The latest Cook’s Country has a recipe for L.A. .Style Chili Cheeseburgers. Can’t say I’ve ever had one (as I’ve not been to L.A.), but the recipe seems kinda tempting even if not exactly health food.
They mention Tommy’s in the article that goes with it, and how many knock-offs exist(ed), some by name.
Interesting timing.
I’ve had the Hat’s off-menu pastrami chili cheese fries (feeds 3) and you’re right; their chili is probably the closest approximation to Tommy’s that I’ve encountered.
I haven’t been much to the first, and i used to go to the Pantry a lot when I worked Downtown, but it is gone now- recently. The Shack is nowhere near as iconic as The Pantry, Pinks or Tommy’s- imho.
Yep.
Like cheap Der Weinersnitchel chili dogs. Or Jack in the Box “tacos”.
Serve it open-faced on toasted buns, and top with enough chili to fill a bowl, and you’ll have a chili size. 
Aye to both of those. My friend was living in Louisiana, and came back to Lancaster to visit his mom. He and I were going to run down to the nearby Wienerschnitzel and get some chili-cheese dogs. ‘Oh [son]! Don’t do that I have some meat loaf I can warm up!’ He replied, ‘Mom. Chili-cheese dogs. It’s a guy thing.’
wasn’t there a chili place in West Hollywood? and nobody mentioned OkiDogs?
Yeah. When I was in HS we had a oddball maybe-franchise place called “Pup-n-Taco” that was in a former Der Wienerschnitzel A-frame. Going there for a chili cheese dog (or a burrito) was one of the highlights of a visit home from college or my early USAF days. Then on one visit it was gone.
Streetview tells me that now, 40+ years later, the A-frame is now the parking lot for a Taco Bell, and the Taco Bell is in what was the A-frame’s parking lot. The circle of fast-food life. Sniff 
Yes, it was a chain. I don’t think I ever went to one though.
One night my dad was channel surfing. He landed on a religious program, and then the next channel was a Pup ‘N’ Taco commercial, so what we heard was, ‘And the banquet was laid out on the table [click] Pup ‘N’ Taco! Pup ‘N’ Taco! Pup ‘N’ Taco!’
Pup ‘N’ Taco did have a steeply-sloped roof, but the buildings were different from Der Wienerschitzel/Wienerschitzel. (They removed the ‘Der’ when enough people noticed it should have been ‘Das’.) Wienerschitzel’s roof came almost down to the ground, and had a drive-through in the middle.
Interesting. Thank you. Ref the wiki …
My time at my local outlet would have been right about at their apex. And indeed my old location is now a much newer Taco Bell. 1984 would also have been about when mine met its demise.
The wiki pic is of course of a “Pop’n’Taco” from 30 years after the chain had died. But yeah, that’s totally the right building. And as you say, distinct from the early drive through the middle DWs.
There was a Tommy’s in Hollywood as well. It’s the last one I visited maybe twelve years ago after a show at the Fonda.
I remember Pup n Taco and I think it had chili. There was one on the way back from my high school. They’d have great sales like two items (hot dog or taco) for 99 cents.
About thirty years ago, there were a lot of repurposed Wienerschnitzel and Taco Bell buildings after PepsiCo tried to give the franchises a face lift. Wienerschnitzel reclaimed a lot of those old A-frames but the old mission-style Taco Bell’s are still a variety of independent fast food places. I’m always surprised at how many examples of both buildings have survived to this day.
I guess I’m remembering a “fancy” sitdown place
It’s always easy to tell the old school Taco Bells which really aren’t that bad looking and would be a bitch to tear down. Especially if they still have the old lava rock fire pit out front. They used to have a gas fire always going out front for ambiance but they shut them off when the energy crisis happened.
A couple of those not too far from my Hole in the Ground. One of them is a Mexican joint. Pretty good food!
I don’t think the fire pit is there.
Oh.. forgot about that. That’s the third thing.
I remembered the chili dogs as being good from my childhood, but the last time I had one it was disappointing in the extreme.
I went to the one on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas. Maybe I was missing something (like the onions, or the pepper slices), but the chili on the dogs felt bland. I had a similar experience with Irv’s in Vegas.
It is not very spicy, no.
Tommy’s chili sorta needs to be graded by the expectations of 1950s whitebread Americans, not 2025 diverse Americans long exposed to cuisines from all over the world. It’s more brown cumin gravy with smidgens of beans & hamburger in it than anything a modern would call “chili”.
Chile powder and paprika, according to the recipe I linked near the top of this thread. It’s definitely not what we think of as ‘chili’ – not even by '70s out-of-the-can standards. It’s more of a ‘chili sauce’. FWIW, I prefer it (and Wienerschnitzel’s) on my hot dogs and cheeseburgers than I do Sonic’s.
