I have developed a slightly ridiculous ritual before seeing a musical or other show at the San Diego Civic Theatre: I get downtown earlier than necessary, find Pete Soto beneath the blue-and-yellow Sabrett umbrellas at Brooklyn Dogs, order a chili cheese dog with mustard, and make absolutely certain I have enough hand wipes to restore myself to something resembling a respectable theatergoer afterward.
Is inhaling a chili cheese dog on Civic Center Plaza before taking your seat for Les Misérables or The Phantom of the Opera the classiest way to begin an evening at the theater? Probably not. But Brooklyn Dogs has become such an essential part of the experience for me that I now look forward to the hot dog almost as much as whatever is happening on stage.
And the chili cheese dog is phenomenal. As the latest entry in SanDiegoVille's "Best In Class" series, highlighting what we believe are the finest versions of iconic foods around San Diego County, Brooklyn Dogs earns the distinction for something deceptively simple: an old-school New York street dog that tastes exactly like an old-school New York street dog should.
The foundation is a Sabrett, the unmistakable frankfurter associated with those blue-and-yellow umbrellas lining the sidewalks of New York City. Sabrett's roots trace to Manhattan's Lower East Side, and although the company has long been headquartered across the Hudson in New Jersey, its hot dogs remain fixtures of New York street carts. Pete Soto, himself a Brooklyn native, has been bringing that particular taste of New York to San Diego for decades.
My order is the chili cheese dog, with mustard added. The hot dog has that familiar Sabrett snap and savory bite, followed by a layer of smooth mustard, a rich no-bean chili that actually tastes like chili rather than vaguely seasoned ground beef, and a glorious blanket of creamy, molten cheese sauce over the top.
This is not artisanal cheese. I do not want artisanal cheese. Give me the Cheese Whiz. Give me the yellow stuff. Give me the kind of unapologetically processed, creamy cheese that has absolutely no interest in impressing a Michelin inspector and every intention of making a hot dog taste better. Combined with the chili, mustard and Sabrett underneath, it hits that perfect intersection of salty, tangy, meaty, creamy and messy.
It is also virtually impossible to eat elegantly. Chili will escape. Cheese will find a finger you were certain was nowhere near the hot dog. Mustard may become involved in ways you didn't anticipate. This is why the hand wipes have become part of the ritual.
Brooklyn Dogs is also about much more than my particular order. The current menu includes the classic beef Sabrett, jumbo and Polish dogs, a beef hot link, spicy dog and bratwurst, with New York-style red onions, grilled onions, sauerkraut and other toppings available. There's a sauerkraut dog, nacho dog with bacon bits, cream cheese and jalapeño dog, bacon-wrapped dog with peppers and onions, and a Baja Dog piled with tomatoes, cilantro, onions and spices.
The New York red onion dog may be the purest expression of what Soto does. That distinctive seasoned tomato-and-onion topping is ubiquitous at New York hot dog carts but strangely difficult to encounter 2,400 miles away, and Brooklyn Dogs has been serving it in San Diego for many years.
And when I say many years, I mean decades. Soto has operated Brooklyn Dogs for more than 30 years, mostly around Civic Center and the downtown area.
But the food is only half the reason I've become so attached to this place. On most of my visits, Pete is there in his Yankees cap, usually working alongside his wife, Letty, or their son. Sinatra or some other old-school music is playing from the cart. Pete recognizes you, smiles, talks to you for a minute without turning it into a TED Talk, makes your dog and sends you on your way. It feels wonderfully, stubbornly New York.
I lived in New York City, and there are certain things that can instantly put me back there. The smell of steam coming out of a subway grate. A particular kind of pizza crust. Hearing someone honk approximately 0.4 seconds after a traffic light turns green. And a Sabrett hot dog eaten outside while Frank Sinatra plays nearby absolutely does it.
Brooklyn Dogs doesn't feel like a San Diego restaurant attempting to manufacture a New York aesthetic. There is no subway map wallpaper, no $19 "NYC Street Dog" served on a metal tray and no carefully distressed sign explaining that you're about to have an "authentic New York experience." It's a Brooklyn guy who has spent decades standing behind an actual hot dog cart selling actual New York hot dogs.
There is even something reassuring about the cart itself. It looks like a proper New York hot dog cart transported across the country and dropped among downtown San Diego's office towers: stainless steel, Sabrett umbrellas, bags of chips dangling overhead, sodas stacked behind the counter and a menu board covered in hot dogs that make no attempt whatsoever to be photogenic health food.
Brooklyn Dogs also has something many people walking past probably don't realize: an actual arrangement to operate at Civic Center Plaza. City records from 2024 describe a three-year license agreement giving Brooklyn Dogs limited rights to operate a mobile hot dog cart at the city-owned plaza, and Soto recently told KPBS that his operation maintains the required health permit, food-handler licensing and business licensing.
That matters because downtown San Diego has changed enormously around Pete. Civic Center Plaza has changed. Horton Plaza across Broadway practically disappeared and is being reinvented. The street-vending landscape, especially when it comes to hot dogs, has become increasingly chaotic, and Soto and his family have publicly complained that the proliferation of other vendors around downtown has hurt their business. Through all of it, those ridiculous blue-and-yellow Sabrett umbrellas keep popping up.
There is something to be said for that kind of continuity in a city where restaurants seem to open, rebrand, become an "immersive dining concept" and disappear before you've remembered their name.
