BOUNTIFUL — Jeremiah Burns has created a little piece of heaven — hot dog heaven — in Bountiful's Fifth South Plaza.
The 28-year-old North Salt Lake resident opened Red's All-American Hot Dogs with his wife, Kara, in January.
For a little more than a month the Burns family has been handing out red hots to local residents, students and business employees.
Even the couple's 3-year-old daughter, Harley, helps with the business.
"She sits here on the stool and yells to everybody when they leave, 'Thanks for having a hot dog,' " Burns said.
The idea for opening the specialized eatery came to Burns a couple months ago after watching a feature on the Food Network about hot dog restaurants. After the show, Burns, who said he loves hot dogs, found himself craving a good hot dog but couldn't find a local place to get one.
"I've been certain places, at the ball games and stuff, where you get a good hot dog and it's just kind of a real good experience," Burns said. "But then you go other places and you can't really get something that good, like at the gas station or whatever, and it's just not the same."
On Jan. 26, Burns started offering quality dogs to the public when Red's All-American Hot Dogs opened at 273 W. 500 South, Bountiful.
The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Customers can choose from 11 different dogs that cost $2 for a regular and $3 for a jumbo size. The restaurant also has chips and drinks for $1 each or $1.50 when combined, and all prices include sales tax.
Before settling on his official menu items, Burns decided to do some Internet research on different hot dog styles.
"I was trying to look at all the menus at all the baseball stadiums around America," Burns said. "But I was starting to find a lot of them were the same, so then I just kind of focused on major cities."
Burns built the restaurant's menu by selecting hot dog styles from different cities or areas in the United States. He chose to name the restaurant Red's All-American Hot Dogs in honor of the original name of the hot dog, red hot, and in honor of restaurant's All-American menu options.
Chicago and New York, Burns said, are two cities that have a very distinct way they serve their hot dogs.
In Chicago people say a hot dog has "been dragged through the garden." It comes with mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, a pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt.
"They just load it up — it's a whole pile of veggies on top of it there," Burns said. "It's really good. It's definitely the most popular dog that we have."
The New Yorker is famous for having fancy mustards and sauerkraut, Burns said.
"We've got a good spicy brown mustard that we put on that that a lot of people like, " he added.
But the restaurant serves more than the Chicago Red Hot and the New Yorker. Customers can also order the Cincinnati Chili Dog, Southern Slaw Dog, Yellow Dog, Red Dog, Milwaukee Bratwurst, Brooklyn Sausage, El Paso or Burns' original Spicy Buffalo or Kansas City BBQ dogs.
Burns said they have had customers from other parts of the country come in and enjoy eating a dog that's authentic to their city.
"People always come in and say, 'Oh it's never going to be like home,' but then they try ours and then they've all said, 'I stand corrected,' " Burns said. "One guy visiting from Chicago said this was the best hot dog that he has ever had, so that was a huge compliment for us."
Burns said there is already a large group of regulars who frequent the restaurant, and the business is doing so well that they would like to open at least two more locations, one in downtown Salt Lake City and one near the University of Utah.
Kara Burns said she doesn't like hot dogs as much as her husband, but she does like the flexibility of the new business.
"With (Jeremiah) and Harley here it's just convenient and nice . . . If we need to go home then we can go home, and if not then we can stay here and hang out," she said.
Harley seems to share her father's fondness for the frankfurters. She makes her own type of dog that comes equipped with ketchup, barbecue sauce, cheese, tomatoes and a pickle.
"(I like hot dogs) because they are yummy," she said.
E-mail: nclemens@desnews.com