(Photo: Chris Mottalini)

Ferran Adrià, Joël Robuchon, and Thomas Keller have yet to offer their hot-dog-making services to PDT, the Crif Dogs cocktail-lounge annex in the East Village, but give them time. Last fall, David “Momofuku” Chang, a friend of the PDT crew, collaborated on a bacon-wrapped, kimchee-topped hot dog, and now WD-50’s Wylie Dufresne, a PDT regular with a standing Friday-night reservation, has followed suit. The $5 Wylie Dog, which makes its debut this week, daringly introduces two previously unacquainted deep-fried substances on one squishy bun: a deep-fried Crif Dog wiener nestled against a baton of WD-50 deep-fried mayo that’s been breaded not with the usual panko but with hot-dog-bun crumbs. It also comes with tomato molasses (Dufresne’s answer to ketchup, or perhaps red kimchee), freeze-dried onions, and shredded romaine. If that sounds messy—not to mention more fattening than a Starbucks iced lemon loaf—Dufresne assures that architecturally speaking, the Wylie Dog is sound: “The worst that can happen is that a little lettuce falls into your lap.”

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• Archive: “Food Features”
• Articles by Robin Raisfeld | Rob Patronite
• Table of Contents: May 12, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!