KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

‘It’s foreign to me’: Curley celebrates Seattle Dog’s national title, admits he can’t tell brisket from barbecue

Jul 1, 2026, 4:19 PM | Updated: 4:21 pm

The Seattle Dog was named America’s best regional hot dog in a New York Times Wirecutter taste-testing video.

In light of the hot dog contest, KIRO host John Curley shared his experience at an event with brisket and barbecue.

“I went to this thing the other night, and the guy had brisket and barbecue. And he was like, ‘Oh, the brisket, oh, I get up at like three in the morning, and I start tenderizing’ — the whatever it is, brisket right?” Curley said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “So I go there. It’s good food, I guess. The guy seemed really nice. Got stuff there. And he’s like, ‘OK, so that’s the sauce for the brisket, and that’s for the barbecue.’ So I put the chunk of meat on the plate, and I didn’t know what the brisket was compared to the barbecue, and that’s like, you’ve got to give up your man card if you don’t know the difference between the two.”

“So I reached over, and I got the one sauce, and I’m making eye contact with him, and I’m starting to pour it, the fat sauce on the hunk of brown meat, not knowing the difference between the brisket and the thing. He goes, ‘Whoa, whoa, that’s the barbecue!’ I was like, ‘Oh, sorry. I was up all last night thinking about this. Hey, I’m sorry, lack of sleep. You’re right. Thanks for helping me there,'” he continued. “And I was like, right on this other pile of meat, which is apparently all brisket. Just, it’s foreign to me.”

Seattle Dog beats 7 other styles from around the country

The iconic Seattle Dog was loaded with cream cheese, caramelized onions, and jalapeños.

“What the cream cheese does is navigate very well into the sweetness of the onion, the mustard, and the jalapeño, almost becomes a diplomat that brings everything together,” world-renowned chef José Andrés said during the contest.

“Yes, like a diplomat,” Curley said.

Seattle took first place, beating out seven other regional styles from around the country, including the Chicago dog, the New York dog, and the Cincinnati dog.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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