October 28, 2004

hot dog diaries 3 - 'everything' is different

my boyfriend and i are on our way to new york this weekend and a trip to coney island, and of course nathan's famous hot dog stand is on the itinerary.

upon doing some research on the location and menu at nathan's i realized that if i go there and order a 'hot dog with everything' i'm not sure what i'm going to get!

in chicago, i know exactly what a 'hot dog with everything' is.

further, what if i go to philly and order a 'hot dog with everything'? what's 'everything' in l.a.? i can't make heads or tails of what i'm going to get anywhere!!

well, i say a stop to this madness! there's got to be a place where this information is catalogued - and i'm willing to do it.

so, if you read this and you know what's on your city's 'hot dog with everything', please post it in the comments or send me an email at: hotdog [at] andshewas.net

then, tell your friends in other cities to do the same. we can sort this whole mess out together.

Posted by donna at October 28, 2004 01:28 AM
Comments

Chicago-style hot dogs are made with Vienna all-beef hot dogs served on poppy seed hot dog buns, minced white onion, tomatoes, yellow mustard, bright green sweet pickle relish, sport peppers and celery salt.

Posted by: Tom at November 4, 2004 03:57 PM

Tom,
Thanks for the first contribution, but what about the pickle spear? That relish loves company in Chicago.

I think I may just end up calling famous hot dog stands in different cities. What a fun saturday afternoon that'll be.

Posted by: donna at November 5, 2004 11:26 AM

Well, there you have it! I have seen both the bright green relish OR the pickle spear, but not together. Maybe there is no definitive answer. There are other variations of the Chicago hot dog, with grilled onions and/or cheese goo, but the one truism about the Chicago dog is that there is no room for ketchup. Ketchup is for your fries, not your dog.

The hot dog stand to call in the Chicago area is Super Dawg. Enjoy that Saturday afternoon.

Posted by: Tom at November 7, 2004 02:19 AM

I moved to the Philly area from Chicago and my first hot dog was ordered with everything and this is what I got (a hot dog in a bun) it was up to me to pile on the condiments and my choices were onion, mustard, & relish. The ketchup and kraut were optional. "That's all folks!" Not much of "everything".

Posted by: Luz at February 21, 2005 01:02 PM