gene and jude's

Hi, just went to the great Gene and Jude's and enjoyed the hot dogs and fries for just $1.50! Does anyone know the type of dog they use and what it gives it, it's snap? I was thinking maybe they are the Vienna Beef hot dogs with the skin left on. Thanks

I think you are correct. MMMMMMM

I have been going to Gene and Jude's forever. They use Vienna Beef hotdogs. Now I'm craving and salivating for one of their dogs....have to stop in today.

serendipitously drove by G&J's tonite... but by the will of Mother Nature i did not grab a dog+fries - snowing/raining ice, on the left lane, going too fast, etc.

serendipitously yet again, my customer left the office early and i continued onto first ave to find Tropical Time looking extremly lonely with a snow covered parking..

Tropical Time 1, Gene & Jude's 0. tho there's definitely next time...

I was out running errands today and ended up at Gene & Judes for lunch. One of the reasons I ended up there is because the first two places I tried to go to were closed today. Evidently I was not the only one with this problem (not a bad problem to have). At 2:00 P.M. when I got there, the line was 3/4 of the way around the inside of the place and growing. By the time I had gotten to the front of the que, the line had doubled over on itself. A good portion of the people waiting were what appeared to be college students who were home for the holidays and looking for a bit of "home cooking" before returning to the rigors of school. The crew at G & J's were working as their usual well oiled machine, turning out order after order of dogs and fries at lightning speed (more than a few of the orders were for 10 or more dogs at a time. The person in front of me ordered 18). The fry cutter guy never stopped cutting fries and loading baskets once during the whole time I was in line (except to reload the potato bin).

Gene & Judes is getting ready to close for their annual vacation. They will be closed from 1/1/06 - 1/16/06. Go soon or be prepared to wait.

stevez wrote:I At 2:00 P.M. when I got there, the line was 3/4 of the way around the inside of the place and growing. By the time I had gotten to the front of the que, the line had doubled over on itself.

Glad it worked. A lot of times, when the line gets really long, I find the quality suffers as they move the fries too quickly through their 3 step process. Occassionally, if the line is REALLY long, I'll move on.

For those occasions, Frannies a few miles north on River Road, is no Gene and Judes, but they have good sammies all the same.

Hi,

Yesterday, I finally made my maiden voyage to Gene and Jude's hot dog emporium with Rene G. A few hours prior, I had a hot dog at the Culinary Historian's meeting featuring Bob Schwarz of Vienna Sausage. Minutes before I had just eaten a hot dog at Frannie's on River Road just north of Irving Park. I also had some uncooked leftover Vienna dogs in natural casings with a package of seeded buns in the my car, which translates there would be quite a few dogs in my immediate future. Bottom line was as curious as I was about a Gene and Jude's hot dog, I was a bit dogged out.

Standing in the fast moving line at Gene and Judes, it was impressive to watch them freshly slice their potatoes directly into the fry basket. I don't believe I have ever seen such fresh from the potato to the fries transition before. The line of people was impressively snakey, well mannered and swift moving. Not too much of a wait until we were ready to place our orders.

Feeling just too dogged out to muster enthusiasm for a third hot dog in less than two hours, I commented to Rene G I was going to order the tamale. He countered, "Why not ask for a Mother-in-Law." Sure, why not? I did. For a flicker of a moment, I ever so slightly interrupted the natural rhythm of Gene and Jude's with a few of staff looking at me quizzically. "What's that?" "A hot dog bun with a tamale inside with the Chicago-style fixings." One of the guys not involved with taking my order said, "Sure, we could do that."

When I paid for my Mother-in-Law, the staff behind the counter consulted with each other on how I should be charged. The tamale is $1.25 while a hot dog is $2.00. I assumed I would likely pay $2.00, though I waited for the team to figure out how to charge me. "Charge her for the veggie dog and a tamale," offered one guy while the cashier range up a $2.70 tab. "I thought it might be $2.00," I suggested. "Here is how we charged you: $1.45 for the hot dog bun and fixings plus $1.25 for the tamale." For the sake of a unique experience, great story plus learning of the off menu veggie hot dog bun variation, I didn't mind the 70 cents upcharge.

Someday I will return for the hot dog, though I was quite satisfied with my MIL. Ironically, another reason I switched from the hot dog was to preserve my eating capacity for a party. Yeah, what planet was I on believing a MIL would be less filling than a hot dog?

Of course, Gene and Jude's did adequately prepare for my arrival, they have now switched to Coca-Cola products. While I can live with Pepsi, Coke is my preferred sin.

Regards,

I love Gene and Jude's. Particularly how they stuff the fries in with the dog, allowing one to have a bit of fresh-fried potato goodness sneak into the otherwise spartan dog (in my case - bun, dog, mustard and peppers only.)

