Flub a Dub Chubs

This relatively new spot on North Broadway has at least one truly remarkable item. The "chubby" dog here is a top shelf natural casing 1/4 lb. Vienna puppy, steamed to snappy perfection and (fully) dressed to kill in classic Chicago style with chopped white onion, neon green relish, yellow mustard, tomatoes sport peppers and celery salt. Not of the minimalist school, mine even came with two slices of pickle, one from a crispy pale green "new" dill and the other from a fully mature sour example. A nice touch. At $4.75 including a bag of very good coarsely salted fries this is a fair enough deal, and overall one of the best hot dogs I've had on the North side in quite a while. Sadly, their regular dog is a smaller skinless version and not at all in the same league.

They offer burgers and brats and veggie burgers too, but I haven't tried them and probably never will because I'm going with the Chubby if I'm there.

Flub A Dub Chubs
3021 N. Broadway (below street level).

kuhdo wrote:They offer burgers and brats and veggie burgers too, but I haven't tried them and probably never will because I'm going with the Chubby if I'm there.

The Chubby sounds perfect for this hubby, I'd even take my Bubby, that is if I still had one to take.

The place became a favorite of the folks at Timeline Theatre on Wellington last spring.
It's owned by a very friendly couple; literally a mom and pop place. I believe it's a second career for him, but I never got the entire story.
I have enjoyed the burgers, always done as requested, though I'm not a big fan of the pretzel roll. I prefer a regular bun. Chacun a son gout.

I rather like the deep fried portobello strips. Crunchy, very salty, meaty (in that good mushroomy way). Altogether a great guilty pleasure.

Haven't yet worked my way through the rest of the menu. At the moment I can't recall the fries with any great particularity, but overall, a great little neighborhood spot for that sort of thing.

kuhdo wrote:The "chubby" dog
<snip>
and overall one of the best hot dogs I've had on the North side in quite a while.

Dear Mr. K,

I thought the name sounded familiar when I read it in Jeff Ruby's Chicago Magazine Best Burgers in Chicago list, just could not remember where. I should have realized it was the ever-informed Kuhdo. While the natural casing 1/4 Vienna was hard to resist I was on a burger mission, and quite a burger it turned out to be.

Burger was juicy with terrific flavor, fries crisp and fountain soda.

Flub a Dub Chubs
Cheddar, bacon and egg




Good as the burger was I really loved the place, in particular Roe, one of the owners. She simply radiates warmth and conviviality.

Roe



Flub a Dub Chubs is serious about no ketchup on hot dogs, anyone over 17 who has a dog with ketchup gets their picture on the Wall of Shame. (really very funny)

Wall of Shame



A bit hard to find, Flub a Dub Chubs is below grade and signage is below where one naturally looks. I drove past twice, even with the address, before I saw the restaurant, well worth the effort though.



Top notch burgers, fries, hot dogs, friendly people, excellent attention to detail and comfortable seating. I see myself becoming a regular.



Enjoy,
Gary

Flub A Dub Chubs
3021 N Broadway
Chicago, Il 60657
773-857-6500

Couldn't agree more Gary. Roe mentioned yesterday that she's a school teacher, so she might (unfortunately) be spending less time manning the register once school starts. How great would it be to have her as a teacher?

LTHForum--

Worked from home today. Was chatting on the computer with a friend from the desert, who was gently chiding me about the weather there -- but in the course admitted that "yeah, but you got hot dogs there..."

Fast forward a couple of hours: Walking down Broadway for lunch, Flub a Dub Chub's appeared on my left and it seemed preordained. They were doing great business for a chilly Thursday lunchtime -- tables mostly full, lots of to-go orders. Chubby everything, snappy casing, well treated toppings (including the holy trinity of neon relish, cucumber and dill pickle spear); fries, nicely crispy and seasoned right.

