Tommy's Italian Sausage & Hot Dogs, the deep-fried Italian hot dog stand that has fed Elizabeth for 57 years, has gone dark after the New Jersey Division of Taxation seized the property over unpaid state taxes, according to storefront signs posted at the shuttered restaurant.
The closure, first reported by NJ.com, ends — for now, at least — one of New Jersey's most beloved hot dog establishments. Per a seizure notice, the Division of Taxation took the property for non-payment of state taxes, citing warrants of execution of certificates of debt docketed in the Superior Court of New Jersey and invoking N.J.S.A. 54:49-13a as its legal authority. Tommy's ownership has said the restaurant is only temporarily closed and plans to reopen its doors as soon as possible.
A 1969 Institution Built On Fried Franks And Potatoes
Tommy Parrinello opened the stand in Elizabeth in 1969, and it has been serving deep-fried franks stuffed into pizza bread with fried potatoes, peppers and onions ever since. The stand's neon sign has long touted its wares as the world's greatest chili hot dogs, a claim that got some statewide backing in 2018 when Tommy's won NJ.com's best hot dog joint showdown. Customers could also order the fried potatoes on their own, sold by the cup.
The family behind the counter had already been sounding alarms about the business's finances. Tommy's ownership considered closing the restaurant back in 2024 because business had slowed, according to the same NJ.com reporting. That earlier report also detailed steep price hikes tied to the strain — a single Italian hot dog that cost $8.50 with tax one summer had jumped to $10.50 by the following spring.
Back Taxes Forced The Family From Their Home
The financial pressure reportedly extended well beyond the restaurant's cash register. The Parrinello family sold their house in 2024 to help pay back taxes, and the family was living at an extended-stay hotel that same year while struggling to cover the debt, according to the earlier NJ.com account.
Elizabeth's Italian hot dog scene has thinned out in recent years even before Tommy's seizure. Spirito's closed in Elizabeth in 2020, Santillo's has been closed since a fire in 2024, and DiCosmo's Italian Ice closed in 2025 — adding to the changes in the city's decades-old hot dog scene.
New Jersey's Italian hot dog tradition stretches back further still. Dickie Dee's Italian Hot Dogs opened in Newark in 1958 and, according to redsauceamerica.com, continues to sell the same style of hot dog at 380 Bloomfield Ave in Newark — a reminder that the deep-fried, pizza-bread-wrapped dogs are part of a tradition with roots across the state, not just in Elizabeth.
For now, the fate of Tommy's rests on whatever comes next in the tax dispute. Ownership has said only that the closure is temporary and that it hopes to reopen as soon as possible, leaving longtime customers watching the shuttered storefront on 2nd Avenue for any sign of the fryers firing back up.
