Many Regional Domains vs. One National Domain

I'm brainstorming out loud here on a website/project plan. I'd appreciate the wisdom, insight, and experience of fellow Warriors.

Let's say I have a national chain of hot dog carts. I sell across the country, but with hot dogs, it's really only the local market that matters. You only buy hot dogs in your hometown and frankly don't care about hot dogs in other cities.

So this is the question of the website structure...

Option A: A national "brand" domain that can have sections for each region. (ie: SizzlerHotDogs.com/new-york and SizzlerHotDogs.com/chicago)

Option B: A network of regional domains each as a seperate site, though technically running off the same core. (ie: NewYorkHotDogs.com, ChicagoHotDogs.com)

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Option A - National Domain

PROS:

1. SEO value of single domain "authority site"
2. No extra domain registration/buying expenses
3. No matter where you go, you know the right website to visit
4. More flexible with the regional borders and organization (easier to grow)
5. Branding (eventually) ties in with the uniqueness of the offer

CONS:

1. Having to build a "brand name" as opposed to obvious NewYorkHotDogs.com
2. Doesn't feel as "special" as a specific city domain
3. May not have as strong a hold on regional markets
4. More difficult to track results of regional managers/affiliates

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Option B - Regional Domains

PROS:

1. Easy to remember domain for each city
2. Potential to build a sense of local community within the site
3. Ties in with unique twitter/facebook/social accounts for each market
4. City keywords in the domain

CONS:

1. Each domain starts from zero with SEO
2. Expense and difficulty of gettig good domains for each region.
3. May not be able to follow the same format. (NewYorkHotDogs.com, HotDogsInHouston.com) Confusing.
4. Awkward to have a sparsely used site for a small region

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I hope I've been clear with my challenge. Even just listing it out has helped me clarify things, but still not certain on the best direction.

Looking forward to your shares!

-Ryan