Not just what kind of dog, but where you had it, what you put on it etc.
Hot dogs, frankfurters, sausage dogs, even veggie dogs.
Mine was at this little stand outside the hotel I was staying at in Chicago for some sort of Dope gathering. I ordered my first Chicago dog, thinking it would tide me over until lunchtime. Holy crap-it came with everything! It was like a salad with a perfectly cooked humongous Vienna Beef hot dog in the middle. Onions, various greenery, long-sliced pickles, peppers and ghod knows what else. It was delicious. I have tried to find its equal here in Oregon, but no dice.
When my parents and I first moved to San Antonio in 1964, we were really broke. We stayed at the 3 motel (anyone remember those?) for at least a month til we found a house. One day we went to a children's playground with rides called Kiddie Park that had been there since the 1920s. It had a snack stand. The hot dogs were probably .25. I was 15 and had always been timid about food-- not exactly a picky eater, but not willing to try unfamiliar things.
There at Kiddie Park I encountered the Hot Dog with Chili, Cheese, Mustard & Onions. <Cue trumpet fanfare, harps, and choirs of angels> My taste buds sighed, curled up, then cried out in ecstasy. The onions, the cheese, the (canned) chili, the cheap hot dog, and even cheaper (toasted) bun. And finally the yellow [del]ball[/del] Kiddie Park mustard… the theme that united it all.
I became a woman that day.
We went to that hot dog stand often during those weeks before we found a house. Kiddie Park recently went all Upscale and got moved from the hallowed, ancient location to an area with more parking. Another landmark gone…
Downtown Cleveland had decent NYC-style hot dog carts back in the mid-70s. Then somebody brought in new carts with bright blue awnings that offered chili dogs. DAMN good chili dogs. That was my first eye-opening experience.
Living in NYC the cart franks have only been so-so…I generally opt for a split hot sausage (a Polish Boy knockoff) with kraut, brown mustard, and that goopy onion sauce. And the chili dogs at Nathan’s in Coney Island are a only a pale shadow of the old Cleveland dog.
For a TRANSCENDANT frank, Chicago is your town. I first had a fully-loaded at either Byron’s on Halsted or Ziggy’s on Clark (both long gone), and all over town since. Fatso’s on the West Side does an excellent version now, but they grill the franks instead of steaming them.
A joint in Brooklyn offered a “Chicago style dog” several years ago, but it disappointed. Better to try to make one yourself:
Steam (or grill) an plump all-beef frank, the closest you can find to a Vienna Beef.
Place it on a poppy-seed bun, if you can get one.
Spread with yellow mustard (Plochman’s is a Chicago brand), neon-green relish (I skip this; I hate relish), chopped raw onion, a slim dill pickle spear, thin wedges of ripe tomato; a few dashes of celery salt, and top with 3-4 hot sport peppers (buy a jar on your next Chicago trip, or online)
Serve with fresh thin fries and a can of Old Style.
Chicago-style dogs with the works, including hot peppers and pickle spears, at a place in the shadow of the Sears tower (I kept waiting to hear “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger!”), and from a vendor on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on my 30th birthday.
The summer before I went back to college, I had a job as a temp clerk in a hospital, where I consumed mass quantities of coffee all day. After I got off work, I’d walk the two miles to the nearest Target, where I’d have a bacon cheeseburger, french fries, cole slaw, a bowl of chili with crackers, and a large cherry Coke. But every now and then, for the sake of variety, I’d have jumbo hot dogs instead of the burger. I got to know the guy behind the counter, and he’d butter and grill the buns for me.
Back in the '90s, Taco Bell opened stands that sold hot dogs and burritos in the Moscow metro. I bought a lot of those on my way to and from work. My hot dogs would always be loaded with ketchup and neon-green relish.
It’s amazing such things could be so important to you that you remember them fondly decades later.
At home nowadays, I sometimes make chili cheese dogs: all-beef jumbos inside grilled buttered buns, topped with homemade Cincinnatti-style chili, chopped onions, grated Cheddar, and yellow mustard. Yum! :o
I’ve been on numerous camping trips where a hot dog dinner was like manna from heaven. On a cold night, Hebrew National dogs roasted over a campfire and served on a bun with mustard is as good a dinner as I could ever hope for. Especially after a few beers have been consumed.
My gf grew up near Munhall, PA and a regular family dinner excursion involved going to Jim’s Drive In for their “famous” hotdogs they’ve served since 1927.
I recently obtained some of their sauce via mail-order and was able to duplicate a Jim’s Special Hot Dog with sauce, onions, and cheese. They were delicious and brought a tear to my gf’s eye (maybe it was the onions).
I occasionally visit a German deli in Mountain View and always buy a couple of pounds of frankfurters (don’t call them “hot dogs” - it pisses off the butchers).
These franks are delectable and subtle - made of pork and veal and spiced with mace and lightly smoked. But all that subtlety is lost if you put one on a bun and cover it with toppings.
I like to steam/grill them slightly, then cut them into chunks and serve them on a plate with a dollop of good quality mustard on the side for dipping.
Apart from that, I don’t think I’ve ever visited any really stellar hot dog joints. Your descriptions of Chicago dogs are mouth-watering. I think I’d go to Chicago for their dogs alone.
My first grilled Dodger Dog, at my first Dodger game with my father. I must have been 10/11 at the time, so '65/'66. Mustard, relish and onion from one of those crank dispensers. Heaven on a bun, and I’m pretty sure the Dodgers won, too!
First of all, I have always preferred hot dogs with no toppings, just a dog and a bun. When I was growing up, the dogs were usually boiled, with an occasional charcoal grilled one at cookouts.
When I was about 10 years old, my family got stuck in a traffic jam on our way to Ocean City, Maryland. As we crept along, we came to a Howard Johnson’s restaurant. We went in and had lunch, and I ordered a hot dog. It was cooked on a griddle, the bun was top-sliced, the sides of the bun had been buttered and the bun warmed on the griddle. It was heavenly. I still love them cooked just that way.
Papaya King in uptown Manhattan offers a beef frank with cole slaw, which is surprisingly delicious. I can’t remember if this originated in Pittsburgh or Atlanta.
Crif Dogs on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village does dogs with sour cream and thin slices of ripe avocado.
There are both amaze balls. Not as good as a standard Chi-town dog, but still, worth seeking out.
I once bought a package of the cheapest hot dogs at the store, less than a dollar, and they were delicious. I searched through the trash for the wrapper in vain, and of course I’ve never been able to find them again.
A couple of years ago, from a street vendor cart…at Cambridge University, which is pretty much the last place I expected to see hot dogs, much less hot dog carts