Stagecoach stop turned restaurant, Ackerman's served hot dogs dipped in 'secret sauce'

Most everyone has fond memories of a favorite hot dog stand they've visited. For many folks who ventured to the west side of Monroe County, that place was Ackerman's in Gates.

Ackerman's was different than most such establishments. Located at the corner of Lyell Avenue and Howard Road, one part of Ackerman's was a cocktail lounge and restaurant that Louis Ackerman opened in a circa-1844 stagecoach stop.

Another "wing," if you will, housed the hotdog and hamburger stand. Members of the extended Ackerman family lived above the cocktail lounge-restaurant for decades.

The place is remembered best as a popular casual eatery.

"They cooked the hot dogs on a charcoal grill," said Gates Historical Society member John Robortella, who used to be a reporter for the Gates-Chili News. "After they cooked them, they dipped them in this sauce, a clear sauce, and that gave them an unbelievable flavor. After elections or late meetings, we would all go over there."

Other readers also commented on this "sauce." Deanna DeMonte, whose grandparents, Anthony and Ruth Ackerman helped run the place, revealed what it was — or wasn't.

"With the hot dogs, the white ones were just dipped in hot oil," said DeMonte, who lives in Spencerport. "Not the red ones, just the white ones. They would dry out on the grill, and that would warm it up, crisp it up. There wasn't anything magical in that 'sauce.' "

The early years of the place are largely forgotten. Historians and family members can't recall when the building was converted from a stagecoach stop to a restaurant. Marilyn Decker of Spencerport said it likely was in the 1920s. Her father, John Klein, was Louis Ackerman's stepson.

Decker waited tables at Ackerman's while she attended Nazareth Academy in the early 1940s.

"During the war years, it was the weekends when we were swamped," she said. "It was so darn busy in the summer we had to lock the doors to keep people out. There weren't these kinds of places on every corner like there are now."

At one point, Ackerman's served meats from Ottman Brothers, a meat company on Front Street in downtown Rochester. Ackerman's later switched exclusively to a meat supplier named Stadler's, Decker said.

DeMonte also worked there as a youngster. "I started out when I was 13 making ice cream cones," she said. "My mom was a cook. She worked there every day. The whole place always smelled like charcoal. We fired that up at 7 a.m. and kept it going all night."

DeMonte grew up in her parents' home just down the road on Eugene Street but spent lots of time at Ackerman's. The cocktail lounge had a jukebox and a player piano, she said. Assorted uncles, aunts and cousins and other relatives lived above the bar-restaurant area.

"It was quite a unique situation," DeMonte said. "It was a strange way to live, but I thought everyone lived that way." Her grandmother would stop by young Deanna's school with hot dogs whenever Deanna forgot her lunch.

Later, Deanna waited tables and made milkshakes but never — never — worked in the bar, because "that's the way the family wanted it."

Ackerman's menu included everything you would imagine of such a place — roast beef sandwiches, clam chowder, shrimp salad, fresh-cut French fries, ice cream and milkshakes and, of course, the burgers and hot dogs. Gates Historian Judy DeRooy had special culinary recollections.

"The first hamburger that I ever had was at Ackerman's," she said. "That was in the '40s. It was very, very good. I was dating an old friend. After the movies, that was the place to go."

Generations continued to flock there. "Everyone in the neighborhood at one time worked there," DeMonte said. "It was the place where you would meet your friends and hang out."

The Ackerman family sold the business in 1980 to a pair of men who renamed the place Little Anthony's, Decker said. That lasted until 1986, when Wegmans Food Markets bought the property. A Wegmans supermarket and other businesses now are on the site.

Ackerman's still brings back plenty of memories, even if the "secret" behind the hot-dog "sauce" proved to be nothing magical.

Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.

This story was originally published in July 2014 as part of the "Whatever Happened to" series.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Ackerman's served hot dogs dipped in 'secret sauce' in Gates NY