Why The Dog Face, Jonathan?

LA Weekly readers will notice that Jonathan Gold (ahem, PulitzerPrizeWinning-FoodWriterExtraordinaire-JonathanGold is his official title, I believe) has been a little obsessed with hot dogs lately. First there was his extended meditation on his father's food legacy and the importance of the Chicago-style hot dog: "weekends were often dominated by [Gold Sr's] search for hot dogs in Los Angeles, and he would drive me and my brothers around for hours in the old Studebaker on the rare occasions he found a stand that he liked." Gold's best bets for Chicago-style in L.A.? The Infield in Sherman Oaks, Portillo's in Buena Park, and Vicious Dogs in North Hollywood.

And in this week's edition, he travels to the far reaches of Reseda to find a veritable panoply of dog varieties at Fab Dogs: chili cheese dogs, slaw dogs, Jersey-style Italian sausages, dogs wrapped in bacon and topped with jalapenos, even, I kid you not, a version of the infamous OkiDog: two dogs, pastrami, and cheese, all wrapped up in tortillas like a burrito. Looks like Fab has some major balls to go with those weiners.

Summer is as good a time as any to indulge in a good old fashioned frank -- and it's always important for Angelenos to remember that Pink's is far (far far far) from the be-all, end-all of L.A. dogs. Here are some of LAist's favorites: Skooby's in Hollywood, Let's Be Frank in Culver City, The Stand in Westwood, the Original Tommy's on Rampart, and of course, the $1.50 deal at Costco.