This is a story about hot dogs. So of course, we must begin by talking about bikes.
Have any of you ridden the Kenilworth or North Cedar Lake trails since those routes reopened? These key cycling paths, which link downtown and south Minneapolis with the southwestern suburbs, were closed for seven years due to Metro Green Line Extension construction. The repeatedly delayed, multi-billion-dollar project was supposed to wrap a loooong time ago; instead, the trails only just opened up again earlier this year.
…all that is to say, if you suddenly see an influx of Racket stories about St. Louis Park and Hopkins, you’ll know why.
Take Wells Roadside, for example. Open since September of 2024, St. Louis Park’s reimagined drive-in has always looked like the kind of place I’d enjoy: a burger shack with abundant outdoor seating and exceedingly reasonable prices. It also looked like the kind of place I’d enjoy biking to—it’s just that, situated as it is off of a Highway 7 frontage road, that ride would have been weird and kind of unpleasant.
No longer! Route yourself along the freshly reopened portion of North Cedar Lake, and you’ll spend maybe 2/10 of a mile on the frontage road; the rest of the ride through SLP is on designated bike trails. This is the future burger- and fried chicken-loving south Minneapolitans want.
I must be honest with you: I did not ride to Wells Roadside as the temps climbed towards 93 during Sunday’s extreme heat warning for the sweaty joy of checking out the new trails alone. My partner and I were drawn to the first-ring ‘burbs by two things: the promise of delicious tubed meats and our love of punch-card challenges.
Throughout the month of July, Wells is celebrating Glizzy Fest, with a menu of five specialty hot dogs. Eat ‘em all, and get the requisite punches in your corresponding Glizzy Passport, and you’ll get a free Glizzy Fest T-shirt.
Does my wardrobe need another local restaurant T-shirt? Does my body need five hot dogs during the hottest month of the year? These are questions you must look within yourself to answer.
For me, the answer was yes and yes. Get a load of these bad boys:
Sweat was… I think the only appropriate word is cascading off of us when we reached Wells to meet a group of friends early in the afternoon, but the former drive-in has a lovely back area almost entirely shaded by a tall tree, and a gentle breeze helped us cool down quickly.
Luke Derheim and David Benowitz of Craft & Crew Hospitality (Stanley’s, the Howe, etc.) took over Wells—once a Wagner's, and then the very cool Galaxy Drive-In—and really zhuzhed the place up. It’s a drive-in no longer; you’ll make for the walk-up window before claiming seats inside the walled, more dining room-like structure or at one of the picnic tables or Adirondack chairs out back.
I was impressed by the prices at Wells, where Best Budget Bites contenders litter the menu. One of our dining companions opted for the smash burger: $6.99 for a single, $10.99 for a double, or $13.99 for a triple. Those are practically McDonald’s prices! For $8.99, we got an order of Fries With Benefits (pictured up top), a heaping pile of potatoes served with a burger patty, pickles, and onions atop it, like if a chopped cheese was a loaded fry. And milkshakes, we learned, are half off on Sundays. How could we argue with a thick and creamy regular-sized shake for $2.99? It would have been leaving money on the table not to add one to our meal.
As for the dogs that drew us here: These are thick-ass all-beef dogs (with the exception of the Spam dog, which I’ve yet to try), sliced in half down the center so the toppings sit nicely within. Which is not to say this is an, um, elegant dining experience—the dogs arrive absolutely loaded up with stuff, and you should grab a pile of napkins before you plop down your tray.
We started with two hot dogs (punch, punch): the Seattle dog ($9.99) and the brisket chili dog ($9.99). On the former, you’ve got sweet strings of roasted onion and rounds of genuinely hot jalapeños (I watched one bud pull them off of his dog—too spicy). I could have used a bit more cream cheese slathered on the bun, but then, I can pretty much always use more cream cheese, if cream cheese is part of the equation. The latter was just exceptional as hot dogs go, served drowning in Wells’ brisket chili and nacho cheese.
Now yes, this is the point where a well-adjusted person would stop, look at the heat radiating off the parking lot blacktop, and ask themselves whether they really needed a third hot dog before getting back on the bike. For the rest of us, it’s the point where you think, “If I eat another hot dog, I’ll be more than halfway through the Glizzy Passport.”
And this is how we came to order the New York dog ($9.99, punch), with a vinegary slaw, roasted peppers, and a splattering of whole grain mustard. Zesty, sweet, and tangy, everything worked in wonderful harmony here. No regrets.
You have until the end of July to eat all five dogs and get the corresponding bragging rights/heartburn/T-shirt to commemorate your achievement. Perhaps I’ll even see you there some Sunday, enjoying a half-price shake with your halved hot dog. The heat wave can’t last forever, can it?
Wells Roadside
Address: 3712 Quebec Ave. S., St. Louis Park
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
