LTHForum.com

Wiener's Circle has a pump dispenser, but they're perfectly willing to put ketchup on a char dog there. They've never had a problem accommodating the intractable Canadiaosity of my wife.

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

As I think I've posted before, there used to be nothing much better in life than walking home with a little greasy brown paper bag full of Stash's fries. I can close my eyes and still see the little dark narrow shop and the guys crowded in behind the counter and the lines of people crowded in on the other side.

It was never the same once it was forced to move into whatever the city calls what that block turned into.

Michael's is good - my out-of-town sibs don't come in and leave again without stopping by there once - but Stash's was one of a kind.

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Did you see his obituary in the Tribune a few months ago? It mentioned him taking the 5th in response to every question that was asked of him at a Congressional hearing, including a question on whether or not he was left-handed.

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

I second that emotion. Ketchup police, grrr. I'm happy to eat a Chicago hot dog "the Chicago way," if that means, among other things*, no ketchup, but I like my Polish sausage with ketchup, mustard, and grilled onions.

* Ketchup's a sin, but no one's bothered by the radioactively green relish? I don't get it.

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Some like their food sweet. Hot dogs and Polish are sweetened with corn syrup and dextrose. The food service neon green relish adds high fructose corn syrup. The retail neon green relish has sugar. Ketchup adds more high fructose corn syrup, plus corn syrup. Tomatoes contain natural sugar. Grilled onions may be caramelized with sugar or brown sugar. When I was a kid, the only thing that sweetened encased meats were grilled onions caramelized with Coca Cola and served on a real Maxwell Street Polish, never on a hot dog. Chicago baby boomers rarely, if ever used ketchup on a hot dog or Polish, so it never became an acquired taste.

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Feed me!

I abhor the sugar laden green stuff. Never understood it. I don't do gobs of sugar on my dogs. Another one of those things that not only do I not "get," it pretty much gives me the heebie jeebies. Why not just sprinkle some candy pieces on it? DILL relish, however, that's the goods - IMO, of course.

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We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.

I [heart] Superdawg, and would eat there three dozen times a year if I lived closer. Tonight, with temperature in the single digits, the lot was packed, and the flushed, smiling carhops danced their way across a lot freshly scattered with salt, just like the fries.

I had an opportunity to compare the Superdawg fries tonight with some Maggiano's Potatoes Vesuvio (eaten beforehand) and Avenue Alehouse Sysco Waffle Fries (eaten afterward), and of the three, Superdawg's far and away tasted most like the real McCoy as far as spuds go. Layers of crispness from fresh hot oil (and probably multiple fryings) with perfect salt and skin ratio, and this on top of their unique garlicky sausage. Eaten right from the window without the steam effect that occurs on a journey home, each element could pop and sing.

And the pickled tomato is worthy of an ode. YTMND.

You're The Man Now, Dog*

* $&^* young whippersnappers and their ^%^ text message acronyms!

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No guts, no glory.
http://www.chicagonow.com/quips-travails-braised-oxtails
http://quipstravailsandbraisedoxtails.blogspot.com/

QOTD.

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Today, my car broke down in front of a Circle K convenience store. As I sat there endlessly waiting for salvation by AAA, I found myself staring at a 4 foot poster half exposed above several pallets of windshield fluid. The sign was entitled "Chicago's Hot Dog 2/ $2.22". Below the title, was a photo of 3 foot weenie. I decided that a convenience store chain based out of Phoenix, may actually be the absolute arbiter of the definitive "Chicago Dog" argument. After all, at least according to one infamous Check Please guest, if you're from Phoenix, you know barbecue ribs, so maybe the inherent Arizonan culinary expertise also extends into the upper Midwest encased meat arena. From my vantage point, I could see the pictured sausage was covered in nothing but mustard and not quite radioactive green relish. I decided to inspect it closer, even peering behind the stacks of windshield fluid, just in case there was a hidden pickle spear or tomato wedge lying in ambush behind the rows of glowing blue liquid in gallon plastic bottles, but there was nary a garden in sight. So according to no less an authority than the circle K corporation of Arizona, a tube steak requires nothing beyond yellow mustard and bright green relish to attain the ranking of "Chicago's Hot Dog".

Unfortunately, a recent bout of stomach flu made me reluctant to take advantage of their most generous offer.

Thanks, Michele. Sean Connery actually says that line like he's pronouncing every letter in the "dawg" in Superdawg, making it even better.

Behold Dogzilla.



A half-pound hot dog washed down with a cold forty—living the high life for sure.

Byron's Hot Dogs
1017 W Irving Park Rd
Chicago
773-281-7474