Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

Some key statistics from the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council:


- During "Hot Dog Season" from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans typically consume 7 billion hot dogs: That’s 818 hot dogs per second.
 
- Los Angeles residents consume more hot dogs than any other city, including New York.
 
- The biggest hot dog day of the year is surely the 4th of July: it’s estimated that Americans eat 150 million hot dogs, enough to stretch from D.C. to L.A. over five times.
 
If you want to send out summer with a bang, and make Labor Day an even bigger hot dog holiday than Independence Day, we can help you get started at the following places. Better still, some of them can help save the world while you eat their terrific dogs. 
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The two reigning champs of a hot dog eating contest joined their challengers for a weigh-in as they hope to devour their way into the record books Wednesday in New York City.

Joey "Jaws" Chestnut and Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, the male and female champions respectively, will defend their titles at the annual event in Brooklyn.
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Everything is bigger in Texas and the Rangers' new Champion Dog is no exception. The two foot hot dog with one pound of meat is the latest addition to the Sportservice menu at Rangers Ballpark.

The whopping wiener is topped with chili, sautéed onions and shredded cheese. It may be a bit pricey at $26 but at two feet, you could feed the whole family. Heck you could feed an entire ball team.

The concessionaires are planning on the Champion Dog being a big hit with fans. So if you are planning to pick up a dog at the ball park, make sure to bring your wallet and maybe a fork...lift that is.

Previously - A magnum of Syrah for that massive frank? and Peanut-controlled seating a home run for allergy sufferers

Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray.

There are some folks who might think it a bit much, pairing wine with hot dogs - but think about it. What is a hot dog, after all, but a subspecies of sausage? And sausages, in all their varied everything-but-the-squeal wonderfulness, go great with wine.

Of course, as with all proteins, what you slather on the meat itself makes a big difference when it comes to what wine you might want to drink with it. And hot dog toppings definitely have their partisans: the kraut-and-mustard fan will look with scorn upon the Chicago-dog aficionado; the chili-cheese-and-jalapeño lover will consider the Coney Island dog adherent (chili, chopped onion, yellow mustard) a tiny-brained nit who ought to be living on a barge; and no one has any respect for the corn dog eaters, despite the fact that the corn dog is one of the genius inventions of the 20th century. (Like many genius inventions, it’s of disputed origin: Some claim the Krusty Korn Dog baking machine in the 1920s as the Ur-source, others say the corn dog originated at Pronto Pup in Portland, Oregon, in the 1930s, and still others argue for the Texas State Fair in 1938, where it was called a “corny dog.” Anyway, we’ll be announcing the date for the cage fight soon.)
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Stone Mountain, Georgia, is 738 miles from the best known home of the Coney Island hot dog - Detroit. But for more than a year now, a Coney Island restaurant in suburban Atlanta has been backing up their motto, "A Taste of the D in the ATL."

Out of a strip mall location in the shadow of Stone Mountain, Motor City Coney Island has the Detroit flavor of the Coney dog made and served up by, of course, Detroiters.

A brother and sister team runs Motor City Coney Island, born from an idea of - what else - a craving for a Coney Island dog.
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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to get our grub on, we listen up.

Guess what food Lady Gaga chose to showcase at a recent Vanity Fair photo shoot. Not a grilled version of her infamous raw meat dress. Not a lobster hat made with different shellfish. She selected a mustard-slathered hot dog (to eat, not to wear). If Lady Gaga is now focused on hot dogs, then let’s focus on them too.
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Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia (CNN) - Driving cross-country in small-bus-size hot dog is kind of a big deal.

Between 1,000 and 1,500 college seniors apply for the 12 posts piloting Oscar Mayer’s six Wienermobiles. Hopefuls have been applying for the position since 1988.

“The lucky dogs who cut the mustard are known as ‘hotdoggers,’ ” said Reese Brammel, a hotdogger who just graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in “Economnomnomics,” according to his bio on the hotdogger blog.

Brammel, who plans to apply to law school after his year-long tenure with Oscar Mayer, will face much more forgiving acceptance rates at even the most selective schools.

Brammel and his co-hotdogger, Lauren Oliver, are part of the 24^th class of Oscar Mayer hotdoggers, but the Wienermobile is much older. In fact, it is 75 years old today.
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Ashley Strickland is an associate producer at CNN.com. In her previous job as a traveling sports photographer, she picked up plenty of souvenir recipes that she'll be sharing over the next few months in her Fare Play column.

The first time I photographed University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt, he was on the field of Sanford Stadium. But instead of capturing him in a huddle amongst his team, my shot showed Coach Richt taking a big, juicy bite out of a watermelon wedge.

It was soon after beginning a photography internship with the UGA Athletic Association. The early Saturday morning scrimmage ended the football team’s sweltering two-a-day practices of summer, just in time for fall classes to start on Monday. They celebrated by indulging in an annual tradition, the watermelon cutting.

Dozens of UGA football players drenched in sweat were chomping on giant wedges of orange and pink watermelon.  Off to the side, Coach Richt was eating his piece as well.

In the state of Georgia, UGA football is a way of life. So when it came to working for the Athletic Association, I covered my share of football and press conferences about football.
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Unless you're going rogue on some frankfurters this Fourth of July like the competitive eaters at Coney Island, you're going to want to make sure your dog is dressed to impress for the festivities.

Thankfully, Josh Sharkey and Brandon Gillis of Bark Hot Dogs have got all the fixins' to make sure your sausage turns up in the wiener's circle.

Five Tips for Hot Dog Success: Josh Sharkey and Brandon Gillis
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We came in search of a classic but modest comestible: the hot dog.

The setting for this hunt was the erstwhile “hog butcher for the world,” as the poet Carl Sandburg put it: Chicago.

Now is the season of the oblong dog : baseball, Fourth of July, backyard cookouts, outdoor concerts.

So, from stand to stand, steamer to steamer, grill to grill, we took a taste of the finest wieners (hold the congressional jokes, please – and the ketchup too!) that the “City of Broad Shoulders” had to offer.

As for criterion, there was only one we sought in the frankfurters: it had to taste tangy, sweet and salty all in one bite.

(And for full disclosure: I’m a native Nort’ Sider, born within earshot of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” of Chicago’s Wrigley Field. So, several North Side destinations are listed below.)
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