Chicago Style Hot Dogs

By Jonathan Berohn

In most places in the country, the hot dog has somehow been relegated to ballpark food.  Fortunately for those of us who don’t have any pretensions about avoiding good food if you’re not paying through the nose for it, Chicago has not succumbed to this insidious trend.  In Chicago, the hot dog is still king of convenience foods—and just plain good to boot.

Chicago Style

If you’ve never had the good fortune to be exposed to the Chicago style dog, you might at first think it’s a bit odd.  Ok, it is a bit odd, but the taste combination is out of this world.  First, any self-respecting Chicago style hot dog starts with Vienna Beef hot dogs.  The Vienna beef hot dog, when properly cooked, has the perfect combination of firm skin and juicy center and a great subtly spiced flavor.

The next important touch is the bun—it MUST have poppy seeds.  No exceptions.  After that come the fixings.  This is what makes the Chicago hot dog unique.

You start with mustard—yellow, thank you—and add a dill pickle spear, sweet relish, tomato slices, chopped onions, celery salt, and sport peppers (essentially pickled serranos).  While this may sound like whatever the creator had left in the pantry, it is truly an amazing eating experience.

Best Bets

You can certainly go about making your own Chicago style hot dogs (and you’ll have to if you don’t live near Chicago or have an imitator locally), but there are some great places to get Chicago style dogs when you are in the Chicago area.

Portillo’s the biggest chain of hot dog joints.  With 31 locations there’s bound to be one near wherever you happen to be in greater Chicago.  The atmosphere may be a little sanitized, but the hot dogs there are excellent, and the prices are reasonable. 

If you’re out in Crystal Lake or Melrose Park, you can try Tommy’s Red Hots if you’d like a little old school local flavor to go with your hot dogs.  Tommy’s is strictly fast food counter/carry out stuff, but the dogs are great and the prices are tremendous (2 dogs, fries, and a drink for under $5).

Not Your Best Best

Sadly enough, the Chicago style hot dogs at Wrigley are less than exemplary.  The tomatoes are chopped instead of sliced, and there is no celery salt.  Oh—not to mention the almost $5 a pop prices.  In other words—get your local flavor before you visit the ballpark.