The Windmill (stylized as WindMill) is a chain of restaurants located mostly near the Jersey Shore known for its
hot dog
A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...
s and other fast food. The original location, a windmill-shaped building in Long Branch, New Jersey, was built and opened in 1963. Leo and Ed Levine bought the restaurant in 1976, and opened a second location in
Belmar, New Jersey
Belmar is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated on the Jersey Shore. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,794, George James in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' writes, "Aside from Sabrett, the family-owned hot dog manufacturer based in New Jersey that makes the Windmill hot dog, the Levines, probably constitute the largest wiener dynasty in the state." The Windmill's hotdog style is a Jersey Shore flat-grilled dog.
The Windmill's Long Branch location is known for its fierce competition with nearby Max's Famous Hotdogs.