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Photo by Jim Craven Mary Kate Jones, 3, of Medford, chows down on a hot dog at Costco Friday. Thousands of hot dog lovers hotfoot it to Costco every week for its popular $1.50 lunch. Costco's hottest product? Hot-dog cafe cooks up a loyal clientele By MARK FREEMAN Alex Kendig closes his car door and heads straight for it. For Wynnis Grow of Grants Pass, it's the last stop while headed out the door. And Sy Empol doesn't care if he gets his coming or going, as long as it's hidden beneath a pile of smelly, shredded cabbage. "Sauerkraut and mustard," Empol says between mouthfuls. "The only way a hot dog should be eaten." These Rogue Valley residents are three of hundreds of frankfurter aficionados who have helped transform a concrete wholesale warehouse in north Medford into one of the city's most popular, and cheap, lunch stops. The Costco Food Court sells about 10,000 hot dogs and polish sausage dogs a week to a loyal and often hungry clientele at its members-only wholesale warehouse on Crater Lake Highway. The food court started as a simple hot dog cart hawking dogs and cans of soda for $1.50 when Costco opened its doors here in 1992. But "Cafe 1.50," as some of its dog-eating disciples call it, has since become a hotbed of hot dog sales that would make Oscar Meyer choke. On weekdays, the food court sells 800 to 1,000 hot dogs alone, food court manager Shirley Taylor says, as well as reams of pizzas by the slices and hot pretzels, yogurt and sodas. On weekends, Taylor says, another 1,500-2,000 wieners pass by the tonsils of Costco card-holders, many of whom venture to the warehouse solely for what lies between the buns. "It's the best hot dog in Southern Oregon," declares Roberta Greene of Medford. "It has everything in it that's bad for you -- and that's what makes it delicious." Kendig and friend Matt Marley, both 17-year-old seniors at North Medford High School, say they invade Costco for lunch about once a week because the hot dogs are good and cheap. "But cheap is more important than good," Kendig says. "And when you're done, you can browse." "Browse" is the Costcodian term for grazing on the free samples of pizza, salami and crackers, pasta and microwave bacon that cooking demonstrators make for customers in hopes of enticing greater sales. "You use them as hors d'oeuvres," says Grow, an Aussie transplant to Grants Pass, "then eat your hot dog." Some, like Barbara and Sy Empol of Jacksonville, prefer a dyslexic version of Grow's serving order. "We usually eat first, and then go in and shop," Barbara Empol says as Sy ponders another polish dog with sauerkraut and mustard. The Food Court has a steady stream of regulars who are drawn by the hot dogs' consistent good taste as well as its price tag, says Taylor, who still remains marveled by the Costco food-court explosion. "I never dreamed," Taylor says, "that it would turn into this. "Consider, about 10,000 hot dogs a week is a lot of hot dogs," she says. In fact, that's enough for Marley and Kendig to eat Costco dogs five days a week until they turn 35 -- a concept even a teenage appetite cannot stomach. "If I tried to eat one of these every day," Marley says, "I'd kill myself. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA