Blog Dog Championship Tourney Match #4

Welcome to the last match of round number one. 

Sam’s Club Vs. Tusk and Trotter

On paper this is a total mismatch.  In one corner is a hot dog I can get WITH a large fountain drink for $1.50.  The other is a $12 KOBE beef hot dog at one of the coolest restaurants in Northwest Arkansas.  This one should be easy.

Sam’s Club

I could spend $10,000 at a Sam’s Club without breaking a sweat.  Since I live in Walmart’s backyard, it should come as no surprise that the Sam’s Clubs around here are really nice.  The lovely wife and I love taking the kids to Sam’s on weekends and picking up some fruit, which is always good at Sam’s, and helping ourselves to all the samples that are being hocked all over the store.  Sam’s used to carry baseball cards, but I haven’t seen them offered for a long time. It’s probably just as well they don’t.  Sam’s has a nice little snack area, and offer a hot dog/soda combo for $1.50.  And it’s a Nathan’s Hot Dog.  And it’s a Jumbo Size:

And guess what?  So far, this may be the best hot dog I’ve had this whole tournament!  I’m sure if taking a picture of a stupid hot dog didn’t draw enough attention to me, my moans of ecstasy did.   This was so good I just wanted to run around the store and urge everyone else to go get a Sam’s hot dog.  And for $1.50?  I’m going to have this for lunch every day!    Tusk and Trotter, you are in big time trouble…

Fortunately for T&T, I had a few days between hot dogs to get over my euphoria over the Sam’s Club hot dog.  The lovely wife met me for lunch, and we sat down at one of our favorite new places around. 

This is a total guy’s restaurant.  So of course, there has to be a hot dog on the menu.  It’s an expensive hot dog, but a hot dog nonetheless.  Here is what a $12 hot dog looks like.

I have to admit, I was a little let down.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a superb hot dog.  The meat was out of this world, and the toppings were great, even though they didn’t exactly follow the mustard/relish guideline.  But the bread, while looking beautiful, was too dry for me.  I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be that way, or just stale.  Whatever, I didn’t like it.  

So, spread the news:  Sam’s Club $1.50 hot dog just beat a $12 Hot Dog at a top shelf restaurant.  This is going to send shockwaves through the blogging and foodie worlds, I can feel it.

Even though this round ended on such an exciting note, I can’t take another hot dog right now.    My guess is that those of you who read my blog would like me to move on to something else, too.    To complete this tournament properly, I would need two more rounds, which would mean 3 more match ups, and 6 more hot dogs.  I love hot dogs and I would like it to stay that way by not getting burned out on one of my favorite things.  Should I suck it up and figure out a champion?  I’ll post an anonymous poll question on the sidebar.    I will abide by whatever the results dictate I do.