Po Dog Hot Dogs opens today

After many months of waiting, Ballard finally has its own Po Dogs. The popular Capitol Hill doggery has just opened its doors in Ballard, at 2014 NW Market St. Owner Laura Olson was putting the final touches on the restaurant on Thursday, unloading boxes and setting out ketchup and mustard for the opening day.

This is the third Po Dog to open (however, Olson tells us the University District location closed recently). As Olson gets ready to unveil her newest business, she talks about being happy to have a location in Ballard. She says the nightlife is vibrant like Capitol Hill’s, and hopes to eventually feed the bar crowd. For now, hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., but they’ll adjust their weekend closing hours based on how busy they are in the first few weeks.

Olson started Po Dog back in 2009, because she saw a hole in the market. “Every city has their own hot dog place,” she said, but noticed that Seattle was lacking. Because of that, and her love of hot dogs, Po Dog was born. Olson also owns other businesses around Seattle; next to the Capitol Hill Po Dog are bars Auto Battery, Manhattan Drug and Grim’s. Olson owns the space directly west of the Po Dog in Ballard, and says she plans to open a bar there in the next six months.

Po Dog offers everything from sweet to savory and back again. To highlight a few, they have the “PB Dog,” (yes, that’s peanut butter on a dog, complete with banana slices and chopped peanuts) the “Morning Glory Dog” with eggs and bacon, and the “Wasabi Egg Roll Dog” (wrapped in wonton paper and deep fried, topped with homemade wasabi aioli).

When I asked Olson how she decided to put peanut butter on a hot dog, she said they’d needed a “dessert” dog, and after a failed attempt at using chocolate peanut butter cups (apparently the chocolate just didn’t mix), she discovered how well the peanut butter (sans chocolate) sat atop a sausage. She says it’s best on their vegetarian apple and sage dog.

Po Dog is open today at 11 a.m. for their first day of business. If you’ve been to the Capitol Hill location, you’ll be happy to see it’s the same menu, minus the full bar, which should come in a couple months. She says they also hope to hold a grand opening in mid April.