And I think they serve excellent fries and am also quite impressed how they go straight from the potato slicer to the fryer, but I think the could really benefit from a double fry to crisp them up a bit. And I WISH they had ketchup - just for the fries!

Cathy2 wrote:
For a flicker of a moment, I ever so slightly interrupted the natural rhythm of Gene and Jude's with a few of staff looking at me quizzically. "What's that?" "A hot dog bun with a tamale inside with the Chicago-style fixings." One of the guys not involved with taking my order said, "Sure, we could do that."

December 13, 2008--- A day that will live in infamy.....

I would be willing to bet that Cathy is the first customer in the 200 year history of Gene and Jude's to be able to order an off-menu item there.

What's next? Posters postings of Gene and Jude's secret menu?

Seriously, I'm glad ( and shocked ) that they were willing to accommodate you.

LOL!

Perhaps it was the surprise element, because I fully expected to get turned down.

Regards,

cito wrote:What's next? Posters postings of Gene and Jude's secret menu?

I thought this day would never come. The time has finally come to pass on the secret of miang kam pak Genijuddasamvit, which they only make on Songkran Festival. You must ask for it by name after clapping thrice and making the wai bow.

River Road One-Bite Salad

- lettuce leaf (from McDonald's next door)
- diced white onion
- neon relish
- diced pickle
- sport pepper

dressing

- Coca-Cola

On a platter, arrange torn 2" squares of lettuce leaf. Top each leaf with finely diced onion, relish, pickle, and one sport pepper. Reduce Coca-Cola to syrup over tamale boiler or griddle. Just before serving, drizzle each bite with Coke syrup.

Sawasdee.

brschwartz wrote:Does anyone know the type of dog they use and what it gives it, it's snap? I was thinking maybe they are the Vienna Beef hot dogs with the skin left on. Thanks

Gene and judes uses Vienna beef natural casing dogs. 10 dogs to a lb. Also known as "10 to 1 dogs". They are available by the case at the Vienna beef factory store and is the only place I currently know of that sells them to the public (would love to know if these could be purchased elsewhere)

Call ahead to the store before you go as the deli worker will have to get them from their commercial stock, they will not be in sight inside.

As for gene and judes double frying fries, I'm fairly certain they do. The fryers to the right are round 1. The second fry is done on the far left fryer as the baskets move down the line. This basket is where fries are taken for the dogs.

Have I been to gene and judes too much? Probably.

Guess I am in the minority. A friend and I went to G&J's last week and were very disappointed. We ordered our dogs Chicago style. When we opened them we noted no poppy seed bun, no tomato, no dill pickle spear, and we didn’t think there was any celery salt on them.

Upon leaving I stopped by and asked the cashier how come they didn’t have tomatoes and pickle spears. He just said they never did. I then asked how come no one told us that when we ordered 'Chicago style'. He said they serve their dogs Chicago style. I could tell I wasn’t going to win this argument.

Oh, we both liked the fries, but thought they were under cooked. It might be due to the long lines that night as VI noted above.

D.

dodger wrote:Guess I am in the minority. A friend and I went to G&J's last week and were very disappointed. We ordered our dogs Chicago style. When we opened them we noted no poppy seed bun, no tomato, no dill pickle spear, and we didn’t think there was any celery salt on them.

Upon leaving I stopped by and asked the cashier how come they didn’t have tomatoes and pickle spears. He just said they never did. I then asked how come no one told us that when we ordered 'Chicago style'. He said they serve their dogs Chicago style. I could tell I wasn’t going to win this argument.

Just out of curiosity, are you from Chicago? While the "Chicago Style dog" is more well known with its poppy seed bun, pickles, tomato, celery salt etc...The real original Chicago style is that served at G&Js.

I call them depression dogs and they are becoming harder and harder to find. Luckily G&J' isnt going anywhere.

By far the best hot dog in the great land.

Unfortunately, the fries there always seem undercooked to me. Still good, but with the potential to be even better.

But you can't blame it on the lines. There's always lines. I've never been there when there weren't lines.

Ditto for me on the undercooked fries. I'm not big on hot dogs, so no big loss for me. I've done G&J probably five times or so, and every time, undercooked fries.

i never noticed if the fries were undercooked or not. that might sound weird, but i'm usually done with the dog and fries so fast that i wouldn't have time to contemplate the under or over cookedness of the fries. their dog/fries is that good to me.

A friend and I went to G&J's last week and were very disappointed. We ordered our dogs Chicago style. When we opened them we noted no poppy seed bun, no tomato, no dill pickle spear, and we didn’t think there was any celery salt on them.

Gene & Jude's, "Cutting Corners Since 1946"

MBK wrote:i never noticed if the fries were undercooked or not. that might sound weird, but i'm usually done with the dog and fries so fast that i wouldn't have time to contemplate the under or over cookedness of the fries. their dog/fries is that good to me.

