Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Dog days: South Point hot dog cart remains a popular draw in Las Vegas

SouthPoint's Chicago Hot Dog Cart

Christopher DeVargas

Dharmi Patel assembles an order at the South Point hot dog cart on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. The popular cart offers Vienna Beef Chicago hot dogs, steamed in Budweiser, for the bargain price of $1.25 each.

SouthPoint's Chicago Hot Dog Cart

Dharmi Patel assembles a Vienna Beef Chicago hot dog at a cart inside the South Point Hotel and Casino Wed. Jan 6, 2021. Launch slideshow »

While playing poker at the South Point, A.C. Florez of Las Vegas decided to take a quick lunch break.

Whenever he plays at the off-Strip casino — three or four times a week, usually — he’s sure to stop at South Point’s popular hot dog cart, a few steps from the sports book.

A Vienna beef hot dog steamed with Budweiser beer costs $1.25 — 75 cents more than when South Point owner Michael Gaughan started the tradition at the old Barbary Coast on the Strip in 1979.

“It’s the best deal in town,” said Florez before he hurried back to the poker room with two hot dogs with ketchup, mustard and relish.

In 2019, South Point sold about 232,000 hot dogs — more than 600 per day — and nearly the same number were sold last year, despite the pandemic.

On Super Bowl Sunday last year, people gobbled down more than 2,600 hot dogs. Folks can’t get too greedy, though — there’s a limit of three per person.

Gaughan said he doesn’t make much on the hot dogs, but that’s not the point. The idea is to get people in the door.

“One hot dog costs me about $1.10, so I’m making about 15 cents with every sale,” Gaughan said with a chuckle. “They’re great hot dogs.”

After more than 40 years running the promotion, Gaughan, 77, said he still enjoys the occasional hot dog. And don’t hold back on the mustard and onions.

The cart is expected to be busy this weekend, with NFL playoff games slated for Saturday and Sunday. On a typical NFL game day, two servers manning the cart can dish out 1,200 dogs.

“It’s a very popular place on the weekends,” said Natalie Miranda, who works the cart.

The idea to sell cheap, tasty hot dogs came to Gaughan in the late 1970s. He wanted to offer something simple for people to munch on at the Barbary Coast, today the site of the Cromwell.

He initially had a deal with Hebrew National to supply the hot dogs, but he moved to change vendors after the company raised its prices, he said.

To find a new supplier, a group including Gaughan, longtime South Point oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro and then-North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano taste-tested five other brands.

The Vienna beef franks won 4-to-1, and the company has supplied Gaughan ever since, he said.

“I think we all went home sick that day after eating all those hot dogs,” Gaughan said.

When Gaughan, son of legendary Las Vegas casino owner Jackie Gaughan, took control of South Point, formerly the South Coast, in 2006, there was no question the hot dog promotion would follow.

“People love those hot dogs,” he said.