Culinarily speaking, Venezuela is probably best known in our Valley for its arepas—corn cakes stuffed with tasty goodness. But mobile eatery Street Dogs is spreading the word about another specialty from the South American country, the Venezuelan-style hot dog. Chicago dogs are said to be “dragged through the garden” because of their piled-high veggies. Maybe Venezuelan dogs—layered with cabbage, carrot, onion, potato strings, shredded cheese, aji sauce, mustard and ketchup, with a crisp beef link beneath it all—have “rummaged through the pantry.” (As a purist I despise ketchup on my dogs, yet it inexplicably works in this instance.)

Something else I never expected to say: Order chicken, not pork. You can get an optional meat topping on your dog, and as much as I adore the swine, the shredded chicken is moister and more flavorful. First ketchup and now chicken? I hardly know myself. But I do know Street Dogs serves a damn fine snack. The bright red trailer is often tucked away in a strip-mall parking lot on Rainbow just north of Sahara, but it gets around. Keep up at streetdogslv.com.