Down and Dirty in Davis Sq. – Spike’s Junkyard Dogs

Guest written by Liz Tereshko
While searching for nearby hot dog joints on Google, Jess and I discovered Spike’s Junkyard Dogs. There are 9 locations of Spike’s. Five of these are in MA. The closest one to us is the one in Davis Sq. Somerville, MA, (aka Slumerville in some audiences). Their restaurant in Davis is also known for being the place to go after a night of drinking since they are open till 1am. However, wanting the experience Spike’s on a sober stomach Jess and I made the trek over the river to do the all important taste test.
Spike’s is very easy to find with their bright yellow sign and hot dog scents that waft around the neighborhood. Being Somerville, parking can be tricky to find on a weekend. We had to do some circling before we found a spot. But, if you don’t mind the walk there is a metered parking lot a few blocks away.
There are 9 hot dogs on their menu. We chose our usually amount of 2 hot dogs, the Patriot Dog and Spike’s Junkyard Dog, both 100% beef franks. While eating on 2 stools looking out onto Elm Street we devoured our purchases and people watched. For those of you that have been to Davis Sq. you know that there is some good people watching to be seen in this part of town. Spike’s is an ideal people watching place due to their street level counters and low plastic bar stools.
The Patriot Dog is an explosion of bacon, cheddar cheese, and Spike’s special mustard on top of a juicy hot dog that was wrapped up in a freshly baked bun. The hot dog itself was rich and flavorful, but we found that the cheese could have been meltier and the bacon might have been slightly over the top even for our tastes. In our book bacon to is a very important food. The bun was toasted and large as far as hot dog bun sizes run, really more like a small loaf of bread. Spike’s Junkyard Dog is Spike’s special mustard, tomatoes, pickles, hot pepper rings, and chopped scallions. The Junkyard Dog was better than the Patriot Dog simply because there was less going on. All of the ingredients seemed freshly made and were rich tasting. The bun for the Junkyard Dog was the same bun as the Patriot Dog, but for some reason it worked better for the Junkyard Dog.
All in all Spike’s was good, but not outright amazing. Maybe Spike’s has branched out too far with their 9 locations and have lost track of some of their original charm like so many other small chain restaurants before them or maybe we were too sober to fully enjoy their late night snack reputation.