Big news in West Ashley this week – Jack’s Cosmic Dogs opened their new location here this week! And, as I mentioned in the Snap’en Dog review, Lisa doesn’t eat hot dogs, so it is up to me once again to do a review.
I’d been anxiously watching the progress on this restaurant over the summer and was surprised to see the “Open” sign lit late in the afternoon on Monday 9/12 as there had been no mention of the opening date on either FB or Jack’s website. I knew where I’d be having lunch on Tuesday!
Having grown up in NYC, I’ve missed places like Papaya King, Nathans (the real one – Coney Island), Walters etc. and there aren’t a lot of options in SC for spicy dogs in natural casings. While I have come to appreciate the ubiquitous southern chili dogs, those are invariably skinless, somewhat bland with most of the taste coming from the chili, with yellow mustard. There isn’t a lot of mouth satisfaction from biting through a skinless dog.
I’ve read other reviewers mentioning that they found Jack’s dogs to be bland and overwhelmed by the toppings. I did tend to agree with them until Jack’s began offering knockwurst as an upsell to any dog on the menu.
Today I ordered 2 Krypto Krauts with the knockwurst upsell, small fries and a drink. The Krypto Krauts come topped with spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut. The knockwurst was split lengthwise and grilled to perfection with a very good spicy taste of its own. The natural casing provided an excellent mouth experience with quite a snap when bitten through. The mustard seems to be heavy on the horseradish and comes with a good kick and the sauerkraut is as good as any I had in NYC. The buns were a step up from the usual supermarket generics and had enough body to handle the large knockwurst and toppings. The buns also did not get soggy from the sauerkraut which is a big plus. The fries are long and thin and deep fried to near perfection. I believe that Jack’s uses peanut oil (I greatly prefer duck fat for making fries but I’m sure that would be prohibitive here). I liked the fries a lot, they are certainly better than any you’d find at a fast food chain.
Jack’s has added some new items unique to the West Ashley location – A Reese’s shake, PB&J shake, a couple of new chicken sandwiches and, for those of you from Jersey they now have Taylor Porkroll!
If you’re a hot dog fan in West Ashley, you should try try this place out. Go for the knockwurst upsell, it is seriously worth the additional .95!
