This Legendary New Orleans Hot Dog Stand Has Been Serving Up Franks For 80 Years

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If you've ever wandered along a street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, you've likely seen a hot-dog-shaped food stand positioned on the corner. What you found was a Lucky Dog cart, one of the city's most iconic stops for a quick bite. Instead of the usual frankfurters most hot dog stands use, the company sells a combination of specially sized all-beef franks and Creole, alligator, and smoked sausages topped with onions, ketchup, Creole mustard, jalapenos, cheese, and more. Add in a nice steamed bun, and you've got an authentically tasty food stand experience. 

The carts first appeared in the late 1940s — when two local brothers, Joe and Steve Loyacano, began the business. The concept of a fast, economical food option available after a night of drinking, when most other restaurants were closed, caught on in a big way. For 50 years, Lucky Dogs were the only sidewalk food stands permitted in the French Quarter, and seeing someone in a red-and-white striped shirt pushing their cart was (and is) common until the wee hours of the morning. Today, Lucky Dogs has some competition for late-night diners, but this famous hand-held treat doesn't show signs of going anywhere.

The company has undergone many changes since the '40s. In the 1970s, the remaining founder sold the business as the New Orleans health and sanitation guidelines began to change. The franks had to be pre-boiled at the depot before being finished in the carts. That led to a decrease in quality, and people noticed. The new owners, David Talbot and Peter Briant, came up with a workaround to make everyone happy. New carts were designed with sinks and a food guard to meet the new food safety guidelines, which is how the seven-foot-long hot-dog-shaped cart was first born.

But that wasn't the only innovation Lucky Dogs made. The hot dog-shaped portion of the cart was originally made with plaster of Paris, but when the World's Fair came to New Orleans in 1984, the stands once again got an upgrade. This time, they became 10-foot-long, all-metal pushcarts with multiple sinks and butane burners. The carts still look like this today, with the addition of a large umbrella for sunny days. 

Lucky Dogs have a loyal following in the city, even if the stand sometimes gets a bad rap from careless vendors operating it. The most famous of those sellers is undoubtedly Ignatius J. Reilly, the protagonist of the 1980 novel "A Conspiracy of Dunces," even though the character is technically hawking for Paradise Vendors. The fictional veil was so thin, however, that the long-time manager of Lucky Dogs called his autobiography, "Managing Ignatius." 

Over 80 years after its founding, the hot dog carts are still going strong, with the company extending far beyond the French Quarter. Today, there are locations in the New Orleans airport, Louisiana State University's Tiger Stadium, and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. There's even a Lucky Dog cart in the Louisiana State Museum. So, the next time you're in the Crescent City, why not grab a piece of local history for less than seven bucks? And if you can't make the journey for a while, you can try these tricks for grilling your own perfect smoked sausages at home.