The Dogfather is an accidental success story.
Jamie Hoppe never imagined long lines of hungry customers when she opened San Antonio’s most creative hot dog stand in 2017. All she wanted was a spot to serve late-night eats for her crowd next door at The Bang Bang Bar.
But when she offered franks wrapped in bacon, slathered with spicy chimichurri and topped with feta, arugula and honey, the line went out the door.
“We just wanted to put cool stuff on hot dogs and see what happened,” Hoppe said. “We’ve been figuring out the rest ever since.”
The Dogfather offers two Fourth of July specials: a red, white and blueberry hot dog and a firecracker burger.
Happy Independence Day.
Patrick Curel hopes you enjoy the menu.
He is a chef, manager and accidental co-owner, thank you very much. Eight years ago, Curel was Bang Bang’s representative for Jameson Irish Whiskey. He was also a customer, waiting in line for a gourmet dog.
Hoppe asked him for help. Curel started serving, and serving well, and before long, he went from cook to co-owner.
“When Dogfather took off faster than I expected,” Hoppe said, “I was basically trying to run a runaway train while still managing Bang Bang. It was just too much for one person.”
Curel had a background in restaurants and grew up in a family-owned pizzeria. He had a good working relationship with Hoppe. He checked all the business and culinary boxes.
“Eventually, I asked if he’d be interested in buying in and becoming a partner,” Hoppe said. “And the rest is history.”
Word spread. Demand grew. To accommodate, Dogfather opened a second location, The Dogfather II, on Nacogdoches Road two years ago.
Dogfather thrives on a history of creative innovation. Consider “The Elote,” an all-beef frank topped with roasted corn, cotija cheese, parmesan, tajin, mayo and fresh lime on a grilled bun. Available since Day One.
Or take the “Gotti Guisada,” an angus frank topped with scratch made carne guisada and slathered with queso, pico de gallo and salsa verde.
Then there’s the “Wake ‘n Bake 2.0,” a bacon-wrapped frank topped with three smashed tots, strawberry jalapeño jelly and a fried egg. Available on weekends only.
“We meet weekly to create new dogs,” Curel said. “It depends on what’s hot or what’s trending. When the Poteet Strawberry Festival is on, we’ll do a dog with strawberry jalapeno jam.”
When it’s hatch chile season, Dogfather produces a “Holla Hatch Ya Boy,” an angus beef frank topped with hatch chile relish, cotija cheese and drizzled with chipotle mayo.
As a nod to Independence Day, Dogfather created the red, white and blueberry dog, a bacon-wrapped frank with basil garlic aioli, feta cheese crumbles, arugula, diced red onions and blueberry compote.
Don’t like dogs? Dogfather offers a slew of burgers, including the Burger of the Week: the firecracker. The menu description: “44 Farms Texas angus beef patty, pepper jack cheese, pepper jam, arugula, tomatoes and jalapeño ranch drizzle.”
Hungry?
Curel does not expect long lines today. Most customers, he says, will be grilling at home or enjoying holiday burgers and dogs at the homes of friends or family members.
“But once they are done, they come to the bar and that’s when we see a huge push in sales,” Curel said. “The bar crowd arrives around 7.”
Eventually, the Bang Bang crowd gets hungry.
“At the bar, you can order directly from us with a QR code and we walk the orders over,” Curel said. “We do a lot of deliveries to the bar.”
Dogfather’s reputation caught the attention of a traveling band in 2019. A flight attendant from the band’s private plane walked in with her luggage and asked Curel for a to-go order. Curel politely declined. At the time, Dogfather did not accept to-go orders.
“We don’t have the capacity,” he told the flight attendant.
He did not know she represented a rock band. He thought she represented a radio station that shared the same name.
“She said, ‘I can’t believe you’re not selling me these hot dogs,’” Curel recalled. “She mentioned that she had a very particular client that requested Dogfather for their flight. I said, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t do that.’”
The woman, he learned, did not represent 99.5 KISS FM — but Rock and Roll All Nite KISS.
“In my previous job, I’d done a lot of work with KISS radio,” Curel said. “I fumbled that one, completely. It was a $200 or $300 order. It’s a story among our group: ‘Man, you’re never gonna live this down.’”
Prompted by KISS and the COVID-19 pandemic, Dogfather soon began accepting to-go orders.
Curel says Dogfather may even create a dog as a tribute to KISS.
“We’d probably call it ‘Bock and Roll All Night’ and do a Bock Beer cheese as a component,” he said. “Music plays a part in the creative process most times. One member of our management group, Phanie Diaz, is a founding member of two well-regarded bands: ‘Girl in a Coma’ and ‘Fea.’”
One accidental mess-up in its rearview mirror, Dogfather has powered on as an accidental success story.
