AmericaJR.com [ FOOD: Pink's Hot Dogs now open at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas ]

Customers can charge their orders to their room at any Caesar's property on the Strip

by Jason Rzucidlo

americajr@americajr.com

WATCH: Interview with Pink's Regional Manager David Shapin

WATCH: Interviews with customers dining at Pink's Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Hollywood legend Pink’s Hot Dogs has opened a new location in front of the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas strip. They serve many of the popular chili dogs, burgers and sides as the original southern California restaurant with the addition of frozen cocktails and beer. The Las Vegas location opened its doors for the first time in August 2009. Melanie Brown, Holly Madison and Kim Kardashian hosted a special grand opening event on Sept. 18.

“We use a stretch hot dog,“ said David Shapin, regional manager of Pink’s Hot Dogs in Las Vegas. “We have part of the menu like they have in Hollywood. We decided to use the stretch dog instead of the regular dog. Every dog that comes out of here is a 9-inch stretch dog. We also have Polish sausage, we have turkey dogs, and we even have vegetarian dogs.“

This Nevada location has renamed the Hollywood celebrity dogs since it does not own the rights to their names.

“We have the same ingredients, but we’ve actually called them different names,” he added. “We have one dog that is real popular here. That’s the Planet Hollywood dog, which is made with Polish sausage, bacon, grilled mushrooms and cheese. That’s very similar to a Rosie O’Donnell dog. A Martha Stewart dog is going to be a Showgirl dog here. We’ve took the list that Hollywood put online and we’ve tried to sort of match things as close as we can so that when somebody asks for one of those dogs, we can just look and say, ‘OK, it’s sort of like this dog’ and get it real close to that one.”

Speaking of celebrities, which ones have visited this new location?

“Well, we’ve seen Holly Madison and her entourage a lot,” the regional manager explained. “We’ve seen a number of celebrities here, especially when there’s something going on in town, a concert—that’s when we’ll see them—or they’ll send their administrative assistant in a chauffeured limousine. Park it out front and get some dogs.”

The new Las Vegas location offers frozen cocktails and beer while the original Hollywood restaurant does not.

“We sell a lot of frozen cocktails and beer, I would say from about May until September, that’s our really big seller,” Shapin said. “We’ve got margaritas and daiquiris and a special Pink’s Lemonade made with Vodka.”

Cathy Bolton from Springfield, Ill. Was on vacation with her husband and ate at Pink’s for the very first time.

“We had just a hot dog and cheese fries,” she said. “It was very good, especially the fries. It’s really excellent. I’ve haven’t been to a lot of hot dog restaurants—there aren’t that many. It’s better than A&W, how about that. It was pretty expensive. We were here before when Pink’s was in another location. It’s nice sitting out here, watching people eating a dog for breakfast.”

Lyndsay Lewicki and Marissa Dornian from Winnipeg, Manitoba were on Spring Break and stopped by the restaurant to try their jello shots.

“I bought a Groupon online and I figured let’s try them,” Lewicki said. “They’re really smooth. Most jello shots you find, you’re trying to suck them out, but they’re smooth. I think that it’s five for $20, but online I got a Groupon. I got them for $10 so it’s less than two bucks a shot. For 13 percent, that’s a good amount of alcohol. Five shots at a local bar, you’re looking at about $25. It’s more fun, you’re not just doing a regular shot. Everything looks so good—it smells so good.”

Dornian added: “They’re tasty as well. I like the flavors. We got blueberry and apple. They’re super good. I definitely recommend them. We were going to try the hot dogs, but we’re going to do something a little more healthy. I think we want to come back and try them. Viva Las Vegas!”

Kyle Deterding and Andrew Brinkman from Lincoln were in town for the ACM Awards and ate at Pink’s for the first time.

“What I ordered is not on the menu,” Deterding said. “What you do is get the Vegas style—it comes with two dogs on a bun—you order some chili fries and take the dogs out of the buns and put them into the fries. Then you have chili dog fries. I feel that Pink’s should add a jumbo mini corn dog to the menu. It feels like these bites are good, but something about a stick that really sells it for me. I would say it’s reasonable and expensive. It’s kind of what you expect in Vegas—you get what you pay for. I actually grill a lot at home. We do more brats than hot dogs, but this is way better. If you get the chili fries, you can take it up a notch if you get the chili cheese fries. Then, put the hot dog in it and it’s a chili cheese dog fry.”

Brinkman added: “I had mini corn dogs. We’ve been on a quest all weekend since we’ve been here and this was the closest place to our hotel that had anything resembling corn dogs. They were excellent. We’ve had some nacho cheese, some mustard. The best mini corn dogs we’ve ever had. I would say the price is about in line with what I’d say. For mini corn dogs, I’d expect to pay about $6.79 and I think I got a reasonable amount of corn dogs for what I paid. Expectations were met. In Nebraska, all of our hot dogs are bright red in color. It’s nice to come out here and get a different perspective where they’re not so processed necessarily. To me, this compares very favorably with what we have back home. I would come back again.”

It’s all about convenience here. Customers can actually charge their bills to their room at any Caesar’s property in Las Vegas.

Prices range from $4.79 for a plain hot dog to $8.79 for the special high-end dogs. Burgers and chicken start at $6.79 and go up to $8.79. Prices are higher than at the Hollywood location because of the location on the Las Vegas Strip. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to midnight from Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Pink's Hot Dogs is located at 3667 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas, NV 89109.

For more information about this new Pink's restaurant, visit www.pinkshotdogslv.com.