When an idea for a new hot dog pops into Tarina Hodges’ head, it goes in the hot dog folder on her iPad. Inside are dozens of flavor and ingredient combinations that Hodges will test. If she hits upon something she likes, she will introduce on the menu for her pop-up, Pepper’s Hot Dogs (peppershotdogs.com).
Recently, she thought about a pizza-flavored hot dog and came up with the PPP (Pepper’s Pizza Party), a hot dog topped with an Italian herb garlic aioli, marinara sauce with basil, griddled mozzarella cheese and pepperoni slices.
“I write down an ingredient and web my way into making it a hot dog,” she said. “With this one, I wanted to give you the earthiness and creaminess that pizza gives. It took me back to being a kid and wanting a pizza party. It made me feel like how I feel about pizza, in the form of a hot dog.”
Credit: Courtesy of @bitesandbevsmedia
Credit: Courtesy of @bitesandbevsmedia
Hodges has been building a following for her gourmet dogs with offbeat toppings since her first pop-up in 2020. She’s since made appearances at local bars, festivals and breweries, and recently started a residency Tuesdays-Fridays at the Punk Foodie stall inside Ponce City Market.
With several family members in the hospitality industry, Hodges has long had an interest in cooking, and attended Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in California before serving as an executive chef and pastry chef at several hotels and restaurants in the Los Angeles area.
Looking for a change and with a desire to learn front-of-house restaurant positions, she moved to Atlanta and snagged jobs as a general manager for the now-shuttered Cakes & Ale, Ford Fry’s Rocket Farms Restaurants and the Castellucci Hospitality Group.
With both cooking and managing experience, “I was ready to do my own thing,” she said, and launched Pepper’s, named after her dog, a Pomeranian-chihuahua-dachshund mix.
Pepper’s is an homage to Hodges’ favorite food as a kid growing up in Los Angeles.
Credit: Courtesy of @bitesandbevsmedia
Credit: Courtesy of @bitesandbevsmedia
“In Los Angeles, hot dogs are everywhere,” she said. “I ate hot dogs all the time. I have great memories of going to Lakers games and eating hot dogs outside of the Staples Center.”
While she said that hot dogs are often thought of as low-brow food, she thinks the quality of ingredients used to make them can elevate them into a different category. To that end, she sources her dogs and pepperoni from local producer Fripper’s (she also offers chicken sausage from Delia’s and veggie dogs); potato bread from Martin’s; and housemade toppings including chili, cheese blends and sauces.
“I’m not using Oscar Mayer hot dogs or Sarah Lee bread. I’m using the best of the best,” Hodges said. “When you try one of my hot dogs, you say, ‘Wow, I’ve never had anything like this before. This is good food.’”
Other menu hits include the Damn Dog, with caramelized onions, jalapeno, truffle aioli, and the only dog that’s guaranteed to be on every iteration of the rotating menu; the Red Dawg with turkey chili, cheese, onions, garlic aioli and spicy mustard; and the Bleu Dog with lettuce, sundried tomatoes, blue cheese dressing, bacon, crispy onions and barbecue sauce.
She’s currently working on the best way to incorporate hummus into a hot dog, and noodling on a dessert hot dog.
“I want to make it fun, make it relatable and give that childhood moment. I still get all that nostalgic comfort from food.”
She also offers sides like tater tots and mac and cheese, and plans to introduce seasonal vegetable sides, handhelds like grilled cheese, corn dogs and chicken salad sandwiches, and breakfast items like pancake on a stick and bacon, egg and cheese biscuits, as well as desserts.
Hodges is also looking to the future, with plans to open at least one brick-and-mortar inside the Perimeter. “We’re ready,” she said. “We want to be everywhere you are. The way King of Pops is, that’s how we want to be with hot dogs.”
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