Nestled in the corner of a shopping center on Turnpike Road in Goleta, Dave’s Dogs Grill wafts out the scent of mouthwatering hot dogs as San Marcos High School students file in after a long day of classes. Hot dog visionary David Reynoso claims regulars like these keep him inspired to create new menu items nearly each week. “I can make someone happy by feeding them something so traditional,” says Reynoso, beaming during a break in his 14-hour day.
Reynoso’s become accustomed to running the business side of Dave’s Dogs as a one-man operation. It was less than four years ago that the Santa Barbaran noticed a lack of hot dog options in the community and set out to sell specialty dogs out of a cart on Milpas Street. “I wanted to change the game on the hot dog concept,” Reynoso explained. With just an umbrella, a small sign, and one hot dog on the menu, he was nervous. “The first night I sold less than 10 dogs,” he recalls.
Soon enough, though, word spread about Dave’s decadent dog creations, topped with bacon, grilled onions, tomatoes, mayo, mustard, ketchup, and cream sauce, and people started coming from all over to taste Dave’s twists on a barbeque classic. In no time, the parking lot salesman was moving upward of 50 hot dogs a night, and by 2017, the cart simply couldn’t handle the volume of lunch-hour orders.