Xtreme Loaded Dawgs

I usually don’t splurge for hot dogs at the ballpark, but it was the 4^th of July, so I figured, what the hell. I tried the Heater dog (all beef dog slathered in buffalo wing sauce, topped with blue cheese cole slaw) and it was, hands down, the best hot dog I’ve ever had at a ballpark. The bun was fresh, the hot dog was full of flavor (all beef, I was told), and while I was dubious about the blue cheese cole slaw, it really worked well in conjunction with the buffalo wing sauce on the dog. I had eaten half the dog before I even got back to my seat.
There were about a half dozen other varieties, including a Mac & Cheese dog, but I was very pleased with my choice, and not sure when I’ll get around to trying the others.
The dog was $ 6.00, which is a little rich for my blood — in fact, I want to give this a 4.5 on account of the price but what the hell, I’ll round it up. Honestly, even considering the price, I might start getting one of these every time I come to the ballpark. I haven’t liked anything else I’ve tried at Nats park half so much.
Excellent food option, hope it stays around.

Ok. So my boyfriend and I love all things baseball– but especially the beer and the hotdogs. Prior to this season we read that Xtreme Loaded Dawgs was coming to Nationals Park on Serious Eats (website) where they were featuring «Major League Baseball’s Best and Craziest Ballpark Hot Dogs for 2011». We could not have been more excited. We started researching and learned that they were a self-​described hot dog concept stand which was supposed to feature awesome things — like a bahn mi Vietnamese style hotdog, hotdogs with mac and cheese and Fritos (The Big Kid Dog), hotdogs with chili and Fritos (The Frito Pie). This all sounded amazing. So last night we went to our first game of the year and ventured out around the 6^th inning to find some hotdogs. The stand (where Teddy’s Barbecue used to be in center field) was dark, to the point that we had to ask if they were open. They didn’t have the bahn mi style hotdog as advertised, which very much disappointed my boyfriend. We decided on splitting The Frito Pie (don’t worry we were only splitting because we’d both already had dogs in Das Bullpen and were planning on nachos). The Frito Pie dog was a TOTAL LET DOWN! A) They weren’t Fritos. Yes, let me repeat: The FRITO Pie dog doesn’t actually have Fritos but instead tiny crumbs of tortilla chips, so small that you could barely notice them adrift in the chili. The chili was fine, the dog was fine– it made for a decent chili dog. But seriously? Totally disappointed. I was getting excited the Shake Shack coming soon, but now I’m afraid they’re gonna tell us they’re out of shakes and serve veggie dogs or something.
Really hope this improves, it had a lot of potential :(
(oh and seriously «Xtreme Loaded Dawgs» — c’mon what a ridiculous name)