You Fancy, Huh? Gourmet Hot Dogs In TO

Nothing quite says summer like a good ol’ hot dog. And I don’t think there’s a hot dog joint in Toronto that’s more creative and fun than Fancy Franks. I finally had a chance to drop by the popular College St. destination with my photog this weekend.

The first thing we noticed when we walked through the door was the wall of vintage photos. The nostalgic images of hot dog gluttony put a smile on our faces and took us straight to New York.

This resto is not just hype and brilliant marketing; these guys are serious about their franks! The dog is 100% beef stuffed into a lamb casing. The meat comes from a local butcher and they buy their produce from Kensington Market.

After staring at the menu for a few minutes, we decided to put our fate in the hands of the general manager. We asked him to bring out some of his faves and ended up trying three fancy franks:

1) Franks Got Seoul ($7.50 – Korean beef ribs, kimchi, sesame seeds and scallions). The beef ribs were juicy and tasty!

2) Franks Coney Island ($6.50 – chili, chopped onions, mustard). We really liked the combo of flavours on this hot dog. Bonus: the chili is fresh and made in house.

3) Frankie Goes To Buffalo ($7.25 – chicken bacon, carrots, celery, blue cheese dressing, buffalo wing sauce all on a panko fried weiner). This was definitely our favourite frank: we loved the flavours and the name (so cute). The chicken bacon, celery and carrots added a nice crunch. If you like wings, this is the dog for you!

We also tried The Corn Dog ($6.25), but weren’t big fans – although it’s hand-dipped onsite, the batter was a bit thick and overdone. But the Traditional Poutine ($5.50) made up for it! It was drool-worthy and had just the right amount of squeaky curds and gravy.

And then the milkshakes ($4.25) happened. We ordered a half-vanilla-half-strawberry and a half-vanilla-half-chocolate (recommended by the staff). They were honestly the best milkshakes I’ve had in a loooong time. What made them so good? Loads and loads of ice cream (this aint no watered down milkshake).

At this point we were stuffed to the brim, but couldn’t resist the made-to-order mini donuts! Who can say no to mini donuts?! Our fave was the cinnamon glazed ($3.25/half dozen, $5.25/dozen).

OK, so whatchia waiting for? Get in there! Pretty much everybody loves a good hot dog (we saw parents, students, kids and bffs happily devouring their franks during our visit). Oh, and there are even more adventurous dogs for those looking to try something really fancy. Happy feasting!

Special thanks to Fancy Franks for hosting us for lunch. As always, all reviews and opinions are entirely our own.