Mia Stainsby
Sun
Noriki Tamura offers up one of his Japadogs to customer Tandi Mkangwana. Photograph by : Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun
Gwen Stefani went nuts for the Harajuku Girls and their Japanese take on hip. On Burrard Sreet, Noriki Tamura’s doing a Japanese take on hot dogs.
They’re as strange as a Harajuku school girl, but hey, we’re a country that got addicted to the once-foreign sushi.
And the lineups at lunch and dinner to the little cart are mostly for the hot dogs loaded with Japanese condiments, although standard North American hot dogs — turkey, bratwurst, bavarian, jalapeno and cheese and veggie — are sold here, too.
Those straying into new hot dog territory have a choice of Misomayo, a turkey dog with Japanese mayo, kaiware (sprouted daikon seeds) and miso sesame; or Oroshi, with bratwurst, onion, daikon radish and soy; or Terimayo (beef sausage) with Japanese mayo, teriyaki sauce, fried onions and nori sprinkles. I sampled the Terimayo and Oroshi and strangely, I liked the departure from same-old, same-old.
The Oroshi is loaded with grated daikon and it’s a messy feed, especially as it’s hard to find a spot to eat with dignity — it’s adjacent to a construction zone. You might want to turn the corner onto Smithe, find the one bench at the end of the street, sit, and eat in full view of Le Crocodile. Big difference between you and the Le Croc patron is, you’ll be paying $5 tops for the dog.
Hot dogging owner Tamura has plans to expand into a cart-el and his previous experience in the franchise consulting business should help with his expansion plans. He sells about 200 hot dogs a day. “Sometimes 300,” he says in broken English.
Asked if there’s more men or women at his stand, he responds: “Hmmmm,” thinking deeply. “Both,” he says. “Men and women.”
I assume the photo of rapper Ice Cube eating a Japadog means he was one of his male customers.
For those who don’t want to stand on Burrard, being a sight for Burrard traffic, he’s got takeout containers so you can take your hot dog, Japanese style or not, and scurry away.
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JAPADOG
Burrard Street at Smithe. Open noon to 7:30 p.m. but might be MIA on extremely rainy days.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
