{"id":468015,"date":"2026-09-18T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468015\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:18:09","slug":"top-dog-in-berkeley-regroups-with-second-dog-stand-in-downtown-pool-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468015\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Dog in Berkeley regroups with second dog stand in downtown pool hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berkeley\u2019s legendary palace for meat tubes<\/a>, Top Dog<\/a>, is about to open a new location.<\/p>\n

It will be called Top Dog Downtown, to differentiate it from the UC Berkeley-adjacent original, and is located at 2021 Shattuck Ave. inside the BreakRoom pool hall<\/a>. It could open as soon as the \u201cnext week or so,\u201d according to BreakRoom owner August Wagele.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the BreakRoom, we\u2019ve been open almost three years and we\u2019ve tried several different food options,\u201d Wagele says. \u201cWhen it was time to try a new one I was looking around and noticing how many restaurants try to start from zero and be successful. There\u2019s not a lot \u2014 maybe one in hundred.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Top Dog, whose first (and still-standing) shop opened at 2534 Durant Ave. in 1966, is as engrained in Berkeley\u2019s mass consciousness as much as the mustard stains<\/a> on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in Berkeley my whole life, and have heard so many people say \u2018I came to Berkeley and my cousin brought me to Top Dog\u2019 or \u2018I took my grandfather there.\u2019 It\u2019s the first place a lot of people take others when they arrive here,\u201d Wagele says.<\/p>\n

Top Dog Downtown is basically a franchise operation. Wagele will run it using the business\u2019 familiar name and products. To begin there will be maybe 5 or 6 types of hot dogs and sausages, as opposed to the original\u2019s dozen. The price will also be a little bit more \u2014 $5.75 versus $4.50 \u2013 because \u201cdowntown is different,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"CustomersCustomers enjoy eating hot dogs from Top Dog in Berkeley, Calif., in 2017. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new location will boast a couple of features lacking from the charming but homely original, a hole-in-the-wall plastered with political and philosophical screeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne difference is we will have seating, both upstairs and on the patio and downstairs in the pool hall,\u201d Wagele says. \u201cAnother difference is we will serve ice-cold beer. I think that will be a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Dog Downtown marks an upswing for the revered dog shack. In 2024, it closed a location in Berkeley and the year after closed a shop in Oakland<\/a>, leaving the Durant Ave. enterprise as the last dog standing.<\/p>\n

Details: Scheduled to open soon from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday at 2021 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley (inside the BreakRoom); https:\/\/www.breakroomberkeley.com, instagram.com\/breakroomberkeley<\/a><\/p>\n

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