Before he was a member of the biggest boy band of all time, Joey Fatone cultivated his budding career in entertainment at Universal Orlando Resort. First, as a contestant on Nickelodeon’s “Nick Arcade” and then clocking in for his gig on stage performing as “Wolfie” in the park’s much-missed production of “Beetlejuice’s Rock and Roll Graveyard Revue.”
Now, he, along with his business partner and longtime friend, Joe Mulvihill, also a Universal Orlando Team Member alum, are opening a restaurant at Universal CityWalk, the resort’s dining and nightlife hub.
View this post on InstagramYou could call it a culinary comeback. Fat One’s Hot Dogs & Italian Ice is a concept the two have tinkered with for a longtime, first with a brick-and-mortar location at the nearby Florida Mall and then a food truck. It’s a fitting full circle moment as the two return to Universal decades later. And this time, as restaurateurs.
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“It feels amazing,” says Fatone of the partnership with Universal Orlando Resort. “Would you ever think in a million years that being on Nick Arcade or working at Universal and then working with Universal? Your brand is with Universal. Which is pretty amazing. It’s one of those things where you dream about, you wish about it, you think you could do something…” Fatone’s career over the decades has taken him all over the world but his roads have continually brought him back to Universal, like when *NSYNC filmed the music video for “I Want You Back” at Universal Studios Florida (he even first met his eventual boyband mate Chris Kirkpatrick in the parks).
Fatone embodies a multi-hyphenate and apart from his work as a member of *NSYNC, he’s been a fixture of the screen and stage, including Broadway, and keeps true to a mantra. “We’ve never let the fun stop. We’ve always made sure that the things that we do are fun. Yes, there’s a little bit of head butting or number crunching, but we’ve always made sure that we keep things light.”
And light might not be a word used to describe the menu. Fat One’s Hot Dogs & Italian Ice features a menu built on inventive twists of the American classic. There are nine variations of his signature dogs, developed in partnership with Universal’s culinary team with a wide range of flavors to suit guests of all kinds. For something inventive, the Dirty K-Pop Dog is Korean-inspired and combines kimchi slaw with a spicy gochujang mayonnaise. And then there’s the namesake The Fat One, a footlong hot dog loaded with roasted pork, pepperoni, chili beans and cheddar cheese sauce. In addition to the star of the menu, there’s Italian ices and draft beers. And even the ability to spike your Italian ice.
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Fat One’s first captured Orlando tastebuds with a location at the Florida Mall. The concept was inspired by another hot dog business Fatone had encountered at Lollapalooza. For longtime Fat One’s fans, there’s familiar menu items as well as new dishes. And he shares that the greatest thing about working with hot dogs is that the possibilities are endless and the ability to come up with fun creations that people didn’t think of.
Fatone shared that his favorite is The Angelo, a Mediterranean-inspired dog with tzatziki, fresh dill, feta and olive tapenade. Mulvihill’s top pick is The Cubano, a uniquely pressed hot dog.
The timing is perfect as Universal CityWalk is in a period of change. Other celebrity-fueled ventures guests can expect in the future include an outpost of Luke Combs’ Category 10 country bar and live music venue.
“What I love about Universal is that they’re very intuitive with the person that’s working with the company,” he says. The process was far from slapping a name on the business, but a true collaboration. “What I really thought was great was that they incorporated us as much as we incorporated them.”
It’s a natural partnership for Joe and Joey, who are self-proclaimed theme park junkies that spend time in the parks with family and friends. And when it comes to Universal Orlando Resort favorites, Fatone says that he makes it a point to visit Halloween Horror Nights every year. And as far as favorite rides go, he says hands-down Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is a must and calls E.T. Adventure a “staple.” Fatone admits that while he loves roller coasters like Jurassic World VeliciCoaster, but as he ages, he keeps it to just one. “After a certain age, your butt should never go over your head.”
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On your next visit to Universal Orlando Resort, you might spot Fatone in the parks or at his now open restaurant, Fat One’s Hot Dogs & Italian Ice at Universal CityWalk. And you certainly won’t miss his smiling face hanging above his restaurant.
“It’s pretty amazing and wild that my face is up in CityWalk,” says Fatone, who has spent quite a few nights of his life there with friends (he specifically admits to evenings fueled by libations spent singing at his neighbor Rising Star, a live band karaoke joint). “It’s crazy. It’s a cool full circle in a different way. It’s coming back to the roots but now we know a lot more things. We’re a little bit wiser and a little bit older.”
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