The Best Places to Get a Hot Dog in New Hampshire

In a recent interview, available for listening here, comedian Paul Reiser spoke at length on a variety of subjects, including summers spent in New Hampshire.

But one observation stood out. Said Reiser:

"As a kid coming from New York, I remember being thrown that the hot dog rolls are square and flat. Somewhere between New York and New Hampshire, they made a decision that they won’t be round, but sort of flat on the edge."

As Reiser explained, there wasn't any real animosity...

“I liked it, but I was thrown.(It was) like a lobster roll kind of thing. It’s like, all right, if that’ what you wanna do, you can do it. But, it’s just a little wrong.”

 

Readers reacted rather passionately to Reiser's New Hampshire hot dog roll remarks. Said Denis:

"Dear Paul, it's BREAD. The shape of the bun makes no difference to your diet. It's BREAD. You put the hot dog inside the slit and put whatever you want on it. It's BREAD."

A reader named Gail even shared the lengths to which she'd go for a New England hot dog roll...

"It's not just NH, but Maine also. I bring hot dog rolls in my suitcase for my winter months in Florida!"

Still, I wondered. Why? Why are our hot dog rolls different?

That's when the ever-affable Richard weighed in to solve the mystery:

"Apparently poor Paul was never fortunate enough to have any of his camp hotdog rolls GRILLED! Otherwise he'd TOTALLY get WHY our New England hotdog rolls are FAR superior to the miniature sub rolls used for hotdogs in other areas."

See that, kids? It always comes down to science.

And when it comes to the most fervent endorsement of a hot dog in the state of New Hampshire, a band that sang a famous song about science ("The Big Bang Theory") topped them when freestyling about Manchester's Red Arrow Diner in 2006:

"You got some wieners and you got some beans, and you eat 'em all down if you know what I mean,

Because the wieners are great, and then the beans are even better, I like beans when they're stuck inside my sweater,

'Cause I save some for later, and hey I'm not a hater, in fact I am a lover of beans.

I like the way they taste, and I like the way they race down my throat and out of my jeans." - Steven Page, Barenaked Ladies, "Wieners & Beans" (The Red Arrow Diner Rap)

To hear Steven Page discuss Barenaked Ladies' love of the Red Arrow Diner, CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.