When my editor asked me to find the city’s best hot dog for our May issue, I knew exactly where to turn. I made the 10-foot trek to Flynt’s office door, and presented my question: “Ben, who would you say has the best hot dog around here?”

As he gazed up from his desk, I could almost see the answer hiding behind his wide smile. Unfortunately, he and I both knew he couldn’t tell me.

“You know, Michael, that’s something you’ve got to find out on your own,” he said, with Confucius-like canniness. “But I’ve got something that might help you out.”

Flynt sifted through a few piles of paper before settling on frayed 10-page report. There in all its glory sat the legendary hot dog document.

As he handed me the manuscript, I couldn’t help but feel like Thomas Jefferson being handed the expedition chronicles of Lewis and Clark.

“Promise me you’ll return this in one piece?” he asked cautiously.

“Promise,” I said as I scurried back to my desk to start my research.

After thumbing through his colorful notes, I narrowed my list to 20 eateries around the Winston-Salem region. And then, armed with only an empty stomach, I set out to find to find the area’s top dog.

DOSS’
I decided to start my journey in the town of Kernersville. A former girlfriend of mine who lived in the area advised me to stop by Doss’, a place I previously thought was only an ice cream parlor.

One step inside and you’ve instantly stepped back in time. The walls are mounted with Coca-Cola memorabilia, most of which dates back to World War II-era. And in the center of one of the walls sits a treasured tribute to Dale Earnhardt.

As I approached the counter, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the hysterical antics of owner Wendell Doss, a man who can seemingly shoot the breeze with the best of them. “I think it’s my magnetic personality that keeps bringing the customers back,” Doss says with a laugh.

Doss opened the restaurant in 1985, and has since watched his business grow along with the town of Kernersville. “When I first opened, I was the 27th restaurant in this town,” Doss says. “Last I heard, there are now over 100.”

Despite the expanded list of eateries, Doss continues to see customer after customer make their way into his restaurant. Some come for the ambience, some come for the service, and some come to get one of the tastiest hot dogs in town.

“A few years back, when 93.1 was still an oldies station, they sponsored a contest to see who had the best hot dog in this area,” Doss recalls. “They narrowed a list of 100 places down to 10, then narrowed those 10 down to just one - us.”

So what’s the secret behind Doss’ award-winning dogs? Doss says he thinks it’s a combination of things. “Our buns are buttered and toasted, and our slaw is homemade,” he notes. “And what might be even more important is the way we put them together. Mustard, slaw, onions, and then chili on the very top. You do it any other way, and it just don’t taste the same.”

LOCATION: 406 N. Main St., Kernersville
HOT DOG: $1.90 FOOT LONG: $2.40
ALSO TRY: Mello Buttercup ice cream in a waffle cone
GOOD TO KNOW: Bring plenty of cash because Doss’ doesn’t take debit or credit cards.

BILL AND LEAH’S
“That’s it,” I thought as I walked out of Doss’. “That’s got to be the best hot dog in Kernersville.” About that time, my former girlfriend called me back.

“I forgot to tell you about this other place my mom loves called Bill and Leah’s,” she said. “You should check them out too.”

Since it was only a few miles away, I decided to give it a go.

The first thing I noticed about Bill and Leah’s was its popularity. It was so popular, in fact, that I couldn’t find a parking spot to save my life. I settled for a place across West Mountain Street and made my way inside.

The atmosphere of Bill and Leah’s defines “Mom and Pop.” In fact, it looked incredibly similar to my mom’s kitchen back home. The brown walls are lined with a few simple pictures, and the L-shaped dining room has a comfortable, welcoming feel.

After talking with Leah Melton, I learned that the restaurant is the result of a family coming together.

“I had my own hairstyling business when Bill and I first got married, and I never really planned on working in a restaurant,” Leah recalls. “But [Bill] had grown up in the restaurant business, and decided that’s what he wanted to do. I had always loved to cook, and knew he couldn’t open a restaurant by himself.”

Nineteen years later, Bill and Leah’s still holds true to its “family first” approach. The couple’s daughter and son work alongside them in the restaurant, the former as a staff manager.

As I stepped up to the bustling counter at Bill and Leah’s, I decided to switch my approach and try the cheese dog. In short, it was the best decision I made all day. And when I left, I couldn’t help but be a little envious of local residents.

I think it’s safe to say that, per capita, Kernersville has the greatest selection of hot dogs in the universe.

