A few weeks back, the girls and I were watching the Food Network's 'Meat and Potatoes', and we saw a feature on a place called "Franks & Dawgs" in Chicago. When then showed the joint, I knew I knew it. It just took me a bit to figure out where it was. It was back in my old neighborhood, but was an Italian beef place called "What's The Beef!" when I lived there.
Anyway, it was right across the street from the Bed Bath & Beyond that we registered at, so one night, when we need to do some shopping down there anyway, we stopped in.
Now, this isn't just your ordinary hot dog joint. (And Chicago is a hot dog town filled with hot dog joints.) This one boasts homemade sausage and a 5 star chef. A sign inside said that even the line cooks had attended culinary school.
Gwen had the simple hot dog. Hot dog. Bun. That's it. She likes her food simple.
I had a dog with andoiulle sausage, and some carnitas on it.
Cora had the brunch dog with smoked bacon, maple mayo, and a fried egg.
And for the table, and an order of chili fries.
TOP DOGS:
- The bun – More of a mini loaf of bread vs. a standard bun, it is a thick, tasty, artisan roll, grilled in butter. I want to find out where they get these rolls and I want to use them in French toast.
- Gwen's plain dog – She finished it off and seemed to enjoy it.
- Cora's "Brunch" dog - "I loved it. The actual dog was, *nah*, okay, but the star of the show was the bread," to quote the wife.
- Andoiulle sausage – Nice, mild flavor. Good snap on the casing.
RUNTS OF THE LITTER:
- The chili – Flavorless meat & beans. No sauce. No heat. I wouldn't call it "chili".
- The fries – Even though they are "twice fried," they just weren't there for me.
- The rest of my sandwich – Loved the bun. Thought the sausage was pretty good, but the the rest of the sandwich had no real flavor.
While I'm not sure I would normally give a place a good review just based on the bread (wait, I guess I did it HERE), but I will definitely go back and try another one of their dogs.
And then I took a slight detour on the way home and took the girls to Dairy Queen for Blizzards. 'Cuz that's the kind of dad/husband I am.
And speaking of hot dogs, this never happened to me in college.
8 comments:
I'm envisioning the parents' reactions when their pride and joy culinary school graduates announced they'd been hired. At a hot dog shack. I'm betting there were tears.
*snicker*
Oooh, dogs with carnitas on them sound great!
Cora ate a hot dog?? oh how Chicago is changing her. LOL!
OK, so where is the BEST place for a dog in Chicago Eric?
I'm with Gwen. Get rid of all that crap and just give me the beef.
Of course, some onions and ketchup would be awesome.
We have a place out here called Tommy's (an L.A. institution) that serves the BEST chili burgers/dogs. We took a CT cousin once and she ordered a plain dog. I don't think they'd ever gotten that order before because they seemed quite shocked.
When I'm not in the mood for chili, I'm a mustard and relish girl.
Cora's made my mouth water! Yum!
I saw a little joint in El Reno, OK that I ate at last year featured on Man v. Food the other week. It's so cool to see your local spot recognized!
Look at that one with the fried egg! Damn!
Can't say anything like that video clip ever happened to me in college -- not quite like *that* anyway!!
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