dranky drank

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a four course hot dog dinner at Trina’s Starlite in Inman Square. Overwhelming hot dog? Haute hot dog? Hot dog on a stick, coated in corn meal, then deep fried to a caramel crisp? Answer: not quite any of the above.

The blogger’s event featured (and I’m not sure whether to your real names or your online handles… so here we go): Julia Rappaport, FoodieMommy, RitaRepulsa, ToastRusso, ManlyEats, EatBoston, Amy Traverso, The Boston Foodie, and CambridgeCarrie. Thanks for all the hilarious dating tales, guys, and thanks to Nicole for organizing it.

I was treated to dishes like ponzu-braised banh mi dog (a slivered hot dog, topped with a carrot and cucumber salad and pickled sweet onion) which struck me more for its inspired wine pairing. Riffing on the classic Vietnamese sandwich, it maintained the American bun but added a fluorescent slaw and flavor-soaked strips of dog.

Ponzu-braised banh mi dog, cucumber carrot salad, sweet soy aioli, pickled sweet onions

My first thought: too salty. But then I took a sip of the wine, a pinot blanc, and it all came into focus. In tandem, the wine pinned down the flavors of the banh mi, cleansing the palate and made the saltiness a pleasant counterpoint, rather than overwhelming. I’m pretty uneducated on matters of wine, but it’s moments like these where I wake up for a second and think, wow, this is really greater than the sum of its parts.

Applewood smoked bacon, baked beans, melted jack, and aged cheddar

Course three, a superbly done frank ‘n beans, was all melty, cheesey goodness, also well-paired with Berkshire Brewing Company’s coffee house porter. I think this is where I like Trina’s best, although I appreciate the ambitiousness of the banh mi dog. They are very, very good at taking a classic and doing it better and wittier.

Proof from their menu:

Dessert was equally as witty: a cheesecake dog with bacon caramel sauce. After two very rich entrees, Chef Suzi wisely chose to keep the cheesecake dog light, the flavor coming from the sweet-salty notes of the sauce. I’d be curious to see her do it again, this time with a more traditional cheesecake flavor and texture – creamier and heavier, but balancing it out with a lighter sauce.

Cheesecake dog, bacon caramel sauce

And a lesson on how to get onto Twitter:

“Would this be a manly dessert?” someone asked the man responsible for ManlyEats.

“Manly dessert is a bottle of vodka and a prostitute,” I said, in a fit of inspiration.

This was consequently tweeted, then retweeted.

Related posts:

1. Masa’s in Porter Square Exchange Mall serves some really awful sushi
2. A love affair with coffee shops – The Biscuit in Somerville
3. In lieu of a real post, here’s some hot sauce.
4. Excess, Delicious Excess: 5 Course Meal at Crabtree’s Kittle House Inn, Chappaqua, NY
5. Finding Vietnam in Dorchester: Boston’s Best Banh Mi?