Inside Dirt Dog, a new eatery near USC, which specializes in serving LA street-style hot dogs, has community investment built its business plan. (Dan Bluemel / LA Activist)
Bacon-wrapped hot dogs, a Los Angeles street-side favorite, plus an activist-approach to community investment is the basis of a new eatery in LA, called Dirt Dog.
The strategy of Dirt Dog is to serve the best dogs possible while investing, every three months, 10 percent of their profits into goodwill projects. How that money is invested though is determined by the community.
“This is completely participatory,” said Richard Larios, Dirt Dog’s Chief Brand Officer and Community Organizer. “They are going to have to be proposed by the community.”
From there, said Larios, is when the “Dirt Team” is formed, which is composed of people from the community, such as residents, students or businesses, who are going to work with Dirt Dog in organizing a goodwill event or project. They plan to take on any project as long as it truly does some good, is within their means and most importantly doesn’t exclude people.
“Everyone who comes in here as a customer will vote on it and then three months later we’ll work hand-in-hand to execute it,” said Larios.
Larios has extensive organizing experience. Recently, he worked with fast food workers on their strike for better wages. He has also worked with the Southern California Immigration Coalition, was a part of Occupy LA and has worked with the Revolutionary Autonomous Communities, which runs a mutual-aid food program in MacArthur Park every Sunday.
“Hopefully I get paid to organize, something I thought would never occur,” he said.
Supporting Larios in these plans is Timothy Chan, the restaurant’s CEO. Dirt Dog’s roots go back to Cam’s childhood when he roamed the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
As the story goes, Cam came upon a woman on the sidewalk once who was cooking bacon-wrapped hot dogs on a flat grill with grilled onions, bell and jalapeno peppers, mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup as toppings. They looked good and he and his brother wanted to eat one, but his mother didn’t want her children eating the street-side hot dogs, figuring the dirt kicked up by passing cars must be landing on the grill and hot dogs. Despite her warnings they were “eating dirt,” mom couldn’t stop her children from eating the “official hot dog of Los Angeles.”
“That’s how we got the term ‘dirt dog,’” said Cam.
Ever since high school, said Cam, he thought of opening Dirt Dog. He currently owns and operates LACrafts.com, which is where he met Larios and decided to go into business with him on the restaurant. Aside from enjoying being a businessman, his first passion, meeting Larios gave Cam an outlet to give back to the city he loves, his second passion.
“I’m a business owner who always says I wish I could do more,” he said. “I donate here and there, but I don’t really feel I’m doing much. If I can infuse this community with help from the business, I get two birds with one stone.”
Of course, none of Cam’s or Larios’ visions will be possible if they’re not serving good hot dogs. This is where Phillip Ozaki, Dirt Dog’s Head Chef, comes in. Ozaki is a graduate of the International Culinary School at Art Institute. Prior to coming aboard Dirt Dog, he was the head chef at Plan Check Kitchen and Bar.
Ozaki uses all-beef hot dogs and freshly baked buns as the foundation for four recipes. The House dog has a green chili spread with Thousand Island dressing for toppings; the Brown dog has a sweet mayo spread with teriyaki sauce; the Green dog has a guacamole spread with a chimichurri sauce; and the Red dog has a chipotle spread with a spicy tomato sauce.
When biting into a Dirt Dog, it is obvious its roots are with the street-side vendors who serve bacon-wrapped hot dogs all over LA. Dirt Dogs are made on a flat grill just like its street cousin, but their ingredients are of better quality and have more defined flavors. Dirt Dog didn’t spare any attention to detail in regards to their side orders either. Customer’s can enjoy seasoned corn, freshly made potato chips and French fries. For dessert, there are fried Oreos and fried Twinkies.
“I’m pretty happy with what we got [on the menu],” said Ozaki. “Obviously, we are going to keep doing better.”
Dirt Dog opened its doors on Aug. 1. In a month or so, they hope to have a liquor license. They plan to sell a selection of beers from Stone Brewery. There are also plans to have a vegan menu. Above all, Dirt Dog’s founders hope to help Los Angeles, as well as sell good hot dogs.
“We are selling LA street food and the hope is that we’re building stronger LA communities,” said Larios. “We just want to create a hub, send out some positive energy and hopefully hit the ground running.”
Dirt Dog is located at 2528 S. Figueroa Street (corner of Adams Boulevard, near USC). Dirt Dogs cost $5.95, sides $2.50, desserts $2.50 and sodas $2 to $2.50. They are open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
