Alex Mitow on Los Perros Locos:
"A perro is a super-loaded Colombian hot dog, with everything under the sink on top of it.
Typical toppings include pineapple sauce, crushed potato chips, and salsa rosada, but we have varieties with everything from pico de gallo to crushed fritos and smoked ham. There’s an idea of a perfect traditional Colombian hot dog, and then there are hot dogs in the spirit of the true perro that are really limited only by your imagination.
I’m a neighborhood guy and live about seven blocks away from our Allen Street storefront space in the East Village. I wanted my first New York venture to be in my own neighborhood. Also, the Lower East Side is a known culinary destination, with lots of great spots like The Meatball Shop and Russ and Daughters within walking distance. We’ve been open now for a year and a half.
I first encountered Colombian-style hot dogs in Miami while I was living there for school. We would stumble into these crazy all-night places in suburban strip malls that were cranking house music and filled with Latin club kids wearing sunglasses at 5 a.m. It felt like perfection, and I really wanted to re-create that here in New York, with my own special spin."
"Some of my customers have become great friends and even business partners. One customer, Danny Baez, has introduced countless people from the Dominican and Latin communities to Los Perros Locos. And a couple months back, we partnered with him and his partner, Chris Rodriguez-Bautista, and their Dominican social collective “DipSters,” to put on a really amazing Dominican style feast/dance party, called Comedera Jevy, at a location in the Lower East Side that we took over for a weekend. We had a real Dominican mama cooking sancocho in the back, and I roasted two baby pigs for pernil."
Los Perros Locos (no longer in operation)
201 Allen Street
New York, NY 10002
Photos by Andrzej Bialuski.