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Relishing a tradition The (hot) dog days of summer are alive and well at Duke’s Dogs in Mount Dora. STORY: JAMES COMBS
aul Ottum and his wife, Sondra, love hot dogs. It’s not just the taste. For them, the food is strongly tied to happy memories like birthday parties and family meals. In their home state of Pennsylvania, hot dog shops were plentiful. Shortly after the couple moved to Florida two years ago, they walked the streets of downtown Mount Dora. When Paul got a sudden craving for a hot dog, he
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was disappointed to discover there were no hot dog shops in town. “Back home, we were used to having several hot dog shops to choose from,” Sondra says. “We researched and found that Tampa and Orlando were the closest places that had hot dog shops.” So, the couple propelled their love of hot dogs into a full-on obsession. Despite having no prior restaurant experience, Paul, a lineman, and Sondra, a nurse, purchased a vacant building and spent six months renovating it. In December 2019, they opened Duke’s Dogs, tucked away in a downtown Mount Dora alleyway.
They quickly realized they weren’t the only ones who had a natural craving for hot dogs. “The first day we opened, we sold out in about three hours,” says Amber Gomez, assistant manager. “The same thing happened on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Even today, I have lines out the door on weekends.” Those long lines are for good reason. Cities across the United States claim ownership of special hot dog styles, and the Ottums have added several of those popular styles to their menu. Every dog has its day, and at Duke’s, the famous
