Gilley's Hot Dogs ~ A Hot Dog Joint Review

Two of the four members of the Yank's Franks research team, The Hot Dog King and I traveled south to Portsmouth, New Hampster today. Our destination was the little hot dog joint known as Gilley's PM Lunch.

The place is a really cool, old wooden diner. Built in 1940 by The Worcester Diner Company it is the only one of the original five built that continues in full operation. It's very small, but really neat.

Today's lunch for The HDK was going to be a cheeseburger and fries. While he was ordering I noticed a menu item that was unfamiliar to me (what fun!!!). I asked, "what is poutine?" As the person behind the counter described the French Fries covered in cheddar cheese curds and brown gravy, The Hot Dog King quickly adjusted his order and changed his fries to Poutine.

The HDK really liked his hamburger. He and I had a long discussion about the size...is it 4 ounces, no that would be a quarter pound. Is it a 2 ounce slider, no it seems bigger. We settled on 3 ounces. Normally we would simply asked the person behind the counter, and normally that person would give us even more information than we asked for. Not here, it was apparent that these folks were a little short on "friendly." Perhaps they attended the Flo's Hot Dogs School of Customer Service. I just don't get it.

For me, of course I was immediately attracted to the Chili Dog. Hey! Wait a minute, they also have Chili Fries. With regard to my Chili Dog...the good news was, there was plenty of chili and both the dog and the chili were pretty good (steamed dog on a steamed bun, I'm starting to get used to it). The bad news, look at the photo. How the heck was I to eat that. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind eating a generous chili dog with a fork and knife, but perhaps due to Homeland Security issues, Gilley's doesn't have plastic knives. At the suggestion of the "less than friendly" hot dogger on duty, I took an extra fork and attempted to mangle my dog into submission. It was a nasty fight in which both the chili dog and I ended up on the floor. In the end, I was victorious and the chili dog was very good.

As for the Chili Fries, they were delicious. Fortunately, there were some that were not slathered in chili so I was able to get a taste of just the French Fries. The plain fries were also very good.

Overall, I certainly would return to Gilley's for the food. Everything was good. If I wanted to make friends and have an awesome dessert, I would head across town to Roly's English Fudge where the people are super nice and the fudge is super delicious.

Frankly, Yank's Franks has the NICEST hot doggers!

No, I didn't misspell New Hampshire, I did it on porpoise.