Now, THAT’S true love.
Fred’s wood-grilled dogs are frankly a local favorite – The Boston Globe
By Genevieve Rajewski, Globe Correspondent | May 23, 2007
WAKEFIELD — The morning’s desolate parking lot and ominous clouds around Lake Quannapowitt don’t seem to perturb Fred Rex. “You have to be part weatherman to do this job,” he says, tucking a hot dog into the sole customer’s waiting bun. The man scurries away, using one hand to shield his lunch from spitting raindrops. He dines in a parked car with the wipers going.
When Rex, who owns Fred’s Franks, began preparing for today’s cookout at 7 a.m., he felt confident that he made the right call. Sure enough, as if on cue, both sunshine and customers appear at noon.
On a nice day, spotting Rex on the lake is an annual rite of spring. Walkers, runners, stroller-pushers, and other fresh-air junkies might be circling Quannapowitt year round. But when Rex and his tow-along Big Green Egg grill reappear, locals from Wakefield and the surrounding towns come out in droves.
From the back of a homemade red wooden trailer, Rex grills hot dogs, kielbasa, chorizo, and linguiça to order over hardwood lump charcoal with a touch of apple wood. He has been working this spot near the Route 128 rotary five days a week — spring through fall — ever since he was laid off from his job four years ago. He had been at the electronics company Trilogic Systems for 17 years until Suntron bought it.
For his new venture, Rex decided to grill franks over wood because “there was no place around here to get a great dog.” Over the years, the lakeside operation has undergone several iterations. Rex started by cooking on a Weber Smokey Joe but it was inefficient, fuel-wise, “keeping a fire going seven or eight hours a day.” The Big Green Egg (see related story below) maintains a high temperature consistently and holds moisture.
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While awaiting their orders, customers fill fresh buns and bulkie rolls with chopped onion, sauerkraut, hot cherry peppers, and other toppings from built-in condiment holders. If a customer is willing, Rex will fill the bun with his own special “yin-yang” mixture: a combination of mayonnaise, Rosoff sweet sauerkraut, and Cholula hot sauce, topped with chopped sweet onion.
The sun is now blazing so Rex sheds his colorful knit cap and dons sunglasses. Using a bungee-cord pulley, he raises the porcelain cooker’s ponderous lid to retrieve some meat. A gust of wind snatches a puff of smoke and perfumes the group of waiting lunchers. Natural-casing all-beef franks are nicely crisp and snap when bitten. “The standard dog at Fred’s is crispy,” he says. “So if you don’t want it crispy, just tell me. I want it the way you want it.”
“Done just right,” announces Somerville resident Ron Boudreau about his deeply browned dog with crosshatch grill marks. “I haven’t had a hot dog since he folded up the stand last year. And I cook a lot at home,” he says. “Once, I picked up my wife, who works in Woburn, to take her to lunch here. She was expecting a steam cart with hot dogs. I told her, ‘I wouldn’t take you for just any hot dog.’ “
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