Redefining the Hot Dog, a Cart at a Time

[Renew Deal]

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Andrew McDonnell, the entrepreneur behind the Good to Go Organics carts that have begun popping up in the city, was standing next to one of his three wiener stands and talking about the provenance of the toppings that grace his organic dogs. The grass-fed beef for his chili comes from Kinderhook Farm in Columbia County, N.Y. The sauerkraut, which Mr. McDonnell’s team picks up in person at the Union Square Greenmarket each week, hails from another Hudson Valley grower, Hawthorne Valley Farm.

As Mr. McDonnell talked about how “people in general are just looking for a better quality of food,” a young Manhattan mother ordered her two children what she said would be the first hot dog they had tried.

Another mom, Shephali Gupte, lined up with her two children moments later and said that in her household, too, the street dogs that had won her stamp of maternal approval came from Good to Go Organics. “I’m a big fan of street food, but it has to be more wholesome,” Ms. Gupte said. “I wish there were more of these kinds of carts around the park.”

But wait. What about that classic pushcart up the way, capped with the red-and-yellow umbrella? “I’d choose this over that, even though this is more expensive,” she said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/dining/the-hot-dog-redefined-one-cart-at-a-time.html