Hot dog restaurant opens in Houston on Washington Avenue

HOUSTON — Thousands of Houston hot dog fans are rejoicing after a beloved spot is now open after a long wait.

Fans of YoYo’s Hot Dogs lined up Friday night at the intersection of Parker and Washington Avenue for a taste of a Houston favorite you can’t find anywhere else.

It was the first Friday night for their new location – a small place on the corner of an aging strip mall where, for $8, you can get a drink and one of YoYo’s famous dogs.

“My name is Danny Kim. I own YoYo’s Hot Dogs hot dog shop. People started calling me ‘YoYo,’ so my name is YoYo,” said owner Danny Kim. “I’m very excited and my customers are too.”

It all started for Kim in a Rice Village parking lot – that’s where most fans had their first YoYo experience.

“I see this line and I’m like, what’s going on? And then someone says to me, ‘It’s hot dogs.’ I’m like, hot dogs? You’re kidding me,” one customer said.

Yes, hot dogs – AKA “heaven on Earth”.

It’s much more than an Oscar Meyer on a piece of bread. YoYo is a professionally trained sushi chef in Los Angeles and he has created something unique, something you won’t find anywhere else.

“I put my sushi experience into the hot dog,” Kim said. “We put cream cheese on the bun, then the all-beef hot dog and we put caramelized onion, Korean-infused caramelized onion, we put Indian/Pakistani fried onion on top. And we put a little sushi experience, sauce on it.”

The new spot opened Thursday evening after an ownership dispute with a former partner was finally resolved. YoYo said he sold out at 12:30 a.m. and had to lock the door early.

“We sold about 800 hot dogs yesterday,” he said.

He said he expected to sell more Friday evening.

For starters, YoYo insists that customers try its hot dog as it comes – with everything in it. If you don’t like it after trying it, they will make you another one to your specifications for free.