Southie: Cigars, planes and Sully's

On my way to a wake, which is a whole different story, I decided I absolutely had to swing through Southie (South Boston) for a hot dog. Every year, Bostonians look forward to the annual opening of Sully's - Sullivan's hot dogs - on Castle Island. I believe it opened for the season a few weeks ago, and they were selling hot dogs for 75 cents a piece. The line was crazy then, and I thought it was worth it to wait and pay the relatively exhorbitant $1.50.

So on a sunny, windy Tuesday in March, I had my $1.50 hot dog. I was the only girl in the building, and I would guess in a four block radius. Surrounded by contractors, longshoreman and professional lay-abouts, I inched up to the counter in my dress blacks. 2 dogs, with ketchup, relish, mustard and onions. Oh, and a coke. I was disappointed to discover that they are a pepsi joint, but I survived. The dogs were delivered in about 15 seconds, and I high-tailed it outta there. I parked the car about 5 blocks further west, looking out over the pond into Boston harbor, allowing myself a perfect view of planes landing at Logan airport. One, two, three...no wonder air traffic controllers need percosates to get through the day, the planes came in so quickly. Yet something about sitting there was incredibly peaceful. The guy in the next car was smoking a cigar and reading the paper - it made me think that people have made the trip to Sully's their routine, their church. They come from all over Boston to meditate on the peace of the water, the redundancy of the planes' rumbling and the sweet salty taste of hot dogs. The sameness of it all calmed me.

Back to the dogs - they were delicious. Slightly sweet and not too salty, the casings were crisp and the buns were grilled to perfection. I may have been heading to a wake last Tuesday, but for 20 minutes, I found peace.