Headed back from Pennsylvania, just me and the wife, with the daughter left behind, with college, new friends and experiences ahead of her, while Maw and Paw headed back to the empty homestead. We drove north on I-95 then switched over to the Garden State Parkway where we stopped at the Whitney Houston Service Area for gas and something to eat. The service areas on the Garden State are all named after famous New Jersey people: Frank Sinatra, Jon Bon Jovi, James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano), Connie Chung, Lary Doby (first black to play baseball in the American League among others. (Bruce Springsteen was asked and declined). If I was the Hot Dog Master of the Universe, I would name each stop after a famous hot dog person, and each stop would have to carry that type of hot dawg. At the Jimmy Bluff Racioppi (Founder of Jimmy Buff’s) stop, you would get an Italian hot dog with all the onions, peppers and potatoes, At the Joey Chestnut Service Area, you could get a Nathan’s bun length dog (Of course you would have to eat it within ten minutes). At the Upton Sinclair Stop, you would get a rat dog, etc.
On the way up the Garden State, I was already thinking about my day’s dog. I was hoping we could make it as far as the James Gandolfini stop where I knew they had a Nathan’s hot dogs, but we were low on gas so we turned right for Whitney. Walking in the rest stop, I saw a sign for Auntie Ann’s and was psyched I could finally try one of her pretzel dogs. Unfortunately, they were out. The staff was wrapping some mini dogs in pretzel dough, but they would not be ready for awhile. Bummer. I walked over to Shake Shake and was pleased to see they had Flat Top dogs for only $4.89. I ordered one to go. They made it up special. A split all beef Vienna dog grilled and served in a warm potato bun.
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I ate it while we got gas. In New Jersey, you are not allowed to pump your own gas, a trained attendant has to do it. You can be fined up to $500 if you try. The law keeps a lot of attendants employed. How about a law requiring all hot dog restaurants to have an attendant at the condiment station, who would apply ketchup, mustard, relish, onions to your dog? Not that I needed one. I took my dog plain. While the attendant pumped my gas, I unwrapped and at my Flat-Top Dog, finishing it before the attendant brought my credit card back with the receipt for $69.87 for gas. $4.19 a gallon for regular. The dog wasn’t bad, very juicy and oily. Some of the juice left stains on my blue jeans.