Story and Photos by Wade Faast
Staff Reporter
Michael Fichera, owner of Hotdog Heaven serves New York inspired hotdogs on the CNM Main Campus Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Fichera offers fresh made hot dogs and nachos every day and regularly offers specials like Italian sausage with peppers, onions heros and meatball heros, he said.
Surgery Technologist student Kristi Brooks has been getting a hot dog a week for the past three weeks from Hotdog Heaven, she said.
Brooks said her hot dog of choice is the New York Dog, a hotdog served with spicy mustard, sauerkraut, and red onions.
“The food is great, and it’s a fun place to spend sometime between classes,” Brooks said.
Fichera has been bringing his food cart to CNM since April 2016 and regularly serves 50-75 hotdogs a day, he said.
According to Fichera, he stumbled into the hot dog vending market.
He was meeting with a client for his other business when he noticed a hot dog cart that was not being used, and bought it, he said.
Growing up in New Jersey and making frequent trips to New York City, Fichera said he regularly ate at hotdog carts and knew he could bring the same flavors to New Mexico.
Starting with genuine New York Sabrett hot dogs he builds a hotdog that would be home on any New York street corner, he said.
The red onions found in Fichera’s cart are not store bought or mass produced, they are cooked following a family recipe, he said.
Fichera also sells his hotdogs on Saturdays at the New Mexico Soccer Tournament Complex, he said.
