by Michael Goodberry

Red’s Hot Dogs, located off Main Street in East Aurora, offers a great family dining experience. Walking into the hot dog stand there is a nostalgic feel with the bricks showing on walls by the menu board. Red’s is starting to decorate for the holidays and has light strands in the windows and strung around the counter.

I ordered a bacon cheese dog with a large vanilla milk shake and a side order of mac and cheese. The bacon cheese dog was a Sahlen’s hot dog on a toasted sub roll topped with perfectly cooked bacon, and delicious American cheese sauce, served in a plastic fry basket lined with a white and red plaid wax paper. The hot dog was as charred all the way around and hot in the middle. The bacon was crispy in the middle and softer by the tips. The sauce was gooey and salty, as any good melted American cheese sauce should be, was the perfect ingredient to top the decadent hot dog. The cheese sauce hardened as it cooled which made the hot dog easier to eat.

The mac and cheese did not appear too special.  By appearance, it was your standard elbow mac and cheese in gooey golden cheese sauce served on a black plastic fast food salad plate. But after my first bite, I was impressed. The noodles were cooked perfectly and they added shredded cheddar cheese to the sauce mixture and further melted it to make the sauce runny and stringy at the same time. Flavor wise the dish was slightly above average.

The milkshake was made very well with actual ice cream. The only thing I regret is by this point I was too full to finish the milkshake. I am anxiously waiting the next chance I get to eat at this excellent hot dog stand again. If anyone is looking for a well-made hot dog with quality ingredients with a vast variety of options, run down to Red’s in East Aurora you will not be disappointed.