{"id":39471,"date":"2022-07-14T13:28:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T19:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hot-fire-dogs-offers-new-late-night-food-option-in-durango\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:49:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:49:52","slug":"hot-fire-dogs-offers-new-late-night-food-option-in-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hot-fire-dogs-offers-new-late-night-food-option-in-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Fire Dogs offers new late-night food option in Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Boyle, owner of Hot Fire Dogs, shows off one of his Chicago-style hot dogs on Wednesday, one of several hot dogs he sells at his restaurant at College Drive and Main Avenue underneath The Balcony Bar & Grill. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango residents looking for a late-night snack, especially after a night on the town, have limited options.<\/p>\n

Hot Fire Dogs is helping change that.<\/p>\n

The hot dog shop at College Drive and Main Avenue under The Balcony Bar & Grill is open from 5 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Other than Denny\u2019s restaurant, Hot Fire Dogs is one of the only places to find freshly made food after 1 a.m. in Durango.<\/p>\n

Creating a food option for people who go out late was something owner Matthew Boyle was adamant about. Boyle, who is also a bartender at Orio\u2019s Roadhouse, became sold on the idea after hearing from numerous customers coming into the bar and asking where they could get a late-night bite to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody always asks me where they can get food before the bar closes. And I had the same answer for them every time, Denny\u2019s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot Fire Dogs serves Chicago-style hot dogs at the restaurant at College Drive and Main Avenue underneath The Balcony Bar & Grill. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said Hot Fire Dogs is not open for lunch yet because of staffing issues, but he wanted to make sure the shop would be open late nights and decrease the chance of people driving under the influence after going out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe late night is our main focus, and we want to be known as Durango\u2019s late-night spot to jump to,\u201d Boyle said.<\/p>\n

In April, Hot Fire Dogs began as a mobile vendor that set up at fairs and the Farmington flea market. But Boyle sold the cart to focus on opening his brick-and-mortar location.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Chicago-style hot dog at Hot Fire Dogs. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The restaurant serves three different styles of hot dogs including a Chicago dog, green chile dog and a traditional hot dog. Hot Fire Dogs also offers two Italian beef sandwich options.<\/p>\n

Boyle emphasizes serving a true Chicago-style hot dog, which means no ketchup. Inside the shop, there is a poster that reads, \u201cThis dog is rated NK-17: No ketchup unless under the age of 17.\u201d He said ketchup\u2019s flavor is too restrictive for all the condiments on a Chicago dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a heavy flavor, and ketchup, it doesn\u2019t allow you to have all that other good stuff,\u201d Boyle said. \u201cLike if you had ketchup on a Chicago dog, that\u2019s all you would taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seven condiments on a Chicago dog are: yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green relish, a dill pickle, tomato slices, pickled sport peppers and a hint of celery salt.<\/p>\n

Boyle said having a poppy seed bun is also important for texture.<\/p>\n

Hot Fire Dogs uses only Vienna beef products, a company based in Chicago, to add to the shop\u2019s authenticity.<\/p>\n

Boyle plans to expand the menu past the three hot dogs, hinting at a foot-long Chicago dog customers can share. Hot Fire Dogs also offers dessert options such as the peanut butter and jelly dog, which is a banana drizzled with peanut butter and jelly on a King\u2019s Hawaiian sweet bun. He is also in the process of purchasing a soft-serve ice cream machine to appeal to late-night revelers with a sweet tooth.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Boyle, owner of Hot Fire Dogs, prepares a hot dog on Wednesday in anticipation of customers at his restaurant at College Drive and Main Avenue underneath The Balcony Bar & Grill. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re going to get a soft-serve machine, and being across the street from Cold Stone, I think that\u2019s going to be interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause every time you walk into Cold Stone, it\u2019s $8 for a dip of ice cream. So if people can get a $3.50 cone here, I think that\u2019d be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyle has big plans for the outdoor seating area of the shop. Being from Chicago, he wants to put ivy on the brick wall portion of the seating to make it look like the outfield at Wrigley Field. He also wants to lay turf in the seating area to resemble a baseball field.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Boyle, owner of Hot Fire Dogs, gently garnishes a hot dog with a sliced tomato, one of the seven condiments necessary for an authentic Chicago-style dog. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The hot dog aficionado is also trying to figure out a way to have vendors walk up and down Main Avenue to either sell hot dogs or attract customer to the shop. It could be a way to improve sales if the stand is not drawing enough business, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thinking about doing a pushcart or like you see at the ballgames where the guys have the thing over their shoulder and they open up,\u201d Boyle said.<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authentic Chicago-style dogs rated NK-17, as in no ketchup unless you\u2019re under age 17<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,438,439,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-food","tag-food-drink","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84342,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39471\/revisions\/84342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39471"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}