Monday, April 23, 2012

LaLa's Hot Dog Cart In Owen Brown (& More)

The LaLa's hot dog
The new LaLa's Ice Cream & Hot Dogs is still coming to downtown Ellicott City, but Rob hit up their hot dog stand in Owen Brown in Columbia.
As you already know, the hot dog cart is owned by Brendan Flannery who is opening LaLa's Ice Cream & Hot Dogs in Ellicott City.  Due to local ordinances, no one may put a food cart on the street in Ellicott City unless they also have an established business.

LaLa's hot dog cart
Therefore, Brendan decided to get the business going by opening his first cart in Owen Brown.  After the brick-and-mortar place is open on Main Street, Brendan plans to put one of his carts on Main Street as well.  Friday, the cart was manned by Justin McCabe, but they have a crew of people who will work it in combination. 
Of course, I had to get a hot dog, for the picture mind you, and Brendan made me a custom beauty.  I hate him for it, but I ate it anyway.  Brendan made me a dog not from the menu -- 1/4 lb beef caseless dog, with tomato sauce, pickled onions, bbq sauce, mustard, ketchup, on a sesame seed bun.   
It was great.  You have two choices: KEEP the wrapper on the dog and eat it while making a mess and having a great time; or rush home and eat it with a fork and knife, but that probably violates the spirit of the hot dog eating universe.  One thing is certain - if you pick the dog up off the wrapper and think you are going to use the bun as a vessel, you will quickly learn that those things that make you dog taste so good have also caused the vessel to spring serious leaks!
The first cart is open noon to 8 pm seven days a week at the Owen Brown village center on Cradlerock Way just off Broken Land Parkway.   Brendan told Rob that they're aiming to open a second cart this week just off Route 100 at the Route 103 exit in the park at the intersection of Long Gate Parkway and Meadowbrook Lane.  For more photos, check out Rob's Picasa page.

9 comments:

Dianne said...

Love a good hot dog cart. I'm sure they got rained out today but I'll have to swing by there one day after work.

Anonymous said...

They seem to have Chicago style, I'm in!

MareeT said...

The messier the hot dog, the better, there is no way you can use a fork and knife.

cdarl said...

Like I said, we have too many burger places. We need a hot dog place. I hope he does well. My husband already wants a pizza dog!

Deb said...

oohhh la la -- can't wait to try! I am dying for a Chicago hot dog.

kam said...

Any word on the Meadowbrook Park cart? I've been craving Chicago-style hot dogs lately.

~kam

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm...did I see this cart on Rt. 108 near the entrance to Centennial Park today? Around 3:15 p.m. I was so tempted to pull over. Sign said "Gourmet Hotdogs". Anyone else know anything about this?

dzoey said...

The cart selling hotdogs during the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company productions in the "ruins". We went to see Pride and Prejudice (enjoyed by all except my teenage boy) and had dinner from LaLa's before the show. We tried the Pizza dog (a big dog with marinara, mozzarella, and pepperoni) and Philly dog (a big dog with fried onions, peppers, and marinara) which was good and not as sloppy as I was afraid it would be. We also got two of the kids dogs, which were regular hotdogs and were perfect for smaller appetites.

The owner said that it will be some time before the store opens. He wishes he hadn't picked that location because along with the paperwork hassles (needed a zoning change because it didn't use to serve food), it failed inspection because the building is different than the registered drawings and there's problems with the placement of the current pipes. It's a huge headache and money pit. I feel sorry for the guy, he's really nice.

I asked him where the name LaLa came from and it's from his sister's ice cream place in Laurel, next to Pepperjack's, also owned by his sister. He says the peanut butter sundaes are deliciously addictive.

Rob said...

Update: LaLa's has a storefront at 8054 Main Street, Ellicott City, next door to Crystal Underground. I have also seen their hotdog cart on the weekend on Marriottsville Road adjacent to the entrance to the Alpha Ridge landfill.