Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Wais Omar, who with his brother, Masood, owns the hot dog stand near the DMV in Los Gatos, serves up a real cowboy hot dog.

Real Cowboy Hot Dogs serves visitors to DMV

By Suzanne Cristallo

Yahoo! Real Cowboy Hot Dogs await culinary adventurists in Los Gatos. A big, shiny cart with a green, flowered umbrella perched over its steaming contents is parked on the sidewalk next to the Motor Vehicles Department on N. Santa Cruz Avenue.

Deep in the depths of the cart under hot, stainless-steel lids, a choice of quarter-pound "red hots" or Polish sausages await strollers, inline skaters, nearby construction workers and a cross-section of society visiting the DMV or just passing by.

Proud to serve them are new owners Masood Omar, and his brother, Wais Omar, who purchased the business three weeks ago from their uncle, Fahin Tarin, who had owned it for five years. Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Omars came to the United States in 1986. Masood is studying business at Ohlone College in Fremont, where he lives.

While he practices during the day what he studies at night, customers crowd the condiment shelf of the cart to smother their hot dogs and sausages with four kinds of mustard, relish, catsup, onions, olives and sauerkraut.

To wash it all down, a variety of sodas are available, their cans wiped dry of icy drips as they are handed to customers. Chips complete the meal. A special package of chips, hot dog and soda runs $2.95. Chili cheese dogs, hot link sausages, turkey dogs, chicken-apple sausages, cookies, candy and gum round out the menu.

Wais and Masood's aunt, Mary Kadu, helps out on occasion. Her belief in her nephews' product is evident in her stories about happy customers. "They really like the big hot dogs we have," she says. "New customers used to getting smaller dogs elsewhere sometimes order two until they see the size of ours. One is all they can eat."

At 4 p.m., the cart is folded into a compact trailer and towed to a storage yard in San Jose. There the entire interior and exterior is washed down, sanitized and made ready for the next day. The brothers invite passersby to make their day a real cowboy hot dog day.

Real Cowboy Hot Dogs, the sidewalk in front of the DMV parking lot on N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Fri., 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.