Paolo Neville has been there and done that, cooking serious cuisine at fine-dining restaurants in California’s wine country and locally at The Med, Brasserie Ten Ten, and, most recently, Lafayette’s 95a Bistro.
At a recent wine dinner, Neville, adorned in his white chef’s jacket, served subtly spiced seared duck breast on a bed of tender red lentils with miso-glazed carrots and a scallion-black garlic cream with sesame.
“What I’ve done with food for 35 years is to try and tell a story, to elicit those emotions and feelings in diners,” he says.
But a couple of years ago, Neville started thinking about a new approach to telling stories with food and, in the process, adopted a new persona.
Flashing tattoos and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with cheeky puns, the sometime skateboarder started releasing “Fuckin’ Hot Dog Friday” videos on social media and rapidly developed a following. Each installment takes a brief dive into global variations of the hot dog.
“Every city around the world has some kind of sausage, an urban street food everybody loves,” Neville says.
To showcase the versatility of the humble sausage sandwich, Neville’s new Urban Hot Dog Collective truck is serving at events and tastings around Boulder County.
“There are things I’ve cooked in my food career that were just unapproachable, but people understand a hot dog,” he says.
As with most of us, Neville’s hot dog memories started early in life.
“For my grandmother, hot dogs were a quick, easy summer lunch she could throw on the table for the kids,” he says. “My first memories of going out for hot dogs was growing up in Boulder and going into Mustard’s Last Stand. Even as a kid I liked the Chicago dog. I didn’t mind the sport peppers.”
ELEVATING THE COMMON HOT DOG
Lamenting the bland manner in which many folks will dish dogs at backyard July Fourth gatherings, Neville has strong opinions about the component ingredients and techniques that deliver a great hot dog experience.
First, use high-quality meat.
“I use Vienna All Beef Dogs because they have that great beefy flavor, and just the right amount of salt, chew and juice,” he says.
Neville never boils them, preferring to sear dogs gradually on a flat griddle with a tiny bit of oil. He also wraps them with very thin, crispy bacon slices. For gas or charcoal grilling, Neville recommends cutting the sausage with crosshatch marks: “They open up as they grill and you get some nice charred edges.”
Other techniques include deep frying, beer steaming and smoking.
GRABBING THOSE PERFECT BUNS
Neville did deep R&D to find exactly the right bun, i.e., not those squishy, white side-cut buns.
“I’m a fan of New England split-top hot dog buns,” he says. “I have special buns baked that are big enough to hold all the fun toppings and condiments.”
The advantage of the New England split-top is that it has two flat sides that can be brushed with butter or oil and griddled until golden brown.
“The longer 7-inch dogs I use stick out a little bit on either side,” Neville says. “That first bite on the end with- out bun or toppings lets you know it’s a really good hot dog.”
FRANK TALK ON CONDIMENTS
Urban Hot Dog Collective offers some artisan combinations of toppings.
“I can apply all of my executive chef stuff, my 30 years of cooking experience, into making this one little meal totally out of this world,”
Neville says.
His Flaming Hot Dog is nestled in mac and cheese, sweet-spicy pickles, Flamin’ Hot Cheeto dust and cilantro-lime aioli. The Seoul Dog is crowned with Korean barbecue pork belly, house-made kimchi, sriracha aioli and green onions.
Naturally, the Boulder Dog is a spicy vegan sausage with basil pesto, beet relish and mustard “mayo.”
Neville’s patrons can also customize with over-the-top garnishes like candied habanero bacon, Texas barbecue brisket, fried jalapeños, street corn and cotija cheese.
Despite those temptations, the chef’s bestseller is his Chicago-style dog nestled in a kitchen sink of condiments: pickles, tomato, onion, relish, sport peppers and celery salt.
“My philosophy is that people should enjoy them however they want them,” Neville says. “I’m not a hot dog snob. If customers want a plain dog with ketchup, it’s fine. It connects them to how they felt as a kid.”
Neville’s newfound wiener fame has not come without a little culinary backlash.
“I’ve been ridiculed online, often by other chefs who see my hot dog videos,” he says. “They say: ‘You’re not a chef.’ Really? Just for making a hot dog?”
On a personal level, after decades of work, Neville is also able to have fun.
“When you’re a chef working in a kitchen on a Friday night, you’re not getting that visceral reaction when somebody tastes your food,” he says. “On the truck, I actually hand them something they can just bite into. It gets people to have fun with food. It’s diametrically opposed to your fine dining chef-y thing.”
LOCAL FOOD NEWS: COLORADO’S CONEY ISLAND
● The Casa Bonita of Colorado hot dog stands, South Park Coney Island, has reopened in Bailey (10 Old Stagecoach Road, Suite 973) under new ownership. The experience was always better than the hot dogs.
● Deun Deun Box is open at 1107 13th St. on the Hill in Boulder serving Korean lunch box-style cuisine.
● Louisville’s Punch Buggy Shave Ice has opened a second shop dishing cool sweetness at 400 W. South Boulder Road next to Button Rock Bakery (deli and sushi bar).
● Best new name for a Boulder County food truck business: Falafayette, serving Middle Eastern fare. Find them: facebook.com/falafayette
WORDS TO CHEW ON: BUTTER-DIPPED
“Eating an artichoke is like getting to know someone really well.” — Willi Hastings
