City Dogs is Top Dog
It may sound odd, but apparently vegetarians love hotdogs—veggie dogs, that is. And, for the first time ever, PETA has ranked the top five veggie dogs from across the country. The veggie dog from Salt Lake City downtown food cart City Dogs won the No. 4 spot, nationwide, just behind Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace in Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh’s Franktuary, and the Puka Dog in Honolulu. Lettuce Eat Healthy in St. Petersburg, Fla., rounded out the top five. City Dogs is located across from  The Green Ant at 200 E. 300 South and is owned by former City Weekly digital news editor Jesse Fruhwirth. Each “City Dog” comes with freshly diced tomatoes, pickled asparagus, sport peppers, onions and celery salt. “City Dogs and all our winners are top dogs in our book for meeting America’s growing demand for delicious animal- and health-friendly faux meats,” said PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman. “Now anyone in the country can enjoy great hotdogs without costing a cow or a pig an arm and a leg.” SaltCityDogs.com features menu and delivery information.

Local First Chef’s Challenge
The fourth-annual Chef’s Challenge, sponsored by Local First Utah, will take place on Saturday, July 2, in Pioneer Park at the Downtown Farmers Market. The cook-off contest will feature three top local chefs competing using all locally sourced ingredients, including a secret bag full of mystery herbs, meats, produce and spices gathered from Farmers Market vendors that day. 2010’s Chef’s Challenge was a blast—it was really fun to see how creative these chefs can be. So, I urge everyone to come down and enjoy the fun. The contest begins at 10 a.m. and runs until noon Visit LocalFirst.org for more information.

Royal Recognition
On June 30, the Downtown Alliance recognizes the downtown Royal Eatery restaurant with a special achievement award, recognizing the eatery’s importance as a longtime anchor of the downtown business scene. Royal Eatery, a Greek-American restaurant owned by the Priskos family for over 40 years, is located at 375 S. Main Street.

Quote of the week: Those who feed on politics learn to dine on baloney. —James J. Kilpatrick