Photograph by Douglas Rider

Dog Gone It: Lloyd Augustine and Ingrid Vilona are partners in Big Dog's Grill on the corner of Foxworthy and Cherry avenues. Big Dog's likes to contribute to the surrounding community by donating to local schools and charities.




WG Big Dog's Grill offers clients authentic hot dogs, hamburgers

By Jim Aquino

Willow Glen's current resident hot dog joint -- Wienerschnitzel notwithstanding -- is the 2 ¹/2-year-old Big Dog's Grill, the latest incarnation of a small Foxworthy Avenue restaurant that used to be known as the Burger Bar 40 years ago and as Foxy Burger and Country Kitchen in subsequent years.

"Forty nine percent of our business is hot dogs and about 49 percent of our business is hamburgers," says Big Dog's co-owner, Ingrid Vilona, a former travel agent, whose business partner, Lloyd Augustine, a former tow-truck driver, is the "Big Dog" in the restaurant's name. "The other 2 percent of our business is all the other stuff."

That "other stuff" includes ice cream, provided by Alum Rock-based Treat Ice Cream, one of the few independent ice cream manufacturers in California. The flavors that Big Dog's sells range from Oreo cookie to bubble gum. Vilona says Treat's handmade ice creams are superior to commercially made brands.

As for her hot dogs and Italian sausages, Vilona receives them from Stephen's Meat Products at Montgomery Street. She praises Stephen's for the quality of their dogs and says they supply meat for popular South Bay hot dog grills like the Happy Hound in Los Gatos.

"If people wanted a good hot dog, they had to go all the way to the Happy Hound to get it. Now that they've found us, they are happy because they don't have to go all the way to Los Gatos," says Vilona, who also mentions the now-defunct Mark's Hot Dog Stand in Alum Rock, which was known as "The Orange" because of its orange-style dome. It was designated a landmark by San Jose in 1992.

Big Dog's most popular dog is the regular-sized Old Fashioned Big Dog ($2.25 solo, $4.09 with fries and a soda).

"It snaps when you bite it," Vilona says.

Vilona and Augustine are especially proud of their Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich: slow-roasted, thin-sliced roast beef piled high on a soft bun. According to the owners, Big Dog's is one of the few Bay Area restaurants to offer the Italian beef sandwich, the Windy City equivalent of the Philly cheesesteak.

"We're probably the only one that does it by the old recipe. We buy the beef from Chicago," says Augustine, who adds that when other local restaurants prepare the same sandwich, it tastes too manufactured.

Vilona and Augustine opened Big Dog's in August 1999.

"I was always in the kitchen from the time I was little," says Vilona, explaining how Big Dog's began. "Lloyd owned a catering truck and catered a lot of weddings. That's when we thought, between the two of us, we could make a successful restaurant."

Big Dog's has become a favorite hangout for classic car collectors, who meet Tuesdays at 5 p.m. for "Big Dog's Graffiti Nites" to showcase their vintage hot rods, roadsters and Model A Fords.

"They've been coming here since about 1953 at this location. A couple of years back, they got kicked out by the shopping center property management," says Augustine, who explains that the hot rodders returned to the PW Shopping Center parking lot after the business owners who complained about their presence left the shopping center.

What does Vilona herself enjoy from her restaurant's menu?

"Italian beef, Italian sausage or linguica. Those are my three mainstays," Vilona says. "For dessert, I like the cookie dough ice cream with bananas and hot fudge. We call that Banana Royal. I eat way too much of that."

---

Big Dog's Grill, 1401 Foxworthy Ave., San Jose. Open Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. For more information, call 408.267.7770.

---

Around The Glen

Mark Mayfield: Kooky for Girl Scout cookies

Sports Briefs

High school sports

Presentation High School sports