A mix of beef, pork, and veal, Walter’s wiener is like a cross between a hot dog and a bratwurst. It gets split and grilled, slathered with a grainy mustard, then put in the usual bun. It constitutes a unique hot dog eating experience, but you might also visit for the pagoda-style pavilion that this venerable institution, founded in 1919, has occupied since 1928.

According to the website, when this Liebman’s opened in 1953, there were 100 Jewish delis in the Bronx. Today, it’s the last one remaining. The franks are some of the best in town. Sit in the retro dining room and feel like your own grandparent. Even when cole slaw or potato salad top the wiener, the salty and beefy flavor still shines. The current owner of Liebman’s Yuval Dekel was once the drummer in a hardcore band called Irate.

Hiram’s in Ft. Lee, New Jersey, is 90 years old, a real roadhouse like out of a movie, with an order counter flanking a dive bar where men sit watching football games and nibbling on franks and disco fries. Those franks, in the northern Jersey-style, are deep-fried until the skin rips, giving it a little crunch. The dogs are sublime, whether eaten with mustard or chili and cheese.

You can’t get any more fundamental than Gray’s Papaya when it comes to New York hot dogs: slender, natural-skinned, all-beef franks on a puffy white bun, with your choice of sauerkraut, mustard, and stewed onions, washed down with chalky fruit drinks. A bonafide landmark late into the evening at the prime Upper West Side corner of Broadway and 72nd Street.

Made from wagyu beef, the hot dogs here are giant and juicy, and expensive. You should really just buy one and eat it by itself to fully appreciate the flavor, rather than ordering one of the featured configurations. The relatively simple king’s classic is the one to get, accessorized with sauerkraut, pickled purple onions, and mustard.

This place presents itself as a bakery — including lots of snacks displayed in a glass case — but it’s really more of a lunchroom, and shoppers flood it in the afternoon to eat full-course meals of steam-table stuff like stews, roasts, and giant bowls of soup. In the midst of all this plenitude is a classic Colombian hot dog, festooned with sauteed onions, squirted with mayo, and then heaped with potato chips. Crunch, crunch.

Nominally, El Mercadito is a Mexican pizzeria, applying taco toppings to yeasty rounds of dough and thrusting them in the stacked oven till done. But the menu’s roster also includes tacos and various other tasty antojitos. Some of them, like this hot dog quesadilla, are hand-patted from fresh masa.

We envy Los Angeles for its bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dogs with a shifting roster of toppings, and this Colombian snack shop in Elmhurst comes close to emulating them. Ask for “super perro a la Mexicana,” which comes with a strip of bacon on top, guacamole, coleslaw, jalapeños, cheese, potato chips, Russian dressing, pico de gallo, and — improbably — a quail egg impaled on a toothpick.

Sarge’s has two different kinds of franks for sale. One is a deli-style beef frank, heaped with the usual sauerkraut and perfect grainy mustard. The other is from the Snap-O-Razzo line, dotted with onion and garlic, a little longer, and a dollar more. Need we tell you to stick with the traditional one?

Traipse through the lobby of the new Arlo Hotel to find this hidden diner and bar. Among many reconfigured diner classics, find the Arlo dog, topped with finely chopped kimchee, crisp fried shallots, and thick Kewpie mayo on (what else?) a brioche bun. The ingredients work in concert to produce a gloppy and sharp tasting frank experience.

This brightly tiled space — open 24 hours— channels old-time joints perfectly, with its grab-and-go demeanor and no-nonsense uniformed personnel. The menu goes way beyond just franks and fries, but the chili cheese dog is still the thing to get. And yes, the chili con carne has beans — this ain’t Texas! Take a couple of extra napkins.

This West Village favorite grew out of the theme-restaurant movement of late in the last century; its original name was Cowgirl Hall of Fame and it featured Patsy Cline memorabilia and displays of barbed wire. It also served the city’s best corn dogs, evenly battered and expertly fried to order till they’re done to a turn.

Jersey City institution Boulevard Drinks — showing every one of its years since 1962 — is a narrow stall just south of Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Journal Square. All it serves are hot dogs and the sorts of drinks seen at Gray’s Papaya. Instead of mustard, ketchup, and liquid cheese, the preferred topping is a chili-like Greek meat sauce incorporating finely minced onions.

A petulant old-timer — which also spawned cocktail lounge PDT next door— Crif Dogs is famous for deep-frying its franks, Jersey-style, sometimes after wrapping them in bacon. One favorite is the Good Morning, featuring a fried egg and melted cheese in addition to its blanket of bacon. Tater tots are another plus.

While Jewish deli franks are generally a predictable commodity, great but unfussy, this Greenpoint joint (counter seating only) offers a designer frank more juicy than usual, though with the predictably spare toppings. Plus, the mirrored sleeve it comes in is an added delight. Spoon on the kraut.

Most people probably go to Katz’s prepared to stand in long lines for pastrami or corned beef, but you can usually step right up to the hot dog counter and acquire your tube steaks right away. These are all beef, natural-skinned franks with a nice salty forcemeat inside and quite juicy. It’s one of my favorite unfussy dogs in town.

Montague Diner is a new addition to Brooklyn Heights, a brightly lit, walk-down spot that reproduces a classic diner, but with some engaging tweaks. Hot dogs come in pairs: a good frank that should be cooked a little more to produce a slight char. It comes furnished with caramelized onions, green sweet pickle relish, and sauerkraut — use all three for maximum enjoyment, and don’t forget the mustard.

This comfy weekend afternoon bar, with sports contests flickering on the TVs seems obsessed with burgers and franks, washed down with an admirable list of beers. The hot dog itself is about eight inches long and weighs a quarter pound, and you can have it several ways, including a plain version and, the signature of the bar, the Two8Two, which smothers the dog in green chile and cheese, as if this place were in New Mexico.

Cobble Hill’s Bobbi’s Italian Beef is not the first place to attempt cloning the fast food of Chicago — and succeeding admirably. One notable triumph is a Second City dog with the proper combination of toppings. Tater tots are the perfect accompaniment. Polish sausages endorsed by Mike Ditka and Chicago-style tamales are also available.

This combination bakery, lunch counter, and coffee shop in Sunset Park’s Chinatown bakes hot dogs in puff pastries, including the gloppy and wonderful “golden hot dog.” The melted topping is slightly sweet, and one of these gut bombs could double as dessert.

Though the mothership lies on Surf Avenue, the most famous location is a structure with a little man hoisting a burger over his head right on the boardwalk, dispensing fried and raw clams (and a very good place to get them), soft serve ice cream, and cold beers. The hot dogs are of the fundamental New York City type, spread with grainy mustard and sauerkraut, every bit as good as Nathan’s in their own way.

What culinary experience at a New York beach can best Nathan’s franks? Smeared with mustard and heaped with sauerkraut, the skins pop when you bite into them. This institution’s pedigree extends to the early days of Brooklyn frankfurter history over a century ago. There’s another location right on the boardwalk that may be less crowded.