12/03/2025
Our thanks to Mark K. for sharing his story. We welcome everyone to try side by side tastings!
Mark's story: I would like to tell you a story about your Hollywood original natural casing hot dogs. My father grew up in New York and became a Nathan's hot dog fanatic. He moved to southern California in 1959 and for as long as I can remember had always found and eaten Nathan's natural casing hotdogs. It was the flavor and the snap of the natural skinned hotdog that he craved. By proximity I had also become a Nathan's skinned hotdog fanatic. Well, about 6(?) years ago Nathan's natural skinned hotdogs were no longer available in southern California. Needless to say, were both unhappy about Nathan's situation. One day while shopping at Smart and Final I found the Hoffy Hollywood natural skinned hotdogs in their deli section and brought home a package. As we've always done, I put them in a skillet and cooked them slowly until they were browned on all sides, put one in a Ball Park brand hot dog bun, applied the usual condiment of deli mustard, took a bite, was blown away because it tasted like and had the snap of the Nathan's skinless hotdog. So I purchased more Hoffys and I told my dad I had found some Nathan's natural casing hotdogs and invited over for dinner. He was definitely excited at having the hotdogs as he wasn't able to find for a long time. So we sat down and started to eat them. After his first bite he looked up and said, "These are great. Where did you find the Nathan's hotdogs." I said "Yeah, they are great", told him to wait a minute and retrieved the empty package of Hoffy Hollywoods. I showed him the package and said, "They're not Nathan's, they are these Hoffy Hollywood natural casing hotdogs." His eyes widened, he smiled, and said, "They are just like the Nathans, I can't tell the difference!" I told him the only place he could find the natural casing Hoffy hotdogs was Smart and Final. He's been enjoying them ever since!
P.S. I found some Nathan's natural casings on line and did a side by side tasting. The Hoffy's tasted much better!
