Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co.

Ever since I read this review on Slaking Fool's blog, I've been itching to visit Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co. Located in a renovated house at the corner of Racoon and SE 6th Street, just south of the East Village, Capital Pub opened last year and have kept their fans in wieners ever since.

I love a good hot dog - well, mostly I love a good hot dog accompanied by a baseball game - but on a November day in Iowa, that's pretty much not going to happen. So Grant and I headed out to try one of Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co.'s specialty dogs last Saturday.

It's a great little place with plenty of booths and tables, several flat screens to watch the game, and friendly staff. It's definitely a Hawkeye bar, too, as we were there during the Purdue game and there was much rejoicing.

I must say, the menu is quite impressive. A good variety of appetizers, several interesting sandwiches, and of course, 13 specialty hot dogs along with 22 additional toppings available.  They serve Klement's 100% beef hot dogs - a Wisconsin company dating back to 1956 - so the dogs are definitely butcher block quality. We ordered up a couple of beers and tried to narrow down our choices. 

The hot dog choices range from the Naked, a plain hot dog, to the Drunken, a hot dog simmered in beer, topped with sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard, all the way up to the Homewrecker -  a 1/2 giant dog with 2 toppings of your choice. The selections are pretty creative and all dogs come on a freshly steamed bun.

We started out with an order of onion rings - thin cut old-school style, these were fried to crispy golden goodness.

Grant decided on the Coney dog - homemade coney sauce, onions, mustard and a pickle spear. The coney sauce was just slightly sweet and there was plenty of it.

After much debate (I really wanted to try the deep fried dog wrapped in bacon!), I went with the chili cheese dog - homemade chili topped with diced onion and shredded cheddar jack cheese. You'll notice that you can hardly see the dog under that mound of chili and cheese - yeah, it was awesome.

Our server, Rachel (that's her down below, taking yet another order), was friendly, super quick with a beer, and very efficient. The owner even stopped by our table to be sure everything was OK, gotta love that.  We were very pleased with the quality of food and great service.

Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co. offers several deals throughout the week including Monday Night Football specials, Crappy Beer Night on Tuesdays, College and NFL game day specials and more. Check out their website for what's currently available.  

We'll definitely be back to try more dogs (hello deep fried bacon dog) and hope you will give Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co. a try, too! Let us know what you recommend.

Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co.

400 SE. 6th St
Des Moines, IA  50309

515-2hotdog

Menus and more information at www.capitalpubandhotdog.com

Also check them out on Facebook and Twitter!