Walter's Hot Dog Stand

937 Palmer Ave., Mamaroneck, NY

In the year 1919, a wonderful ground-breaking delicacy was brought to the burgeoning Westchester town of Mamaroneck, NY. It was …the hot dog.

However, this was no ordinary dog…

The hot dog as most people know it was brought to the states around 1870 by a German immigrant named Charles Feltman who first opened a stand on the boardwalk in Coney Island. In 1916, one of Feltman’s employees, Nathan Handwerker, started his own stand called Nathan’s Famous, which is still one of the better-known hot dog franchises today. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you live outside of NYC) Walter’s is not a franchise. It is a wonderfully quirky ode to the unique and extremely tasty “split” hot dogs that Walter Warrington created almost 100 years ago. The hot dogs (a combination of pork, beef, and veal) are split down the middle and griddled with a “secret sauce” to create a golden brown crust that adds to the perfect “snap” that any good hot dog must have. Walter’s other claim to fame is the “secret” mustard , which tastes like a mixture of sharp brown mustard and sweet pickle relish. It is absolutely delicious and as someone who normally likes everything but the kitchen sink on my hot dog (think Chicago style), I am convinced that this is the only topping you need on a hot dog this good.



Not only is Walter’s hot dog a party in your mouth, it is a great experience—that is, if you don’t mind lines that sometimes reach a block down the street and can take up to an hour to go through. Walter’s is located in a free-standing copper roofed Chinese pagoda that was built in 1928 and was declared a historical landmark in 1991. It really is an event. Bring family and friends and sit at one of Walter’s picnic tables with a basket of curly fries and several hot dogs. That’s what we did.