Great American Bites: Mini-dogs rule in N.Y. Capital Region

— -- The scene: Having grown up with White Castle, scaled-down hamburgers are nothing new to me, and I understand the appeal of eating a few tiny sandwiches versus one normal-sized version. So it came as no surprise to me in recent years when "sliders" suddenly went mainstream, taking on many forms from coast to coast: there are mini-burgers, mini-pulled pork, mini-steak and cheese, mini-BLTs, even mini-fried chicken sandwiches. So why haven't hot dogs, one of America's favorite foods, downsized as well?

They have in New York's Capital Region around Albany, except that here, miniature hot dogs have long been popular, one of the most micro-regionalized specialties I've come across in my food travels. Hot Dog Charlie's began in 1922 as New Way Lunch until regulars took to calling the owner, Greek immigrant Strates Fentekes, Charlie and it stuck. The original in Troy is currently closed for renovations following a fire, but there are three others close by including one in a mall food court. The location I visited in Cohoes even resembled a White Castle, with the grill visible behind glass, a modern processing system that displays orders on overhead monitors for the cooks, and a Formica, fast-food feel where you carry your food to a counter by the windows and eat.

At Famous Lunch, originally Quick Lunch, the little franks date to 1932 and the place still looks the part, resembling a classic Americana Main Street coffee shop on a commercial street in downtown Troy. The dogs cook on a griddle in the window, and inside a long counter with stools runs down one side, with booths on the other, and there is even a throwback walk-in phone booth. In contrast, newcomer Gus's Hot Dogs - since 1954 - in nearby Watervliet is a roadside shack, on a side street in a residential neighborhood, where you order at one window, pick up from the other, most of the signs are hand written, and you either take your food to go or eat at an outdoor picnic table. They are all within a 10-minute drive of each other.

Reason to visit: Miniature hot dogs, meat sauce, Greek burgers

The food: What all three places have in common is mini-dogs, their featured staple, bigger than cocktail franks but much smaller than normal dogs, about 3 inches long and half an inch in diameter. Unlike sliders, where you can just shape smaller patties, someone has to actually make this size sausage. In this region, Sabretts and a few old time local butchers in the area specialize in mini-dogs, and local bakeries have to bake buns to scale. The dogs are traditionally served with mustard, onions and "meat sauce," which is sort of like Texas chili in terms of meaty flavor, but thin and smooth, with no meaty chunks. Hot Dog Charlie's calls theirs Chili Sauce with Meat and sells it in jars to take home, while Gus's sells its meat sauce in plastic containers, by the pint, quart and even gallon. Famous Lunch calls it Zippy sauce. In every case it adds a nice flavor without overpowering the little dogs (or burgers). The dogs are 70-75? including the works, and are typically eaten 4-8 at a time. All these places are popular with uniformed personnel -- at Gus's I saw a fire department officer picking up huge trays, while mailmen were clearly regulars at the counter of Famous Lunch - they didn't even have to say their order.