Thanin Viriyaki
El Buda’s husband-wife team, Jesus Luis and Ana Jimenez.
On a recent Friday night, my wife and I lined up in the parking lot of a birria restaurant on the city’s East Side, waiting to have dinner. But as is often the case with our food expeditions, things were not exactly as they seemed. We weren’t, in fact, lining up for birria. We were there for hot dogs.
Outside the restaurant, under a jet black/Corvette-red canopy emblazoned with the name El Buda Hot Dogs, Jesus Luis grilled franks on a large, portable, flattop grill, sending the smell of Fourth of July and backyard cookouts up and down East Seminary. Each frank was wrapped in bacon — a double-whammy of mouthwatering fragrances, as you can imagine. He and a small crew of helpers dressed the dogs in grilled onions, melted cheese, mustard and …Hot Cheetos dust — a new way, for me at least, to eat a hot dog.
After getting our food, we did what most other diners were doing: eating in or on their cars, using their hoods, tailgates, and waybacks as tables. We ate these fantastic dogs against a backdrop of kids playing and adults visiting, a communal and lively scene that felt like a neighborhood gathering.
For the past two years, Luis and his wife, Ana Jimenez, have been setting this scene in the parking lot of Luis’ family restaurant, Birrieria Tres Coronas. Luis works as a cook and manager at the restaurant, but every Friday night, starting around 7 and going until midnight or so, he and his wife — along with other family members — set up a pair of flattop grills here and serve Mexican hot dogs to a seemingly endless line of regulars and curious foodies.
To call them superstars would be somewhat of an understatement. In that short amount of time, El Buda Hot Dogs has amassed a tremendous following — 24K followers alone on Instagram.
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Thanin Viriyaki
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“It’s crazy to think that when I started out, it was just me and my daughter, who was 6 or 7 at the time, just helping dad,” Luis says. “But we started getting so many people, I had to bring in my wife, then my brother-in-law, and then my sister-in-law, then I had to buy bigger grills. It’s been crazy.”
El Buda’s hot dogs aren’t the average ballpark franks. Its Mexican hot dogs, or “dogos” as they’re known in Mexico, are culinary wonders that elevate a simple hot dog into a flavor-packed feast. Styled after the popular Sonoran hot dog, they feature a bacon-wrapped frank tucked into a large, soft bun, perfect for holding a wide range of toppings. On the side comes a roasted chili pepper, adding a smoky, mild heat to the experience.
While Luis’ dogs are in step with Sonoran style, they’re tricked out with personal touches. Hot melted cheese, for instance, is poured on, if you want, along with dustings of Hot Cheetos. Tack on grilled jalapenos, pico de gallo, mustard, and mayo, and you’ve got one of the best handhelds in Fort Worth.
Luis’ passion project started with a much simpler hot dog. While running errands for his parents’ restaurant, he grabbed a dog at Home Depot, sparking the idea. As someone who witnessed firsthand the boom in popularity for birria, Luis says he recognized the potential in bringing Mexican hot dogs to a city hungry for new street food.
“It just seemed like a good idea, a good way to bring people in the neighborhood together,” says Luis, a native of California who was raised in Fort Worth. “Who doesn’t love a good hot dog? But I knew I wanted to do more than just regular hot dogs.”
That need to offer something different can maybe be attributed to his parents, Maria and Jesus Sr., whose restaurant specializes in a lesser-known — but equally great — form of birria: lamb. Most restaurants that serve birria use beef or goat.
“I knew when I started this, I wanted to do something no one else was doing,” he says. “That’s when I thought about adding the nacho cheese, which everyone seems to love here, and then I thought about the Hot Cheetos dust. Everyone loves Hot Cheetos. I wanted to find some toppings and ingredients that people would remember us for.”
To cook his hot dogs, Luis and his helpers use a pair of city-approved commercial-grade grills. The real thrill of eating at El Buda is watching them work, as plumes of smoke rise and the smell of sizzling franks and bacon drift around them. No wonder there’s usually a line.
El Buda Hot Dogs, 1150 E. Seminary Drive, instagram.com/hotdogselbuda
