Big Dog Daddy’s
1 of 2
photo by Talia Hodge
2 of 2
photo by Talia Hodge
Big Dog Daddy’s chef and owner, Kirk Davenport, likes to personally deliver the 7-inch, quarter-pound loaded Hoggy Doggy to diners at his Medina restaurant — and offer some advice.
“Grab a camera and take a picture — this is going to be fun!” says Davenport of eating the deep-fried, bacon-wrapped hot dog ($13), smothered with mac ‘n’ cheese, pulled pork, house Carolina mustard and house barbecue sauce. “It’s a big, heaping pile. … You’re looking at this thing like, Wow!”
The filling meal starts with a high-quality beef and pork hot dog — smoked and naturally cased, with no fillers — from Brookview Farm in Archbold, Ohio. It’s wrapped in natural, hardwood-smoked bacon and then cooked in the deep-fryer, adding crispiness. Davenport layers the dog with pulled pork, made from smoking pork butts for 12 hours over local cherry and oak woods until it’s pull-apart tender. Then, he piles on mac ‘n’ cheese made from cheddar and American cheeses, without roux — that way, it’s not overly thick, but instead creamier and cheesier. Two house-made sauces are added for punches of flavor — a Carolina mustard, crafted with mustard, honey, apple cider vinegar and cayenne, and an original barbecue sauce, made with brown sugar, molasses, honey, liquid smoke, smoked paprika and chipotle powder.
“It’s got a little bite of the mustard, the sweetness of the honey and the tang of the cider vinegar,” he says of the mustard. “I like sweet and smoky. I lean toward a Kansas City-style barbecue sauce,” he adds of the barbecue.
With layered flavors and textures, it’s one messy hot dog — but that’s what Davenport intended.
“You’re going to have that snap from the hot dog, the crunch from the bacon. You’re going to have the smokiness from that pulled pork,” he says. “Then it’s gonna hit you with the cheese flavors.”
Some people devour the Hoggy Doggy using a fork and knife, while others just dig in and embrace the sloppiness of the top-selling dish, which brings back repeat customers.
“It’s fun to eat. They look at it like, Oh, my gosh. This thing is crazy. I can’t wait to get into it,” Davenport says. “It’s almost sinful.”
320 S. Court St., Medina, 330-952-1870, bigdogdaddys.com