LOCATION: 265 W. Mountain St., Kernersville
HOT DOG: $1.81 FOOT LONG: $2.46
ALSO TRY: The chocolate malt
GOOD TO KNOW: While debit and credit cards are not accepted, Bill and Leah’s has an on-site ATM.

LITTLE RED CABOOSE
Growing up, my childhood was a mixture of baseball cards and bruised knees, most of which I can’t remember. One thing that’s impossible to forget, however, is eating hot dogs with my dad inside a giant cable car known as the Little Red Caboose.

When I was a kid, I literally thought the old caboose was a fully operational train that made periodic stops in Winston-Salem to sell hot dogs. It wasn’t until Caboose owner Bill Horn filled me in on its history that I completely let go of this notion.

Horn’s father bought the caboose from a friend in the early 1970s and had it shipped from Roxboro to its current location.

A few years later the family decided to turn the caboose into a hot-dog stand. They brought in a box car from the late 1800s to serve as the dining room, and made the caboose into a kitchen.

Within a few years Horn was running the Caboose, although he admits he didn’t have “any clue” what he was doing. “Here I was, just out of high school, trying to run a restaurant,” Horn says, laughing. “They didn’t think I’d last six weeks.”

After 32 years, the Caboose has become an enduring treasure in our city.

As for what keeps bringing people back, Horn says it’s a combination of a charming environment and exceptional hot dogs. The Caboose takes a special approach when it comes to making its buns, buttering them before toasting. The original slaw and customized chili adds to the flavor.

Horn himself has relinquished the managerial duties to his daughter and son-in-law, yet he continues to operate his business on three pillars. “We’ve always stressed several things. You’ve got to have quality food, quick service, and a courteous atmosphere,” he says.

As I finished my foot-long hot dog and got up to leave, I took another look at the building that had defined so much my childhood.

Realizing that I was alone in the parking lot, I decided to carry on a long-standing tradition of mine. I darted toward the train’s red and yellow ladder, climbed all the way to the top, and made a noise that sounded more like a helicopter taking off than a locomotive.

And for a few fleeting seconds, I was a 5 years old all over again.

LOCATION: 4284 Patterson Ave., Winston-Salem
HOT DOG: $1.80 FOOT LONG: $3
ALSO TRY: The french fries - our favorite of the lot
GOOD TO KNOW: While it appears to be a window-service venue, there’s a cozy dining room on the side made from an 1800s-era box car.

KERMIT’S HOT DOG HOUSE
My next stop took me to the jewel of Southside Winston-Salem: Kermit’s Hot Dog House. While the atmosphere was inviting, I quickly found myself in no-man’s land.

“Do I sit down?”

“Do I order at the counter?”

“Why is everyone starring at me?” I thought.

My deer-in-the-headlights look caught the attention of a sympathetic waitress.

“First time here?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Was it that obvious?”

“A little bit,” she said with a laugh. “It’s just that we hadn’t ever seen you before.”

While I knew she was just trying to make me feel better, there was some truth to the statement. As I watched the lunchtime crowd stroll in and out of the classic 1950s-style diner, the bond between the crew and their customers was obvious. The servers seemed to know everyone - and their order - by name.

“We want people to know they’re not walking into a McDonald’s when they come to Kermit’s,” says co-owner Paul Church. “We want them to know that we want them to be here.”

With its patriotic colors and awning over the drive-in, Kermit’s feels like the ultimate blue-collar stop - a place where customers can take a few minutes off from their busy lives and enjoy one of the city’s best hot dogs.

Church himself embodies this blue-collar attitude. He started working at Kermit’s in 1971, taking orders from the curb-service customers. The owner at that time was Paul “Buster” Williams, whose father, Kermit, had started the restaurant just before his death in the late 1960s. After a few years of faithful service, Williams asked Church to join him as co-owner.

Aside from a few upgrades, little has changed inside Kermit’s Hot Dog House since the Williams-Church merger. This unaltered approach is something that customers have come to appreciate. “I think the thing that sets us apart as that we haven’t changed,” Church says. “We try and do just like they used to do in the old days.”

I left Kermit’s, assuring the wait staff that I’d be back. “We’ll remember you!” they said, and I knew for a fact they weren’t kidding.

LOCATION: 2220 Thomasville Rd., Winston-Salem
HOT DOG: $1.75 FOOT LONG: $2.70
ALSO TRY: The pimento-cheese dog
GOOD TO KNOW: Instead of a drive-through, Kermit’s provides a sheltered curb service.

