Relish Gourmet Hotdogs

With a delicious coney dog or two on my mind, I made the trek to Cartlandia but Relish was nowhere to be found. As the most recent Unilocal review is from mid 2012, and the most recent update to the Relish website is also from mid 2012, it appears that Relish is gone and they forgot to let us know — damn those dogs looked good, I’ll wipe my tears of disappointment and head to Roakes.

Out of business!!! Or at least no longer in the same cart!!! Now it’s pizza!!! Grrr I want hot dog!

I have tried 3 items from Relish, and have enjoyed each of them. My first experience with Relish was the Farm Fries (french fries covered in thousand island, caramelized onions, and melted american cheese). It was a huge portion, and me and my wife were unable to conquer the mountain. As the cheese congealed they became less palatable, but they are great for the first five minutes. On our second visit my wife and I split a Southwestern and a regular fry. Delicious and filling.
My wife and I go to Cartlandia several times a week, and this is the only cart that we’ve ate at more than once!

Why a hot dog and not a hot cat? Feeling philosophical and perhaps a wee bit tipsy, I decided to find out.
The top result on Ask (the search engine formerly run by the Butler Jeeves, who was let go after getting caught with Miss Scarlet in the billiard room laying some lead pipe) was a cat video. Similar searches on other search engines returned the same results.
That’s right. A cat video.
In this particular video, The Cat, is dressed as a hot dog while eating a homemade hot dog. I find this disturbing on just so many levels. Are we promoting cannibalism with this video? Who thinks dressing a cat up as a hot dog is a good use of their time and more importantly what does it do to the cat’s psyche? And who the hell makes homemade hot dogs for their cats?
And then the million dollar question: Why the sudden obsession with cat videos?
Dear world, have we really come to this? Are we a better place because I joined 124,110 others and wasted 42 seconds of my life watching «Cats Enjoy Homemade Hot Dog»?
For fuck’s sake, the first Internet Cat Video Film Festival was held just last night.
Then I go to read my latest issue of Wired magazine, and there is a featured article on… CAT VIDEOS. And some cat named Maru (a real cat, not a hip dude).
Maru is apparently the most famous feline on the Interwebs. 8.1 million people have watched «Maru gets into a box», while 3.1 million have watched «Maru gets in some boxes». Sequels never do as well as the original.
Maru has over 168 million views on You Tube. He has a greatest hits videos. Maru has a US book publicist, book editor and a Japanese agent.
And I’m sure it won’t be long before this rich furry little fucker wants to has my Cheezburger.
Fine, but there is no way in hell I’m letting him have my hot dog.
Which is why I needed to go to Relish.
Friendly people serving fantastic hot dogs. Top notch.
What’s that? Want to add some onion rings, cheese and bbq sauce to your hot dog? Sounds Puuuuurfect.

It’s a little pricey, but they are specialty hot dogs. I’ve tried several different varieties and I’ve enjoyed them all. They cerainly don’t scrimp on the toppings. I’ve also had the cheese fries and can say that there’s plenty of cheese and the large is a huge portion. They also have chips and canned sodas at a reasonable enough price. I keep going back because I do enjoy a good dog.

I didn’t have a hot dog but one of my friends ordered the garlic fries and wow. .. so amazingly good! HUGE basket of fries, the 7 of us all enjoyed them:) A great appetizer to get for a group!

2 words… GARLIC FRIES!
Oh my God these are delicious! We have had them 2x this week already. They put a lot of garlic on and their garlic aoli dipping sauce, I could eat plain.
The only hot dog I have tried is the Coney. The dog was crispy on the outside and the chili was full of flavor. Lots of cheese on it and fresh onions.
Next on my agenda is that Bacon and Blue!

Certainly five stars for the friendliness of the people at this cart and their creative dogs.
This was my first visit to Cartlandia. I was surprised that cars can be driven in and parked right in the middle of the pod, for better or for worse.
I suppose there was a certain irony to ordering a hot dog right next to the trail (Johnson Creek) that I was jogging on only a few hours earlier. I ordered Relish’s bacon hot dog with carmelized onions and garlic aioli (but without the default bleu cheese). I’ve loved bacon-​wrapped hot dogs ever since I had one from a food cart in Morelia, Mexico late one night a few years back after a night of clubbing.
It was pretty cool that when I said to hold the bleu cheese the guy knocked the price down and offered to add more bacon, free of charge. Of course, I agreed!
Relish does their bacon a little differently. Instead of wrapping it around the wiener, they serve it in pieces on top along with the very nicely carmelized onions. The dog was pretty good, but the wiener meat was not the best in quality. And, the garlic in the aioli was overbearing.
Still, I’d like to come back and try Relish’s Coney Island fries, because I already know that I like Coney Island sauce, having had it for the first time earlier this week on a sausage from Otto’s.

