G-Dogs - The New Guy In Town

There’s a new hot dog stand in Hoover. G-Dogs has just recently opened in the Plaza at Riverchase shopping center, at 1837 Highway 31 south. They are located at the Data Drive end of the strip shopping center where Hobby Lobby is located. The abundant parking and easy access seems to make this a good area for eating establishments as there are several others close by.

Robert had spotted G-Dogs and realized that it was a new place. It didn’t take long before we went for a lunchtime visit since it is fairly close to our offices. We arrived to find a clean and brightly decorated little place with lots of windows. Located on the end of the shopping center the building has not only the usual windows facing the front but also on the side. This side of the café looks out on a covered area containing a couple of outside tables. This looks like it would be a pleasant place to eat, especially on the mild days we have been having. The thought had entered my mind to eat out there but we ran into a friend of Robert’s and ended up eating with him inside.

It turns out that there is another G-Dogs located in Pinson that until now had totally escaped our attention. The new Hoover location is a joint venture of Charles Matsos, of the Golden Rule Bar BQ chain and Paul Curcio, owner of the Golden Rule in Pelham. On the day we were there, Paul was working behind the counter.

So how was the food? It was very good! The name, G-Dogs, is short for Good Dogs and is not misnamed. Like all of the other Birmingham hot dog sellers they use a hot dog sauce made from their own recipe. These sauces are all similar, yet unique. The G-Dogs sauce is one of the best that I have had.

We both started with a special consisting of two dogs, fries and a drink. We each chose a hot dog and a chili cheese dog, both all the way. The menu has some other tempting items; but we stuck to our usual plan of trying a hot dog and a chili dog on a first visit. Two of the other dogs we noticed were a bacon dog and an Irondale Dog. It turns out that the Irondale dog is a hot dog with slaw and topped with Golden Rule Bar BQ. This is only the second time we have encountered a hot dog with Bar BQ added as a topping so we had to try one. After we had finished our first dogs we ordered just one Irondale dog which we cut in half so we could give it a try. This Irondale is totally different from the Q-Dog we had previously loved, but was good. We both agreed that even though it was good it needs a little Bar BQ sauce to top it off. Robert suggested this addition to Paul before we left; so we are hopeful that the next Irondale dogs we have will include Bar BQ sauce.

A day later I ran into a friend who started telling me about how he had eaten a foot long hot dog at G-Dogs in Hoover. I guess word is getting around about this place. I suspect that there will be more G-Dogs locations opening in the future. According to the Birmingham News, they have their eyes on several locations around the area as well as downtown. I also suspect that I will be having more good dogs from G-Dogs in the future.