Eagle Rock: Hot Dogs & French Fries at Meea’s

With gourmet burgers having reached the point of utter ubiquity in LA, the humble hot dog is now set to be exploited. Thank goodness. Meea’s in Eagle Rock is one of the first wiener meccas to hit Northeast LA, and it’s a nice start. You’ll miss the tiny hot dog storefront if you blink, but it’s worth a few u-turns to find it.

The menu at Meea’s is small, but thorough. The list includes iconic regional American favorites, like the “Southland,” their version of LA’s own “Danger Dog,” bacon wrapped and heaped with grilled onion, jalapenos, mayo, mustard and ketchup; and the “Chi-Town”, which stays faithful to the original with a poppy seed bun, pickle spears, tomatoes, onions, and sport peppers. The only thing missing is that florescent green relish—a non-neon sweet relish is used in its place.

The “Eagle Rock,” dressed in pickled papaya, chicarones, Sriracha and avocado, works as a nod to the neighborhood’s cultural melting pot. The unexpected combination is an inspired mix of textures and flavors—the crunch of the pork rinds is a fantastic foil to the soft house-baked bun while the papaya and hot sauce complement each other from opposite ends of the thermometer.

Meea’s house chili makes the “Chili Dog” an easy favorite. While there is some serious smothering going on, they don’t go overboard with rich, meaty chili, so there’s no sogginess to contend with. You can almost pick it up to eat it. A quality dog is what keeps a chili dog from being indecent, and luckily the dogs here are just that, even if they could have a little more snap. I added yellow mustard for some extra punch.

There was no room for french fries, but we ordered them anyway. We tried the sweet potato fries, which were fried to crispy perfection and served with a side of honey. If you’re looking for something different, I say order the tater tots off the children’s menu. Oh, and if you’re really going for it, they serve some sinister looking chili fries.

Note: All seating is outdoors but under umbrellas. Also, the service is a bit slow, so if you go on a weekend, you might be waiting a while.

-Valentina

Meea’s
1740 Colorado Boulevard,
Los Angeles,90041