TEARS FOR ONION MAN

TEARS FOR ONION MAN

AP

January 10, 2009 --

Alan Geisler, the man behind the tasty red-onion sauce many New Yorkers love on their hot dogs, has died. He was 78.

The sauce, a New York culinary delight, is commonly used by street vendors throughout the five boroughs.

Geisler, who lived in Mahwah, NJ, died Tuesday at his winter home in Hernando, Fla., after a battle with a protein disorder, according to the Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home in Inverness, Fla.

He concocted the sauce 44 years ago at the request of hot-dog maker Gregory Papalexis, whose Englewood, NJ-based Marathon Enterprises now owns the Sabrett brand.

Papalexis told The Bergen Record that he approached Geisler about making an onion sauce to sell to New York's pushcart vendors, who back then made their own.

Geisler's recipe - a patented mix of onions, tomato paste and olive oil - is marketed nationwide as Sabrett's Prepared Onions.

[NYP]