Pink's Hot Dogs

This was my first time at Pink's Hot Dogs in the La Brea location. I had been to the one at the Knott's location in Buena Park. The person that took my sister's order suggested "The Monster" which was a heart attack of a mess to eat let alone to look at. It was topped with all sorts of crazy things including relish. There were screaming whiny kids with parents that left tables a complete sticky mess.

Well, the La Brea one is much much better. At first I thought it was just a stand and was surprised to see that there was sufficient seating available inside as well as outside in the back. It is well kept as staff is rather diligent in cleaning and keeping the condiments well stocked.

We arrived at approximately 10pm and there were just a few people ahead of us, not too bad of a line. Considering how I ate already and not terribly hungry and it being near bedtime, I got myself a Turkey dog with some onions. My friend got the Planet Hollywood dog topped with jalapenos with a side of fries. The Planet is a Polish dog with bacon, nacho cheese and mushrooms. I also got a coke; him a root beer. All for under $20. I think that's pretty good considering a Turkey leg and a drink is like $16 at most amusement parks and fairs and hot dogs and fries are pretty much fair foods. The line went by fairly fast and painless. The lack of screaming kids at that hour certainly helped. The customers appeared to mostly be young professionals or middle-aged couples. Next to us was a pleasant couple with the man wearing a brownish tweed suit with glasses and had a marvelous English-like accent. He recommended the Pastrami burrito if we wanted the "full Pink experience".

It appears that the person that takes your order also makes it. I think this is better than typical fast food places in which certain people take the orders and they have the cooks in the back which can sometimes cause a lot of confusion and loss of translation during the process of communicating what the order is exactly...the lady was pretty nice and attentive...she confirmed the order just as she was creating it and apologized for almost forgetting the jalapenos on the Planet. close up of the Planet

My friend had asked if I wanted sides like fries and I was kinda like "whatever"...I mean if I had fries at one place I've pretty much had them all...a fry is a fry is a fry...is there really anything special about it unless it's in a different shape- curly, crinkle, wedged, criss-cut...and I figure would a hot dog stand make really good fries? Well the fries were actually pretty good with enough seasonings to keep me wanting to munch on them til they got cold...they got cold pretty fast. They should have covered them up in aluminum foil like the do the dogs. However, I think the reason they covered the dog up is to assist in eating it cleanly, so there is a clean space to hold onto. Of course the problem with that, especially when eating a 'Planet Dog is that it is hard to stuff a Planet in one's mouth in an efficient and non-gagging manner. Especially one generously covered up in jalapenos.

Even though my Turkey dog was relatively plain, the meat was fairly tender and juicy. The buns soft and warm. Definitely beats the puny $4+ ones you get in movie theaters.

Would I recommend Pink's? Sure, quality and service is excellent. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would be interested in it enough to want to wait 3 hours for it on a hot summer's day as glamorized on TV. As for the parking situation, if you park on the streets at certain hours, you may need to input coins into the meters so make sure you are prepared with quarters.