Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by Edmund Lee

Todd Wheeler (left), general manager, and Dan Dresslar, owner, keep the fare at Happy Hound old-fashioned.

Happy Hound serves up hamburgers and hot dogs

By Suzanne Cristallo

A family business that started nearly 30 years ago is still growing in Los Gatos. The Happy Hound on Los Gatos Boulevard flips burgers and garnishes hefty hot dogs the way it did when Dorothy Dresslar first started offering hot dogs in the "old-fashioned" way in Danville in 1969.

Back then she called it The Hound Dog, eventually owning several locations around Contra Costa County. But in 1971, after a "friendly separation" from husband Hugh, who was dissatisfied with the banking and stock brokerage businesses he'd been in for nearly 25 years, Dorothy offered to help him start his own restaurant locally, naming it The Happy Hound.

Today, son Dan Dresslar is the owner. He grew up in the business, starting as a 10-year-old helping out in Danville and eventually moving to Los Gatos to manage the store for seven years before buying it from his father in 1987. For the last three years, the 40-year-old has been commuting from his home on a 50-foot power boat he moors at Coyote Point in South San Francisco while continuing to oversee his fast-paced restaurant, where he flips burgers when needed.

Dresslar has a straightforward business philosophy: "Give as much as you can of good quality, and don't gouge the customer." It seems to work for him. Up to 19 employees are kept busy through two shifts seven days a week in the 600-square-foot building. "Without them, I'd die," he says of the crew he calls the best he's ever had.

The menu is simple. The one-third pound Happy Burgers for $2.75 come double for $3.75 and can be topped with a choice of tasty chili, cheese, 'kraut, mushrooms or bacon. The freshly ground meat, cooked to a customer's taste, comes from a company that Dresslar won't name--ditto for the local company providing his hot dogs.

"I won't tell," Dresslar says with a quiet smile. "Too many people are trying to copy us. One local man called and told me he was going to copy us exactly."

The nine-inch-long hot dogs run from $1.95 for the Happy Hound up to $2.75 for the Polish and Mexi Hounds, with Kraut, Corn and Cheese Hounds in between. Large fries weigh in at two pounds and compete with onion rings, chili, salads, milkshakes, floats and freezes for the accessory spots.

Grilled salmon and chicken sandwiches offer alternative tastes. The chicken is marinated in mesquite sauce for 24 hours before cooking. "Of my Los Gatos customers, maybe one in a group will want the chicken or salmon," Dresslar says of the townsfolk generally known among chefs for their fat-free preferences, "but the rest dive in."

Dresslar relishes the response he gets from customers who have recognized him from as far away as Lake Tahoe and even Hawaii, where his mother moved some years back to start a few Hound Dog trucks on the Oahu beach circuit. The key is the Happy Hound T-shirts he wears, which sport the recognizable hound dog logo designed by a San Jose State University art student in 1971. "I love it when they come up and say, 'That's the best burger I've ever had!' "

Dresslar is expanding his business. He and general manager Todd Wheeler, 23, are in the process of working out franchising details with attorneys. Maintaining quality is key to the health of the company--and that includes vendors. Anyone wanting to know where Dresslar gets his quality meats will just have to apply for a franchise.

Happy Hound Old Fashion Hot Dogs and Hamburgers, 15899 Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Sat.10:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun.11 a.m.-10 p.m. 358-2444.

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