The owner guy (the husband of Roe) was ferrying out food and cheerfully working the room. Leave it to Beaver on the tee-vee (a later one where the beav's voice was starting to change); someone recognized their ex-boyfriend on the wall of shame; and a dad marvelled at how much hot-dog his four year old ate.

Definitely a pleasant lunch. I'll be back; so should you.

-jim

PS - i've had good luck with their chicken sandwiches, too, served dressed on the delicious pretzel roll.

kuhdo wrote:This relatively new spot on North Broadway has at least one truly remarkable item. The "chubby" dog here is a top shelf natural casing 1/4 lb. Vienna puppy, steamed to snappy perfection and (fully) dressed to kill in classic Chicago style with chopped white onion, neon green relish, yellow mustard, tomatoes sport peppers and celery salt. Not of the minimalist school, mine even came with two slices of pickle, one from a crispy pale green "new" dill and the other from a fully mature sour example. A nice touch. At $4.75 including a bag of very good coarsely salted fries this is a fair enough deal, and overall one of the best hot dogs I've had on the North side in quite a while. Sadly, their regular dog is a smaller skinless version and not at all in the same league.

They offer burgers and brats and veggie burgers too, but I haven't tried them and probably never will because I'm going with the Chubby if I'm there.

Flub A Dub Chubs
3021 N. Broadway (below street level).

If it truly is 1/4 lb, then you are getting a hog casing...

"If you offer natural casing sausages, then these products utilize a pork casing ( 5 to-a-pound and larger [4,3,2 to the
lb.]) or a sheep casing ( 6 to-a-pound or smaller [7,8,9,10 to the lb.]). Vienna Beef offers signage to help communicate the type of casing used in our natural casing sausages."

and?

A Chicago-style hot dog is an all beef Kosher style hot dog. A hog casing is not Kosher style.

Uh oh, could they be CUTTING CORNERS*?


*RIP - RiverWester

Mikey wrote:A Chicago-style hot dog is an all beef Kosher style hot dog. A hog casing is not Kosher style.

Who cares? If you're keeping kosher, you aren't eating anything from Vienna Beef anyway. If you aren't, then why do you care that it's a hog casing?

gleam wrote:

Mikey wrote:A Chicago-style hot dog is an all beef Kosher style hot dog. A hog casing is not Kosher style.

Who cares? If you're keeping kosher, you aren't eating anything from Vienna Beef anyway. If you aren't, then why do you care that it's a hog casing?

Why do I care? Because I abhor hog encased hot dogs, and avoid them "religiously". They are much thicker and tougher then the lamb casing. It completely throws off the balance of a hot dog for me. I like the "pop" of a lambskin. You can't make the larger sizes because they are so thin.
There's a good reason why they make condom's out of lamb skin and not pork, and it isn't because you want to keep Kosher.

that's a good reason

Mikey wrote:

gleam wrote:

Mikey wrote:A Chicago-style hot dog is an all beef Kosher style hot dog. A hog casing is not Kosher style.

Who cares? If you're keeping kosher, you aren't eating anything from Vienna Beef anyway. If you aren't, then why do you care that it's a hog casing?

Why do I care? Because I abhor hog encased hot dogs, and avoid them "religiously". They are much thicker and tougher then the lamb casing. It completely throws off the balance of a hot dog for me. I like the "pop" of a lambskin. You can't make the larger sizes because they are so thin.
There's a good reason why they make condom's out of lamb skin and not pork, and it isn't because you want to keep Kosher.

banner quote!

Mikey wrote:Why do I care? Because I abhor hog encased hot dogs, and avoid them "religiously". They are much thicker and tougher then the lamb casing. It completely throws off the balance of a hot dog for me. I like the "pop" of a lambskin. You can't make the larger sizes because they are so thin.
There's a good reason why they make condom's out of lamb skin and not pork, and it isn't because you want to keep Kosher.

Does this mean that latex casings will be the next advance in Kosher hot dog technology? And perhaps mustard and neon-green relish will be substituted with nonoxynol-9?

