Skip Smith, Who Kept Alive The Memory Of The Dutch Boy Grill

RIP 1950-2019

When it came to the Dutch Boy Grill, Skip Smith was the keeper of the flame.

The Dutch Boy closed years ago but Skip, whose father and uncle founded the legendary drive in, keep the Dutch Boy and its recipes alive through a succession of local diners, from the Dairy Cup in Mt. Carmel to Skip’s Diner to more recently Skip’s Burgers and Ice Cream near Allandale.

The original Dutch Boy, which opened in 1948 on what was then Johnson City Highway, was famous for many things: as a teen hangout, as a hamburger joint but most of all as a chili dog haven.

That chili dog is still fondly remembered half a century after Garland, Skip’s dad, and his brother Clyde sold the place to Nick Nave who turned it into a chicken shack.

Twelve years ago I visited Skip at his home for a taste of the real thing, a Dutch Boy chili dog, prepared by Skip himself.

Skip told me there was one problem: you can’t recreate the Dutch Boy Chili dog, you can only approximate it. That’s because the ingredients have changed since the fifties. Skip served me Dutch Boy Chili on a Valleydale Honee Weenee. “But that’s not the same as the Valleydale Honee Weenee we used in the fifties. There’s no Red Dye Number 3 in it.” So it doesn’t have that wonderful bright red color nor does it have the taste since modern hot dogs are made with a healthier blend of meats.

Skip said there was another problem: “You can’t find ground beef with fresh suet in it. So there’s no juice and juice is chili.”

Skip recorded the original recipe on the back of a bank deposit slip. He told me I could publish the ingredients just not the quantities. And I agreed since you can’t really duplicate the chili anyway.

Dutch Boy Chili ingredients: Hamburger, chili powder, paprika, garlic salt, salt, red pepper.

The Dutch Boy chili hot dog Skip served me that day in 2007 took me back to 1958, when the Dutch Boy was serving chili dogs to hundreds of customers a week. I was one of them.
Skip died last Thursday.