Sarah Slater throws the hot dog on the grill and lets it cook until it is stamped with a grill mark. She places the dog in the toasted bun and squirts mustard down first. Then chili. Then cheese. Finally onion.
“Bam! Dixie Dog,” Slater, the O’Betty’s Red Hot! kitchen manager, said when explaining how to make the restaurant’s most popular signature hot dog.
Slater first worked at O’Betty’s 11 years ago when she was in culinary school at Hocking College. After 17 years in the food service industry, Slater came back to O’Betty’s as a kitchen manager, in which she prepares the hot dogs, makes the restaurant’s chili sauce and coleslaw and manages the kitchen.
One part of Slater’s job is to invent the daily specials O’Betty’s sells, which is one of her favorite parts about her position, she said. Every Wednesday, she makes a special macaroni-and-cheese-topped hot dog.
On Friday, which is Fry Day at O’Betty’s, Slater will make a special fry with the toppings from the signature Varla dog, O’Betty’s hand-made sauerkraut — which she cooks daily — bacon bits, horseradish sauce and Thousand Island dressing. In the past, she has made french fries with an Appalachian-style sausage gravy on top and poutine, a Canadian dish with gravy and cheese curds.
Slater said the seasons influence what kind of specials she will make each week. This fall, Slater said she has been experimenting with apples, sweet potatoes and winter squash. She said she has made a coleslaw with apples, bacon and celery to go on top of a hot dog, as well as making spiced apples and sauerkraut.
“I’ve been cooking for so long that I know what works and what doesn’t,” Slater said. “I do a lot of researching (about) what people are into, what’s trending. I get inspiration from just looking at recipes.”
Matt Hillis, a hot dog chef at O’Betty’s who has worked with Slater for years, said the hot dog specials are better since she came back to work and are homemade, such as her macaroni and cheese.
“She’s awesome, man,” Hillis said. “She knows her food.”
Slater usually arrives at the restaurant between 7 and 8 a.m., prepares the sauces and the daily special and also orders the ingredients and supplies.
Slater grew up in Athens and went to O’Betty’s as a customer after it opened in 2003. She has worked at many different restaurants, including Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St., which is where she met the owner of O’Betty’s, Bob Satmary.
“I was looking for a change and a simple, small-scale restaurant,” Slater said. “I’ve been working at larger-scale restaurants for a long time, and I was just getting a little bit tired of that.”
When she first started working O’Betty’s, Slater worked late nights, which she said were “wild and crazy,” and usually ended at 5 a.m. after clean-up.
“People are pretty drunk at that hour,” Slater said. “The rush is pretty intense, but it’s really quick. It happens and then it’s over.”
Now, Slater only works late-nights when she needs to fill in for other employees and typically works during the day preparing the sides, sauces and the speciality dogs.
Slater said many college students only come during those late-nights and have no idea the restaurant has a sitting area inside and serves lunch and dinner.
Tess Balsley, a sophomore studying sociology, said she has only been to O’Betty’s a few times, but she really likes the food.
“It’s just really original,” Balsley said. “They take it beyond a regular hot dog.”
Slater loves to travel and wants to pursue other interests, but she said there’s no other place in Athens she would rather work.
“If I do ever leave,” Slater said. “I’m going to make sure I put a really positive stamp and mark on this place, because it’s really important to me. I think it’s one of the most unique businesses in town.”