Mikey wrote:A Chicago-style hot dog is an all beef Kosher style hot dog. A hog casing is not Kosher style.

I would venture a Vienna natural casing hot dog made with non-kosher sheep casing is no more kosher to someone who actually keeps kosher than a Vienna 1/4-pound dog made with hog casing.

G Wiv wrote:

Mikey wrote:A Chicago-style hot dog is an all beef Kosher style hot dog. A hog casing is not Kosher style.

I would venture a Vienna natural casing hot dog made with non-kosher sheep casing is no more kosher to someone who actually keeps kosher than a Vienna 1/4-pound dog made with hog casing.

Kosher style is not Kosher, true, but could be if you used the Kosher versions of the same products, eliminated the tref, and had religious supervision.
A hog casing can never become Kosher and thus is not Kosher style.
Many non observant people I know believe kosher style quality is just as good as Kosher, without the rabbi's blessing.
It may be hard for you to believe that there are many people who will bend a lot of rules, but would be horrified to know they were eating a pig's intestines.

Mikey wrote:there are many people who will bend a lot of rules, but would be horrified to know they were eating a pig's intestines.

If they would "horrified" then the burden is on them, Vienna beef makes no secret its products are not kosher and the larger dogs, including Frankwurst, are made with pork casing. Haven't we had this go-around in the past regarding natural casing hot dogs?

G Wiv wrote:

Mikey wrote:there are many people who will bend a lot of rules, but would be horrified to know they were eating a pig's intestines.

If they would "horrified" then the burden is on them, Vienna beef makes no secret its products are not kosher and the larger dogs, including Frankwurst, are made with pork casing. Haven't we had this go-around in the past regarding natural casing hot dogs?

I was really just curious if the jumbo's were indeed 1/4 lb natural casing, since most places serve a skinless jumbo because of the issues I raised.

Mikey wrote:I was really just curious if the jumbo's were indeed 1/4 lb natural casing, since most places serve a skinless jumbo because of the issues I raised.

Vienna 1/4 lb. dogs are natural casing.

Mikey wrote:It may be hard for you to believe that there are many people who will bend a lot of rules, but would be horrified to know they were eating a pig's intestines.

Such people should really be discouraged from eating sausages from any large commercial operation, then - as the casing may be the least of their concerns.

Kman wrote:

Mikey wrote:It may be hard for you to believe that there are many people who will bend a lot of rules, but would be horrified to know they were eating a pig's intestines.

Such people should really be discouraged from eating sausages from any large commercial operation, then - as the casing may be the least of their concerns.

Kman - A brilliant, witty comment. Much commended. (I would just say "Brilliant," but that might be too cryptic for some.)

Vienna Beef lost a class-action suit over its claims that its hot dogs were "all beef" when the natural casings are either sheep or hog.

These days "kosher-style" apparently means skinless, because nobody seems to be making natural-casing kosher hot dogs, even though it's theoretically possible. I gather that kosher sheep gut is not readily available.

It's amazing to me that LTH hasn't latched on to this place. I was just having a burger at Flub a Dub's and I was thinking about the recent posts in the Kuma's thread. Flub a Dub's has to be the anti-Kuma's. No loud music, no tourists, family owned and run, and fantastic burgers.

Today was the perfectly representative afternoon at Flub a Dub's. Roe working the counter. Husband running in and out, bringing food out to the tables. Game on the TV. Everyone in a happy mood. And what a great burger. The Roe Burger, with cheddar, bacon, and avocado was cooked perfectly medium rare and was juicy and beefy.

Seriously, if you haven't checked out Flub a Dub's you really should. With more discussion, this place could easily be a GNR.

jesteinf wrote:It's amazing to me that LTH hasn't latched on to this place. I was just having a burger at Flub a Dub's and I was thinking about the recent posts in the Kuma's thread. Flub a Dub's has to be the anti-Kuma's. No loud music, no tourists, family owned and run, and fantastic burgers.

