Have you served any famous people at your hot dog cart? I have (I think…)
Fun stuff today.
Hey Steve,
The last few weeks have had some exciting moments for me and my brother at the cart.
Actor Denis Leary has a little lake house just up the road from where I operate and his wife is now on our ambulance crew in town. He just co-starred in Spiderman 4 as the Sargeant who was after Spidey. He and his wife stop at the cart now and then.
Also, today we had the privilege of meeting Actress Ginger Grace who played alongside Rich Little as the first ladies of the presidents he imitates. She also played in such productions as Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolfe, Faust, and many other well known plays and movies. She’s been here before, but we didn’t know who she was. She’s up for the summer and living in a summer home within walking distance of the lake.
I’m just wondering, who have some of the other slingers met? What were their brushes with fame? Has anyone mentioned it?
Dixie
*********************
I recently served Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man. Not Robert Downey Jr., this was really Tony Stark and he had the gun to prove it. You can see it just below the wing shelf on my E-Z Built hot dog cart in the picture below.
Missouri is a concealed carry state and we’re all packin’ most of the time so I guess no one took much notice of a guy with a gun. Or maybe people thought it was just a power nailer. Not sure why a guy in a suit would be standing at a hot dog cart with a power nailer in his hand, sooo – that doesn’t make much sense either. Now I’m confused…
Anyways, I was working the county fair parade, watching the Shriners precision go cart team and up walks Mr. Stark. Said he loved rural Missouri and vacationed here whenever he could get away from Stark Enterprises. He bought one of my Buffalo Cruncher dogs and we watched together as the Shriners did what they always do so well.
Serving a real live super hero at my hot dog cart was totally cool! Or was it only a dream?…
How about you, slingers? Have you served anyone famous at your hot dog cart? If not, who would you get a kick out of serving and why? Let us know either way in the comments!
-Steve
I can’t say that I have served anyone famous except local TV personnalities but I can say that my customers have been served by someone famous, the “Best Looking Hotdog Guy in Georgia”…..
Duggs Doggs
Good!! Good!!
Nice!
My encounter was with actor R. Lee Ermey. He played the Drill Sergeant in the movies; “Full Metal Jacket”, “The Boys in company “C” plus,and has been in many more movies and hosted many TV shows dealing with the military. Has done a few commercials too, one being with Geico Ins.. Where he plays the therapist. He was in Phoenix for the M1 Garand convention. He had a small entourage with him and they all bought some dogs. Really, a bunch of nice guys.
Larry
I’m a fan of his too. That’s neat!
Well, he hasn’t visited my cart YET but I’ve run into Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith and now American Idol) a couple of times. When he is in Sunapee, NH, he drives around and sometimes goes to the local shops, car washes, gas stations etc. in my town of Newport. He’s very down to earth, very friendly and talks with everyone!
I DO have my camera ready! LOL!
🙂
Cool! What kind of car does he drive?
Hey Steve!
He has several different vehicles! LOL! The one I usual see him in is some kind of sporty Batmobile type car that is all silver (Chrysler makes it, I think). I’m pretty good at naming manufacturer and model but I’ve never seen this type of car before! Whatever it is, it looks REALLY expensive!
Then he drives around on his motorcyle. And then there was the old antique car he drove with Oprah when she featured him on her show and when she came here to tape it!
I should have known that, LOL!
We have had a few local news people stop by over the years. Mark Kotlinski a film maker featured us in his documentry, A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour.
A couple of airplanes, yes airplanes !! Float planes that land on the river.
It would be great to meet Gunney Lee !! Oooo Raaaa & Arrrrgg !!!
1st mate Jim
I wrote a review of the Mark Kotlonski hot dog documentary film a while back. It includes an audio interview I did with Mark for my Hot Dog Cart Radio show.
You can listen to it here.
I think that’s how you and I got connected Jim, you recommended that film to me.
Aye, aye mate!
About the most famous person I know or had any contact with connected with hot dogs is you Steve! I must say that I’m very impressed with the outrigger tables on both sides of your cart and would love to see more pictures so I could copy your setup, very neat. Also, some while back you did an article about bearing buddies you could put on the the trailor so you can fill a resevoir full of grease and do it easier than crawling under the cart, tight squeeze and getting tighter. Thanks for all you do. Randy H.
LOL! I have the same problem squeezing into tight spaces. As you can see from the picture, I’m not exactly small 😉
Here is the article on bearing buddies for hot dog carts for those who missed it.
Thanks Randy!
I’ve had the pleasure of serving MLB white six pitcher Will Ohman and his family, as well as ex-player Steve Trout (he loves our chicken sausages!) I vend in Lincoln Park in Chicago, and have been fortunate enough to sell a few gatorades to old SNL cast member Tim Meadows (The Ladies’ Man), as he apparently lives in the neighborhood.
I’ve also had the lead guitarist/singer from the band Umphreys McGee walk by and say “hello,” but no purchases yet. 🙁
Lincoln Park rocks. My sister in law lives there. Thanks Marci!
Power nailer -HA! Don’t know why that hit me so funny, but it made me laugh. (Living in Cleveland there are’nt many strong arm robberies with power nailers…. lol. ) Thanks Steve.
Sometimes my imagination runs away…
Pretty Cool! It’s not everyday you can see Ironman walk up to a Hot Dog Cart! I’m guessing that his chest batteries failed and he needed some energy to carry on?
I let him hook up to my deep cycle battery. Fried my iPod.
Our cart is located in downtown Phoenix not far from the Con vention Center. One day we
noticed a group of well dressed African American men crossing the street headed for our cart. We looked up as they got to the cart and it was several body guards surroundinng Jeesse Jackson! We were totally star struck but managed to wait on them.
Another day i was in the CVS one block from our corner looking at hair coloring and was standing next to Alice Cooper who was also looking at hair coloring!!! LOL.
Wow. That’s funny about Alice Cooper. I know he lives in your area. He’s a big golfer too.
Famous? Nope but a young man came to my cart and stated that a military buddy of his from my area did tell him that when he got home from Iraq, to go by my cart for one of the best hot dogs he had ever eaten. And he did…God Bless our military.
That is the best. I agree – God bless our people in uniform. Thanks for sharing that CC!
We have a lot of famous people around these parts, Steve. Aside from the above mentioned, we’re still waiting for Joan Rivers to stop by. She has a home she’s renting out right now just about 2 miles from me.
Dixie
Joan Rivers? Really?
we are camphost in oregon and when we camphosted in willow lake up in the foothills near medford oregon a couple of summers ago jim belushi came driving into the park with his little girl in an older corvette.he zoomed by my husband hollering where is the bathrooms my daughter has to use it then came back to say he was sorry but she had to go fast. he is an awesome guy. we all talked and had a good conversation.i ran the store there so when he came in to buy some drinks i got some good pics of him. i love being a camp host and run my hotdog cart. i meet all kinds of people. well known and some not but they all are awesome to talk to
Very cool! Thanks Deb!
Buffalo Cruncher? Please tell me what that is. This is new to me and I am not familiar with all the terminology.
Thanks
The Buffalo Cruncher is one of my own gourmet hot dog creations that I serve at my cart. It’s a 100% Black Angus beef hot dog that I get custom made at a meat packer on the north side of St. Louis, topped with ranch dressing, Louisiana hot sauce and Loeb’s Onion Crunch. Yummy!
Awesome Name for a dog!!! Buffalo Cruncher
I served a dog to Sammy Shelor. A week later he was on Letterman being proclaimed “The Best Banjo Player in America” by Steve Martin.
That’s pretty neat!