My choice remains the $9 chili cheese dog, plus mustard, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. But if you're going for the first time, the red onion dog or sauerkraut dog will probably deliver the most purely New York experience, while the Baja Dog and bacon-wrapped options appropriately acknowledge that this cart has spent a very long time living in Southern California.
And maybe that's what makes Brooklyn Dogs so good. It hasn't tried to reinvent the hot dog. It doesn't need wagyu beef, truffle aioli, edible flowers or a brioche bun branded with the restaurant's initials. Pete takes a Sabrett, puts it in a steamed bun and covers it with the sort of toppings people have been putting on street dogs forever. Then you stand outside in downtown San Diego and eat the damn thing.
For me, the experience now has another association permanently attached to it. A night at the Civic Theatre means parking downtown, walking toward the plaza, spotting those Sabrett umbrellas and realizing I planned my arrival time with enough of a cushion to get my chili cheese dog before the curtain rises.
Maybe Pete has Sinatra playing. He's probably wearing a Yankees hat. His wife or son is likely at his side. I'll order the same thing I always order, Pete will make it, I'll inevitably get cheese somewhere it wasn't supposed to go, and for about five minutes downtown San Diego will feel a little bit like New York City.
Then I'll clean myself up and go see a show.
Classy? Absolutely not. Perfect? Pretty damn close.
Brooklyn Dogs operates at Civic Center Plaza at 1200 Third Avenue in downtown San Diego, directly outside the San Diego Civic Theatre, with the family also operating downtown during daytime hours. For more information, call 619.818.5164 and follow @Brooklyn.Dogs on Instagram.
Originally published September 3, 2026.
But the food is only half the reason I've become so attached to this place. On most of my visits, Pete is there in his Yankees cap, usually working alongside his wife, Letty, or their son. Sinatra or some other old-school music is playing from the cart. Pete recognizes you, smiles, talks to you for a minute without turning it into a TED Talk, makes your dog and sends you on your way. It feels wonderfully, stubbornly New York.
I lived in New York City, and there are certain things that can instantly put me back there. The smell of steam coming out of a subway grate. A particular kind of pizza crust. Hearing someone honk approximately 0.4 seconds after a traffic light turns green. And a Sabrett hot dog eaten outside while Frank Sinatra plays nearby absolutely does it.
Brooklyn Dogs doesn't feel like a San Diego restaurant attempting to manufacture a New York aesthetic. There is no subway map wallpaper, no $19 "NYC Street Dog" served on a metal tray and no carefully distressed sign explaining that you're about to have an "authentic New York experience." It's a Brooklyn guy who has spent decades standing behind an actual hot dog cart selling actual New York hot dogs.
There is even something reassuring about the cart itself. It looks like a proper New York hot dog cart transported across the country and dropped among downtown San Diego's office towers: stainless steel, Sabrett umbrellas, bags of chips dangling overhead, sodas stacked behind the counter and a menu board covered in hot dogs that make no attempt whatsoever to be photogenic health food.
Brooklyn Dogs also has something many people walking past probably don't realize: an actual arrangement to operate at Civic Center Plaza. City records from 2024 describe a three-year license agreement giving Brooklyn Dogs limited rights to operate a mobile hot dog cart at the city-owned plaza, and Soto recently told KPBS that his operation maintains the required health permit, food-handler licensing and business licensing.
That matters because downtown San Diego has changed enormously around Pete. Civic Center Plaza has changed. Horton Plaza across Broadway practically disappeared and is being reinvented. The street-vending landscape, especially when it comes to hot dogs, has become increasingly chaotic, and Soto and his family have publicly complained that the proliferation of other vendors around downtown has hurt their business. Through all of it, those ridiculous blue-and-yellow Sabrett umbrellas keep popping up.
There is something to be said for that kind of continuity in a city where restaurants seem to open, rebrand, become an "immersive dining concept" and disappear before you've remembered their name.
My choice remains the $9 chili cheese dog, plus mustard, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. But if you're going for the first time, the red onion dog or sauerkraut dog will probably deliver the most purely New York experience, while the Baja Dog and bacon-wrapped options appropriately acknowledge that this cart has spent a very long time living in Southern California.
And maybe that's what makes Brooklyn Dogs so good. It hasn't tried to reinvent the hot dog. It doesn't need wagyu beef, truffle aioli, edible flowers or a brioche bun branded with the restaurant's initials. Pete takes a Sabrett, puts it in a steamed bun and covers it with the sort of toppings people have been putting on street dogs forever. Then you stand outside in downtown San Diego and eat the damn thing.
For me, the experience now has another association permanently attached to it. A night at the Civic Theatre means parking downtown, walking toward the plaza, spotting those Sabrett umbrellas and realizing I planned my arrival time with enough of a cushion to get my chili cheese dog before the curtain rises.
Maybe Pete has Sinatra playing. He's probably wearing a Yankees hat. His wife or son is likely at his side. I'll order the same thing I always order, Pete will make it, I'll inevitably get cheese somewhere it wasn't supposed to go, and for about five minutes downtown San Diego will feel a little bit like New York City.
Then I'll clean myself up and go see a show.
Classy? Absolutely not. Perfect? Pretty damn close.
Brooklyn Dogs operates at Civic Center Plaza at 1200 Third Avenue in downtown San Diego, directly outside the San Diego Civic Theatre, with the family also operating downtown during daytime hours. For more information, call 619.818.5164 and follow @Brooklyn.Dogs on Instagram.
Originally published September 3, 2026.