is a moon dog? The Moon dog is the hot dog on the menu at Full Moon Bar B Q in Birmingham. I will admit that ordering a hot dog at a good Bar B Q restaurant is really strange. I was first introduced to the moon dog by Brenda who worked with me for many years. If it wasn't for her I still would never have tried a moon dog. She thought I would like it and she was right!

The moon dog is a hot dog done on the grill that has been topped with Full Moon's superb Bar B Q sauce and an abundant amount of their chow-chow. It could almost be called a Bar B Q hot dog; it is really good! I am one who likes to add a little red pepper or Tabasco sauce to a hot dog, but that isn't necessary with the moon dog which is pretty spicy as served.

The obvious problem here for my brother and I is that we both REALLY like good Bar B Q and it is difficult to beat the Bar B Q at Full Moon. So, why would you order a hot dog rather than more Bar B Q? What can I say... let's just blame Brenda. What did we order? Since they don't offer a chili dog we didn't really need to order 2 dogs each, so we ordered a moon dog for each of us and a JUMBO bar B Q sandwich (that we split). Though available we skipped the usual hot dog side of chips and ordered some fries. That way we got our hot dogs as well as Bar B Q, a little of two great worlds. It made a great lunch for us both. (Should we start a Bar B Q tour next? I don't even want to think about it right now.)

This was my brother's first introduction to the moon dog. His reaction was positive.

Here's a practical suggestion; if you are ever getting take-outs from Full Moon just add a moon dog to the order and eat it before you get home or wherever you are going with the take-out. You might even go out of your way to make this happen... really help everybody out by doing the pickup.

We had lunch at Full Moon, but I returned late in the day to take a few pictures just after sunset when the light has that magical quality. I was standing outside taking a couple of pictures of the neon signs in the windows when I noticed a group at a table waving at me through the window. I went inside and asked if they wanted their picture "took". They were all smiles and said yes. The guy in the red shirt looks something like a young man who worked with me a couple of years ago, so much so that through the window I thought it might be him. So I went in to talk with them.

I told them why I was there and about the hot dog blog. When I asked if any of them had ordered a moon dog or had ever had one I was told that they hadn't. Then one of them asked me; "Have you ever been to Sam's?" We agreed that Sam has great hot dogs, maybe the best in Birmingham.

So my subjective comments:

• It's hard to order a hot dog at a Bar B Q restaurant when you can smell the bar B Q!
• But maybe it should be done on occasion.
• The Moon Dog is not your usual hot dog but is very good and certainly worth getting creative in figuring out when to order.
• Brenda was right as usual!
• It looks like we need to visit Sam's soon.