It's a unique local business that's literally poked a "hole" in America's traditional hot dog industry. The owners of Puka Dog started with a dream to own their own business and for the past 8 years now, have been serving up "puka dogs" with a hole lot of local flavor.
Ramsay Wharton takes us to Waikiki to check out the "puka dog".

The word, puka, means hole in Hawaiian. Rick and Dominique Quinette, the owners of Puka Dog - Hawaiian Style Hot Dogs, developed the idea to put a large hot dog hole in a homemade bun, to fill it with some locally made tropical fruit relishes and mustards, and call it the "puka dog". In addition to creating the puka dog, they designed a special machine that not only grilles up their hot dogs, but toasts and skewers that "hole" into their homemade buns.

For $6.25 customers pick either a polish or veggy hot dog, then choose among mild and hot sauces, select three of their 11 fruit relishes that include coconut, mango, lilikoi and pineapple and top is off some Hawaiian mustard. Puka Dog has your more tradional condiments, ketchup, yellow mustard and pickle relish if that's more your style.

The Quinettes' business aspirations took off when Dominique;s fresh squeezed, homemade lemonade wowed the producers of the television show, Baywatch, who hired them to satisfy the thirsts of their busy crew and actors working at North Shore locations. Selling lemonde out of a small Volkswagen bug, Dominique soon realized people needed food to eat with their lemonade, and soon after, Rick took his idea of selling hot dogs to a "hole" new level.

The couple's latests idea, is serving up shave ice with a puka twist. A large hole is made in the center of the Puka Dog shave ice and filled with ice cream that's pumped into it by a pastry-bag. Choose among fresh homemade shave-ice fruit syrups, coconut-cream, tapioca and azuki bean toppings.

OAHU
Waikiki Town Center
2301 Kuhio Avenue # 2
(808) 924-7887
Monday – Sunday
10 a.m. - 10 p.m.

KAUAI
Poipu Shopping Village
2360 Kiahuna Plantation Dr.
(808) 742-6044
Monday – Sunday
11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

www.pukadog.com - Puka Dog Hawaiian Style Hot Dogs