Burning Question: Is the hot dog a sandwich?

Few foods are as mired in controversy as the hot dog.

Sure, you might consider it a humble, rather harmless item – a childhood favorite, a ballpark tradition. And you’re probably aware of the rancor aroused by pineapple on pizza or ordering a hoagie in hero country. But just try squirting ketchup on a hot dog. You’ll be summoned by courts from Chicago to New York… if you manage to get past a scowling Clint Eastwood.

There is, however, an even greater point of contention: Is the hot dog a sandwich?

The late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg weighed the evidence and answered in the affirmative. On the other hand, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council issued a resolute no. While etymologists at Merriam-Webster settled on yes, a majority of Americans remain unconvinced, with most polls finding around 60 percent against.

We've even posed the question in the past. However, it was before Lucy's on Lighthouse opened. With their expert guidance, maybe we can arrive an a conclusive answer.

“Everybody can have their own opinion – I guess,” says Joleen Green of Lucy’s, with a grudging tone. “I say no.”

Or not. While it may seem like a simple yes or no matter, consider the versatility of this simple food.

Lucy’s serves hot dogs with relish, smothered in chili, Chicago-style – pretty much any which way it can be presented. The fun Pacific Grove spot is one of the few establishments in Monterey County that elevates the dog to signature status. Cali Glizzy in Salinas is another, where Oscar Alcala hedges, but sides with the opposition.

By his definition, a sandwich places ingredients between bread, while a hot dog piles them on bread – a distinction that others have used to frame the debate.

Still, Alcala admits, “it’s a tough question.”

Just when the matter became a point of national contention is not known. People have been dining on sausages – the hot dog is part of the sausage family – and on sandwiches for centuries.

Meat between slices of bread took on its name in the 1700s, thanks to John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich, while the first modern franks were served in the 1860s, according to Michael Quinn of the Coney Island History Project.

Yet as Barry Popik, a consulting editor for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America has noted, it was common in the late 1800s for diners to call for a “hot dog sandwich” (or a “frankfurter sandwich” – another point of dispute). Even after the turn of the last century, school boards were complaining of student diets that consisted of hot dog sandwiches. And as late as 1923, Fannie Fox’s Cook Book uses the phrase.

Eventually, the “sandwich” bit fell out of use.

“No one says ‘hot dog sandwich,’ I agree,” observes Todd Fisher of The Meatery in Seaside, where they stock artisan dogs. “But if it’s between two pieces of bread, I think I would put it in the sandwich category.”

One possible answer to the question rests on the bun.

Fisher points to hoagies, subs, the Philly cheesesteak and other favorites clearly part of the sandwich classification, all of which come on a joined bun rather than on two separate pieces of bread. He even goes so far as to say, “The hamburger is technically a sandwich.”

A corn dog, mounted on a stick, is definitely not a sandwich, Fisher explains. Once a bun becomes involved, however, things change.

“I tend to be, what’s the word? – obvious? Sensible?” he adds.

Even Alcala pauses when the variables are considered. “You’re making me think about it,” he admits.

So there is clearly enough evidence to lump hot dogs with other sandwiches, despite the patriotic impulse to label all-American foods like burgers and dogs as entities unto themselves. That’s where the NHDSC drew the line, stating: “Perhaps at one time its importance could be limited by forcing it into a larger sandwich category (no disrespect to Reubens).”

It’s a controversial matter, Green agrees. Ultimately, however, it’s one with a clear solution.

“Who wanted to know that in the first place?” she asks. “All we know is that it’s delicious.”