By Stevi Costa

Capitol Hill’s resident gourmet hot dog joint, Po Dogs, opened its doors on Nov. 14, 2009. Since the restaurant broke ground in the reclaimed auto shop it calls home at 1009 E. Union St., owner Laura Olson has been working non-stop.

From preparing the space, to picking out the kitschy-cool dueling guns wallpaper that adorns the restaurant, to sampling myriad varieties of dogs, buns and French fries, Olson has put a lot of work into making her hot dog dreams come true. And the workload hasn’t let up since Po Dogs began serving customers. “I work over 100 hours a week in the restaurant,” said Olson, “and then I go home and I do all the financials at home.”

Olson, who left behind a corporate job after realizing that she’s simply “not a desk job type of person,” actually enjoys the amount of hours she spends on Po Dogs. “I love what I do,” she said. “But the most challenging part is trying to add more hours to my day.” Nevertheless, Olson says that even though she works like a dog, she doesn’t feel like she actually puts in 100 hours each week. “I love my employees, I love my product and I love my location. All that combined, I’m really excited. There’s nothing I hate about my job,” she said.

When Olson says she enjoys her product, she means it. Regarding her hot dog-heavy menu, Olson saw a need to share her love of tubed meats with the rest of Seattle. “I love hot dogs,” she said. “I feel like hot dogs are not as appreciated as they should be. People are doing crazy things with hamburgers, but nobody has really done it with hot dogs.”

Olson and the rest of the Po Dogs crew are indeed doing crazy things with hot dogs. With Hebrew National all-beef kosher franks as the base, the eclectic menu features inventive dogs like the PB Dog (topped with peanut butter and sliced bananas), the Wasabi Egg Roll Dog (wrapped in an egg roll, deep fried and served with wasabi aioli) and the Morning Glory Dog (topped with scrambled eggs, Tillamook cheddar and pepper bacon).

Each month, Po Dogs offers a specialty dog in order to keep pushing the noble hot dog to the borders of tastiness. In December, the specialty dog was a Chili Dog. January’s offering is a Mac-n-Cheese Dog, which requires a 3-hour macaroni and cheese recipe, made fresh daily, smothered on top of a frankfurter. Vegetarians can substitute a locally-sourced veggie dog at anytime to indulge their tubed (faux) meat cravings.

In deciding what outlandish hot dog toppings would find their way onto the Po Dogs menu, Olson and her friends held numerous tasting parties leading up to the opening of the store. “It took a lot of trial and error,” Olson said. She also did copious amounts of research into regional hot dog specialties (reflected in the Texas, Seattle and Chicago Dogs) as well as global cuisines that might translate into hot dog toppings.

“We tried to find what would work best and what was edible and not too crazy,” Olson said. Some of those globally-inspired tastings led to the creation of the aforementioned Wasabi Egg Roll Dog, the South of the Border Dog (guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream) as well as a former Thai-inspired Dog of the Month. Olson has also featured Indian-inspired dogs with fruit chutneys.

But chutney, peanut butter and bananas seem to be the limit for sweetness on hot dogs. “I can tell you right now that chocolate does not go well on a hot dog,” adding that, eventually, Po Dogs may try topping a dog with chocolate-based mole sauce to take the chocolate-covered hot dog idea and make it potentially palatable.

In the spirit of trying new things, Olson said that Po Dogs will be hosting a Sausage Fest in February to give patrons a chance to try other tubed meats than the standard all-beef hot dog. During Sausage Fest, the restaurant plans to offer Polish Kielbasa and other sausage varieties. If customers like the new dogs, Olson says that Po Dogs will consider adding those meats to the menu permanently.

In addition to out-of-the-box hot dogs, Po Dogs also offers house-made potato chips cut from Red Argentine potatoes, which Olson likes because of the unique color and taste. “For some reason, I love the color of the red Argentine potato chips after we cook them. And the taste is kind of crisp and clean, and not Lay’s potato chip-like,” she said. The restaurant also serves natural-cut French fries, beers (both bottled and on tap) and Mexican Coca-Cola in glass bottles.

Po’Dogs is located at 1009 E. Union St. in Capitol Hill. The menu is available online at www.podogs.com.