J.S. PULLIAM’S
The third and final day of my hot dog conquest got off to a rough start. My first stop - which shall remain nameless - completely butchered my order. On top of that, I began to notice an anti-hot dog sentiment stirring inside me. I suppose it’s just the body’s natural reaction to eating more than two dozen hot dogs in less than 72 hours.

Lucky for me, I found the perfect solution to shake my hot dog distaste: Pulliam’s.

The hot dogs at Pulliam’s were more than good - they were epic. The golden brown bun was perfectly toasted, and the casing of the dog was so thick it literally snapped off in my mouth. According Mark Flynt, owner of Pulliam’s, the secret behind the dogs is simple.

“My opinion is that people like our [hot dogs] because we do everything in-house,” he says. “You just don’t see that much anymore. We’ve, of course, got some other secrets - we just can’t tell you.”

Pulliam’s commitment to its original principles is obvious upon entry. For starters, the venue is a true hot dog stand, evidenced by the fact that there are literally no chairs inside the restaurant. Instead, patrons can be seen dining on the front porch, the back of trucks, even on the tree stumps behind the building.

“John Pulliam always thought that if you stand up, you eat more,” Flynt says. “When you stop and think about it, there’s a lot of truth to that.”

Then there’s the huge assortment of bottled soft drinks. Nehi, Coke, Sunkist, Cheerwine - you name it, they’ve got it.

But the thing that truly sets Pulliam’s apart is the nearly 100 years of history that’s unfolded inside the tiny stand since it first began.

Flynt’s second cousin, John Pulliam, founded the business in 1910 and relocated the stand to its current building in 1938. “I won’t even pull a nail out of this place,” Flynt says. “I’m afraid if I do, something might change.”

Curious to know more about the restaurant’s history, I asked Flynt and his sister/co-worker, Gayla, to name off some of their favorite Pulliam’s stories.

I wasn’t quite ready for the answer. Make that answers. The pair took me on an hour-long crash course through Pulliam’s colorful history. I’d tell you some of the stories, but I think it’d be more fitting if you heard them straight from the siblings themselves.

After a few bottled Cokes and a few dozen laughs, I was headed for the door when I decided to ask Flynt one last question. “Who would have thought making hot dogs would have brought you this far?”

He shook his head, seemingly taking in all that had transpired inside the timeless shack. “I’ve been blessed, Mike,” he said. “I’ve been blessed beyond belief.”

LOCATION: 4358 Old Walkertown Rd., Winston-Salem
HOT DOG: $1.85 FOOT LONG: n/a
ALSO TRY: The Sunkist Float; a Creamsicle in a bottle.
GOOD TO KNOW: While chairs aren’t an option, you can sit on the tree stumps behind the building.

The Last Bite

As I sat down to finalize my list, I still wasn’t entirely sure who I would crown as top dog.

The buns at Doss’ were incredible, but that cheese dog at Bill and Leah’s hit the spot. I loved the atmosphere at the Caboose, but how do you top the service at Kermit’s? And then there was Pulliam’s, a place that seemed to set the standard for every other hot dog I’ll ever eat.

So instead of naming a champion, I decided to declare all five as winners. Is that taking the easy way out? Maybe. But I started to realize something when I was writing this article. It shouldn’t be about me, or what I like on a hot dog. Instead, it’s about them.

It’s about Bill at the Caboose, who used to work 90 hours a week to keep his restaurant running.

It’s about Leah, who put her entire career on hold to make her husband’s dream come true.

It’s about all the men and women whose hot dogs are proudly celebrated, but whose individual sacrifices often go unnoticed.

Truth be told, they are the top dogs in my book.

Hot Dog 101
CASING: This thin coating around the frank plays a significant role in our enjoyment of a hot dog, whether we’re conscious of it or not. Dogs with natural casings are usually preferred because they hold in the flavor, releasing it once you “snap” into it.

COLOR: When it comes to color, bright red franks are said to be a staple of Southern-style hot dogs. While some of our preferred places featured light-brown franks, we found that the neon-red dogs, such as the ones at Kermit’s and Pulliam’s, just seemed to have a better taste.

TOPPINGS: Wendell Doss may say it best: “We don’t care what those Northerners do - when you’re below the Mason-Dixon Line, you eat your dog with chili and slaw.” We tend to agree, but can’t help but love the cheese dog at Bill and Leah’s, and the legendary pimento-cheese dog at Kermit’s.

BUN: Local favorites seem to have one thing in common: toasted buns. Some, notably Doss’ and the Little Red Caboose, take it a step further by buttering the bun before toasting. If unique is what you’re after, Skippy’s serves its hot dog on pretzel rolls.