The Growler’s Dogs Are One Of The Cheaper Bar Lunches You’ll Find

It’s the time of year when grabbing lunch from a cart or truck sounds less appealing, and sitting somewhere with plentiful seating starts to sound better and better. The problem with that is you can easily top $10 once you factor in tip and maybe a drink (or two). When I saw that The Growler Bites & Brews – the latest alcoholic addition to Stone St. – was now serving food I rounded up a friend and headed over. If you’re looking for a fancy hot dog or sausage served to you by some chatty bartenders, then this is a good lunch spot.

The Growler’s menu is fairly short with not a burger to be seen, and the best part is that nearly everything is less than $10. Their thing is sausages and hot dogs, keeping with the canine theme. They also sell growlers of beer if you’re having a really bad day at work. They list the purveyors of all of the tube steaks, and the hot dogs come from Brooklyn’s Mile End. If you’re particularly hungry there’s a two-dog deal with toppings for $9, or you can get one for $6. Others are $7 and include a lamb merguez, pork banger and bratwurst.

I went with the Chicago-style dog ($7) which involved chopped onions, sport peppers, pickles and tomato with celery salt on a grilled brioche bun.  The menu doesn’t say it, but you also get a generous pile of housemade potato chips on the side and they are delicious. My friend went with a regular hot dog with sauerkraut on it. And I couldn’t resist getting an order of fried pickles to share ($6).

First, the Chicago dog. This thing was delicious, and made even better by a few squirts from the bottle of super spicy mustard that sits alongside the yellow kind. The hot dogs are skinless but still pretty great, and I liked that they lightly grilled the bun. The dog with sauerkraut (seen above) was also a success.

The only thing I can’t really recommend ordering was the fried pickles which I got before knowing about the complimentary potato chips. They use the kind of pickles you might find at a place like Katz’s, and not the Vlasic dill variety, and they’re enrobed in a slightly sweet batter that I wasn’t really a fan of. They were made slightly better dipped in the sauce that came with them, but I would say save your money or order another hot dog instead.

The Growler Bites & Brews, 55 Stone St. (nr. Hanover Sq.), (917) 409-0251

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