Some Purely Cool Hot Dogs

What could be beachier than a hot dog? It’s the perfect compact bundle of simple fun--one you don’t have to worry about spilling or lick all the way back to your beach blanket so it won’t melt on you.

But there are hot dogs and there are hot dogs. A Santa Monica stand called Surf Dogs takes a hot dog purist line; it toasts its buns and uses sausages in natural casings so they have the traditional snap when you bite into them.

It’s located in Surf Liquor, on Main Street just north of Ocean Park Boulevard. You go inside the place (which is half liquor store, half convenience store) and hang a bit to the left at the counter to find Surf Dogs. This puts you squarely in the wine section; you could order a hot dog here and turn around and pick up a ’95 Ch. Grand Puy Ducasse to go with it (perhaps not the ideal pairing). The Surf Dog guy gives you a check and you pay at the counter, then come back and wait for your order--a sign warns that quality takes time.

The Elements: Pastrami, Sausages, Hot Dogs, Chili

Four basic ingredients--hot dogs, Polish sausages, pastrami and chili--are combined in various named sandwiches. For instance, a sandwich with mustard, sauerkraut and onions is a hang ten dog if it’s made with a hot dog, a Main Street dog if made with a Polish. Throw pastrami on the latter and it’s a riptide Reuben.

So everything pretty much depends on the quality of these ingredients. The hot dog is meaty (there’s a turkey dog if that’s what you want, but it’s rather bland) and has that satisfying snap. The Polish sausage is the most powerful ingredient, with a good sausage flavor, a bit of red pepper and quite a lot of garlic. The pastrami is pretty flavorful for rather lean pastrami, and the chili (made with turkey meat) is mild and a little liquid, with plenty of cumin and cornmeal flavor. The cheese you can get on it is a tangy cheddar, not a nondescript melting cheese.

The sausages all come with mustard and onions and one other garnish, either pickle relish, sauerkraut or chili (you can also get jalapenos with the chili). There’s a Polish with tomato, dill pickle, mayonnaise and mustard and a hot dog with cole slaw (called a Navy dog, for some reason), which is just a bit too sweet. Apart from the Reuben, pastrami comes either with cole slaw and Thousand Island dressing (the New Yorker) or with barbecue sauce. The poor man’s dog is just chili in a bun, and it’s not bad, though it certainly doesn’t have any snap.

There’s a table or two outside; probably not enough. But it’s only a couple of blocks back to the beach.

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* Surf Dogs, 2522 Main St., Santa Monica. (310) 392-2819. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. No alcohol for drinking on premises. Street parking. No credit cards. Sandwiches $2.69-$5.59; fries $1.59-$2.99.

* What to get: Samo dog (chili dog), Main Street dog (Polish with sauerkraut), New Yorker (pastrami with Thousand Island dressing and cole slaw), poor man’s dog (chili on a bun).