Monday, August 16, 2010

Trying A Chicago Style Hot Dog At Tony's

How does one eat a Chicago hot dog? The answer at Tony's is; with a fork and knife.

Last Friday Robert and I wanted to continue the hot dog tour. We settled on Tony's since it is close to both of our offices and we wanted to spend a little less time than we have on some of the trips. Also this was the one previous place I reported on when he didn't go with me. See Tony's


On this visit I decided to order a "Chicago Style Hot Dog". I have seen some information about these recently and decided I needed to have one sometime just for the experience. This hot dog is like nothing I've ever had before. They typically come with the following toppings:
  • Bright Green Sweet Pickle Relish
  • Mustard
  • Onion
  • Fresh Tomato (But no ketchup)
  • Fresh Cucumber
  • A Large Dill Pickle Spear
  • Celery Salt
  • A Hot Pepper
  • Fancy Bun
Here's a link to a site that can read more on the subject. Tony's Chicago dog is a jumbo and comes with most of the ingredients listed above. It comes loaded into a standard hot dog bun making it overloaded. I suppose the fancy buns used in Chicago can hold it all but the Hoover Alabama version didn't begin to hold it.

After eating it I must admit that it is pretty good, but definitely different from any hot dog I have ever had before. I think I like Southern hot dogs better. Tony's does offer a "Junk Yard Dog" that is a little more to my liking. It comes with slaw, kraut, special meat sauce, onions, cheese, and probably some other ingredients a little closer to what we are accustomed to. It also must be eaten with a fork and a knife.
Robert ordered our usual order of a hot dog, a chili dog, chips (Golden Flake) and a drink. He pronounced their hot dogs to be as good as any we have had so far. He didn't comment on the chili dog but I remember it also as being good when I had one before.

1 comment:

  1. When we were in Chicago a few years ago (before kids, so at least 8 years ago!) we ate Chicago-style dogs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they served them with lettuce and tomato... seemed very strange to me but if we top hamburgers that way why not hotdogs, too?

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