So waited a few days to write this to temper the experience. So first off the owner is super friendly and helpful. I ordered per his recommendation the Black and Blue that I have heard so much about on Unilocal.After discarding half an onion I finally found the hot dog which was tasty very little blue cheese though even before the onion disposal process. Second bit of my meal the Coney fries the coney/​chili sauce was actually very good. However, the fries were under fried. What started out as a chili/​cheesy crispy fry master piece dissolved once past the first inch of exposed fries in the basket into a raw potato mess.
Overall good effort this cart needs some tuning.

Back for more hot dog awesomeness…
I kept eyeing the pot of chili for the coney hot dogs. I wanted to just take the pot and start chugging chili right there inside the cart. That stuff is street-​dancing panda good. All meat and worth every last morsel.
Chris said the Bacon ‘n Bleu hot dog was one of his favorites and a top-​selling menu item. Oh heck, why not give that one a go? I mean, it’s BACON. (pork lovers start salivating and swooning)
However, bleu cheese and I have a short, yet iffy relationship. I wasn’t exposed to it much growing up, and its bite/​aftertaste at one point wanted me to spit it out and completely Chuck Norris roundhouse kick that product to the next galaxy. Now, I at least tolerate bleu cheese more, but again won’t be running over anyone like the loonies on Black Friday to get a zillion containers or blocks of it.
Chris worked his magic on the grill, grilling/​steaming up the plump hot dogs and toasting the buns. Caramelized onions, bleu cheese, and «meat crack» made their way on the flattop. The inside of the cart produced hypnotizing aromas.
«Come hither, my fine friend…»
«Yes, master…»
Chris constructed the finished product. Bun, wiener, garlic cracked pepper aioli (?!), caramelized onions, semi-​melted bleu cheese, sexy bacon. The finished product was a thick hot dog on steroids. This bacon and bleu went to the gym, benched about 500 pounds, and ate other smaller hot dogs! «Scalpel! I mean… fork and knife!»
The savoriness of wiener and bacon stand up to the bleu cheese bite, and the onions add that refreshing feel. Isn’t this similar to why steak and onions rule? Slowly starting to embrace more bleu cheese in my life…
I ate about half at the cart and intended to take the rest home. It never reached its final destination.
(me: «me hungry!»)
(chomp chomp chomp)
(screams)
(happy Aaron in next scene)
Chris hits a home run with this one! He had an artichoke hot dog special that I seriously considered, but I’ll save it for another day. As of this post, Chris’ latest special is the «Seattle Dog» (garlic cream cheese spread, caramelized onions, sauerkraut, and dijon mustard).
I learned more about Chris’ plans for the cart, which include several new hot dog ideas. I’ll let Chris do any official unveiling of new specials, but let’s just say I’ll be very pleased if even a few of his many ideas become reality.

The bacon and blue dog was so delicious! Very filling, I wanted to try the coney but I was stuffed. The sauteed onions were amazing! Well done relish

This has to be one of my favorite hot dog carts, i got introduced to Chris & Emily when they started there venture into this heavenly cart and Chris has been a steady customer of mine, so returning the favor i was there at his soft opening and he does not let ya down.
I had the bacon & blue and god I’ll tell you OMG GTFO it was truly the best one, caramelized onions, bacon (mmm bacon) blue cheese and a garlic aioli sauce that is to die for, super soft bun it was DA bomb, now mind you i know at least 20 different cart owners that do hot dogs but Chris does it to a whole nother level and it shows, so if your out there and you want something mind blowing take it (your ass) to Relish you wont be disappointed unless he is closed.
Chris & Emily you two have some super energy going on and people will feel it hell «you build it & they will come» as they say, so Portland, Vancouver and all surrounding areas be prepared for the best dog you have ever tried.
Keep Portland weird eat at the Carts (especially this one)

It’s a hotdog. How good can it be right? VERY good. The first thing you’ll notice about this dog stand is the stand itself. I can honestly say that this is the best looking food cart that I have every seen. The amount of time and effort that it must have taken to create such a beautiful looking cart tells you something about how much pride the owners take in their business and their food.
As far as the food goes, it’s delicious. I picked the bacon and bleu dog which is covered in sautéed onions, bacon and creamy blue cheese. All of the flavors worked so well together, complementing each other for the best dog I’ve ever had. The sausage itself is of very good quality, was garlicky, spicy and had that very important satisfying «snap» to it. To top things off, the owners were about as nice as you can imagine and were more than helpful aiding me in my choice. Oh and did I mention, the portions are HUGE. Definitely give this place a try.

I had heard of Relish from my friend and had to visit to grab a dog. I ordered the special of the day which was the mexi-​dog. It was out of this world. I would say their dogs are great and the owner was awesome. Their stand and equipment was new, top of the line and very clean. I highly recommend trying them out.