Kong Dog Korean hot dog chain opens in Hicksville
A hot Cheeto Kong dog at Kong Dog in Hicksville has a chicken sausage center. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
It's not a corn dog if it isn't covered in fried potatoes, stuffed with mozzarella or sugarcoated and fried like a churro. That's the sentiment at least, at a new Korean hot dog chain that's touched down in Hicksville.
Kong Dog, a rapidly expanding franchise from Chicago, opened in March in the food court of the Broadway Commons Mall. The gorilla-themed kiosk has a funky menu of lavishly topped hot dogs (K-dogs) served on a stick similar to other leading chains and Yea's Kitchen in Jericho, which also sells the dogs along with hot dishes and Korean fried chicken.
A street food craze from Korea that's booming in the U.S., K-dogs are as extravagant as they get. Rather than using corn flour, the batter is often made with rice flour dough and crusted with wild toppings like ramen or soybean injeolmi powder. Kong Dog also does rainbow rice puffs that look like Fruity Pebbles. The menu goes beyond the standard wiener, letting you substitute your dog with a stick of mozzarella, a chicken sausage or a plant-based link.
The usual move is to order a half-and-half, which consists of half a beef hot dog and half mozzarella, which becomes melty and stringy as you take a bite.
But the top stunner menu item is the simple Potato Kong Dog, leaps and bounds above the others in flavor and texture. It's studded with bite-sized French fries that jut out of the dough at all angles, making it look like a dinosaur or the Bowser villain from Mario. If this thing wasn't beefy and crispy enough, the French-fry cubes add that extra potato crunch.
The spaghetti dog (not actually filled with spaghetti, but featuring a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and marinara sauce) and the Hot Cheetos dog (almost as messy as King Kong trudging through Manhattan) disappoint in comparison. Ditto with the Kong fries, dusted with Hot Cheetos dust, spicy mayo, Parmesan and ketchup. All good things, but the fries are soggy. Luckily, one of these behemoth corn dogs is all you need.
Kong Dog is inside the second-level food court at the Broadway Commons Mall, 358 B Broadway Mall, Hicksville. It's open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 347-523-0016, kongdog.us
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