Today was the perfectly representative afternoon at Flub a Dub's. Roe working the counter. Husband running in and out, bringing food out to the tables. Game on the TV. Everyone in a happy mood. And what a great burger. The Roe Burger, with cheddar, bacon, and avocado was cooked perfectly medium rare and was juicy and beefy.

Seriously, if you haven't checked out Flub a Dub's you really should. With more discussion, this place could easily be a GNR.

Challenge accepted.

This place is a stone's throw (well, if I had an arm like a pro quarterback) from my apartment. Tomorrow's work-from-home lunch will be a burger from this place, and a post will follow.

After my post on Monday, I realized I needed to put up or shut up. So after a regular checkup with my doctor (healthy eating was one of our topics of discussion, ironically), I headed over to Flub A Dub Chub for a quick lunch.

I'd never been in there, but I always imagined that a hot dog stand hidden in an alcove under a bar & an astrology storefront would be a dump...much to my surprise, the place was clean, well-kept, shiny, and brightly-lit. The one young guy staffing the place was quite friendly and helpful - I ended up spending my lunch having a pleasant chat with him and another patron about current events & whatnot.

I went with a bacon cheeseburger (picked cheddar) with onion, mayo, and mustard, cooked medium. The burger came out hot, juicy, cooked just how I wanted it, on a soft pretzel bun that held together nicely, with a side of searing hot, perfectly-fried (crisp on the outside, light & fluffy on the inside) food service fries. I really enjoyed both, but did find the prices to be on the high side: $10 + change for a burger, fries, and a small soda. Each item on their hot dog menu cost $4-7. Kinda steep for a hot dog stand, no?

Prices aside, this place offers good, fast food in a comfortable atmosphere with friendly staff, is a two-minutes' walk from my house, AND delivers...I do believe we have a winner.

Also, didn't see it mentioned in any of the other posts, but they have a website (with menu & online ordering): http://www.flubadubchub.com/

Khaopaat wrote:I'd never been in there, but I always imagined that a hot dog stand hidden in an alcove under a bar & an astrology storefront would be a dump...much to my surprise, the place was clean, well-kept, shiny, and brightly-lit. The one young guy staffing the place was quite friendly and helpful - I ended up spending my lunch having a pleasant chat with him and another patron about current events & whatnot.

Glad you enjoyed. You point out one of my favorite things about this place, other than the food. I don't think I've ever been in without getting into a conversation with either whoever is manning the register or another patron. Gives the place sort of an old-timey feel.

I stopped in and ordered a regular char-dog and fries.....while I cannot remember now what the price was, I do remember it was pretty high for a Vienna dog that was not a natural casing dog, and french fries from a freezer.

I prefer natural casing dogs and hand-cut fries so maybe I am biased but not sure what the real draw here is...maybe I should have got a burger?

I've never had a dog here, I stick exclusively to the burgers.

I really wanted to like Flub a Dub - it seems like a long-run family business, run by really nice people. I'm guessing Mrs. FaD helped us and she could not have been more friendly. But ultimately my burger was a real letdown. I ordered the one with bacon, cheese and a fried egg. It was served on a fresh pretzel bun (not my favorite, but no prob). On the plus side, the burger was served medium rare as ordered. But it really had no juice, no dripping goodness, and just not a strong beefy flavor. I'm not sure what kind of beef they're using but I'm guessing it's a lot leaner than I typically prefer (85-90% maybe). Also, the egg was served over hard with none of that dripping yolk that I hoped for. Finally, overcooked and ultimately flavorless bacon that added nothing. As for the fries, they may be frozen but they weren't bad at all. Nicely cooked - crisp exterior, soft interior - and well seasoned.

I recognize others whose opinions I respect have had far more positive experiences here, so I'm willing to accept that today's visit might be very out of character for Flub a Dub, but the burger I had today really missed the mark.