It’s Spring Bike Weekend and the islands are rumbling with the influx of motorcycles. One of the bonuses of living in a resort town comes this time of year. It’s like Foodie Christmas as restaurants old and new begin opening on weekends. My boyfriend and I recently drove past Maui’s Dog House, which spends the winters boarded up. Our conversation stopped and our heads whipped around as we noticed a single human ordering from the wide open façade of the little yellow shanty. We immediately set a date for lunch.
After a Phillies dollar dog day fiasco last August, I’ve been too afraid to risk a repeat incident. However, we were blessed with a gorgeous afternoon to sit outside in the sun and paired with Maui’s ridiculously extensive hot dog options, that was all the encouragement I needed. Maui’s menu offers dogs naked, dressed, drunk, sloppy, sacrilegious and any other way you like them! They serve everything in a dog food bowls, which makes for an order of fries big enough to share with the whole table. They also serve a number of things that aren’t hot dogs, like chicken and burgers, and they have vegetarian dogs with any toppings you crave.
I opted for a Soprano hot dog, which is covered in baby spinach sautéed in garlic and white wine and sprinkled with extra sharp provolone cheese. The wine and garlic combined with the sharp cheese created mouthwatering flavor. Savory and summery, the spinach maintained a slight crunch for the perfect lunch. The hot dog wasn’t just a stick of sodium; it tasted light and fresh. It wasn’t heavy as hot dogs tend to be. I felt satisfied, not gross.
My boyfriend, a competitive eater whose hot dogs I had to photograph quickly before he inhaled them, ordered what I’m dubbing the Artery Apocalypse. 
His Cardiac dog came drowned in globs of cheddar cheese and chopped bacon. The Carolina dog was smothered in chili, onions, mustard all covered in a layer of cole slaw. They looked fantastically caloric and irresistible. He devoured them before I was even halfway through mine, so I’ll assume they were as delicious as they looked since I was too slow to snag a little bite.
The lines stretch out on summer weekends, but we’ll be back. My boyfriend has vowed to eat his way through the entire hot dog menu and he’s got quite a task in front of him.
Maui’s Dog House
806 New Jersey Avenue
North Wildwood NJ 08260
(609) 846-0444
Alison Heller is the Jersey Bites Cape May County Regional Editor. She also writes for Examiner.com and TrendHunter.com. She grew up on the beach in Wildwood Crest and currently works in advertising. After earning her Master of Fine Arts in English and Creative Writing in New York City (a place that was essentially Food Rehab), she stopped putting ketchup on everything and started experimenting with flavors. She loves sushi and cupcakes, sushi that looks like cupcakes, but never cupcakes that look like sushi. www.superalzy.com
