Dousing this dollar dog with mustard and relish can fill you up for a while and leave you enough for bus fare
(Credit: MikeAnthony Moffa)
Cheap seats: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., you'll find the sausage stand right across from the bus station on Livingston Street in downtown Orlando and just a couple blocks walk from the courthouse. Thursday through Saturday nights, the wiener wagon goes mobile and you'll probably spot it somewhere closer to the drunken masses along Orange Avenue. Sunday is a day of rest.
The one-man operation has different men manning the station from day to day, but all are generally friendly. I've seen them light cigarettes for pretty girls, give directions and make small talk. I personally have been called "sport," "guy," "buddy" and "boss" -- even while my $20 was being held up to the sun as a possible counterfeit.
Cheap Treats: The stand has four different sausages. I'm going to recommend two.
Ball Park hot dog ($1) These dawgs are made for grilling, but not for boiling or steaming. Kept in a little metal holding cell, they get mushy and flavorless. Still, dousing a dollar dog with mustard and relish can fill you up for a while and leave you enough for bus fare.
Sabrett hot dog ($1.50) If you've got the extra 50 cents, I'd recommend the upgrade. Even the Sabrett isn't as snappy as I'd like, but the meaty, garlicky dog holds up much better in the time between cooking and selling. Some folks love these with onions in red sauce, but it's too much like ketchup to me. Grow up within a couple hours of Chicago and you learn that only six-year-olds put ketchup on a hot dog.
Smoked sausage ($2.50) It's a big, thick wiener (yeah, I said it), but it's got the same problem as the Ball Park. It's soggy and limp (yeah, I said it again). I tried this one a second time, smothered with brown mustard and sauerkraut, and I liked it better. I think it helped that I thought of it as a hot dog and not a sausage.
Italian sausage ($3) We have a winner wiener! It's finished on a little side grill of hot coals, leaving grill marks on its skin. The meat is a coarser grind than the other dogs, so it has more texture and a satisfying chew. If you look, you can see the caraway seeds and bits of red pepper inside. Those pepper bits mean it's also a spicy dawg, so if you've the type that can't even handle mild salsa, stay away.
Cans of soda are $1 and bags of chips are 50 cents. If you get a bunch of hot dogs to go, the guy in charge will wrap each one nice and tight and tuck it all in a Merita Bread bag for your journey.
Cheap Gas: All the prices I've mentioned are what you'll pay on the weekday dayside. At 2 a.m. on a Saturday, you're going to pay more. It's called the law of supply and demanding drunken people, my friends.
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