I don't even seperate the fries from the dogs, viewing it as a topping instead of a side.lol I eat it as one big mass of goodness.

seebee wrote:Ditto for me on the undercooked fries. I'm not big on hot dogs, so no big loss for me. I've done G&J probably five times or so, and every time, undercooked fries.

So if you know that they always cook their fries the same way and you don't like them like that, why don't you do what I sometimes do and ask for them crispy? They are usually happy to oblige.

Rene G wrote:

A friend and I went to G&J's last week and were very disappointed. We ordered our dogs Chicago style. When we opened them we noted no poppy seed bun, no tomato, no dill pickle spear, and we didn’t think there was any celery salt on them.

Gene & Jude's, "Cutting Corners Since 1946"

You know what would be interesting (at least for me)? Has anyone ever tried to make a map or otherwise systematically inventory what constitutes an "everything" dog throughout Chicagoland? I wonder how much of this is geographical, as in my neck of the woods, "everything" is generally onions, mustard, relish, pickle spear (usually), sport peppers (optional) on a plain (not poppyseed) bun.

It would be a good project, Binko, but we'd have to exclude chains like Portillo's, right? There are more of them in some neighborhoods than independent, traditional hot dog stands, and I'm worried to what extent their "salad on a bun" approach (cf. Jeff Smith) has influenced smaller chains, though I do still admire their products (more the beef and Italian sausage).

Santander wrote:It would be a good project, Binko, but we'd have to exclude chains like Portillo's, right? There are more of them in some neighborhoods than independent, traditional hot dog stands, and I'm worried to what extent their "salad on a bun" approach (cf. Jeff Smith) has influenced smaller chains, though I do still admire their products (more the beef and Italian sausage).

Yeah, city-wide chains like Portillo's would have to be excluded, not because they make a bad product--their Chicago dogs are pretty decent, in my estimation--but the standardized menu would throw the data off. But, hell, we could collect the data first and figure out how to sort it out later. It might also be interesting to keep track of prices, and whether a hot dog order automatically comes with fries (as it does in many places here.)

Binko wrote:You know what would be interesting (at least for me)? Has anyone ever tried to make a map or otherwise systematically inventory what constitutes an "everything" dog throughout Chicagoland? I wonder how much of this is geographical, as in my neck of the woods, "everything" is generally onions, mustard, relish, pickle spear (usually), sport peppers (optional) on a plain (not poppyseed) bun.

I'd argue that to make any sense of the situation you'd have to consider it historically: tracing back where various styles originated and where and when they migrated. I'd suggest to a very rough approximation the fully dressed style (pickle, tomato, poppy seed bun) parallels Jewish migration in Chicago: around Maxwell Street in the early 20th century, later to Lawndale, then to the northwest side and finally to the north suburbs. There are probably more exceptions than congruities but I find this a useful generalization.

Rene G wrote:I'd argue that to make any sense of the situation you'd have to consider it historically.

Oh, sure, it'll all come down to history/migratory patterns if there are any recognizable patterns in our map. But my interest at this moment is just to see a map, and whether there is any sort of general pattern or not. Your generalizations do reflect my experience through the city, and where I am more likely to find a fully-dressed dog, so I suspect your thesis is correct.

I'll be the jerk and ask. What's with no ketchup on premises at all? Not even for the great fries, which are screaming for some tomatoey goodness to bathe in. I wanted to ask the employees but feared looking like the outsider. I know ketchup on a dog is heresy, but why not for the spuds?

As far as G&J goes, its a great place for me to stop on my way home since i work two blocks away. Though I am a lover of char dawgs or flat griled dawgs over the boiled variety, there are few things as satisfying as a G&J doggie with fries mashed into the bun. And now that they serve Coke, its only gotten better.

DirtyDuckInn wrote:

MBK wrote:i never noticed if the fries were undercooked or not. that might sound weird, but i'm usually done with the dog and fries so fast that i wouldn't have time to contemplate the under or over cookedness of the fries. their dog/fries is that good to me.

I don't even seperate the fries from the dogs, viewing it as a topping instead of a side.lol I eat it as one big mass of goodness.

Ghazi wrote:I'll be the jerk and ask. What's with no ketchup on premises at all? Not even for the great fries, which are screaming for some tomatoey goodness to bathe in. I wanted to ask the employees but feared looking like the outsider. I know ketchup on a dog is heresy, but why not for the spuds?

As far as G&J goes, its a great place for me to stop on my way home since i work two blocks away. Though I am a lover of char dawgs or flat griled dawgs over the boiled variety, there are few things as satisfying as a G&J doggie with fries mashed into the bun. And now that they serve Coke, its only gotten better.

I always order one with everything no relish and one plain. That plain is stuffed with fries and eaten. I cant decide which one I like better so i always get them both.


G&J's tato dog.

stevez wrote:

seebee wrote:Ditto for me on the undercooked fries. I'm not big on hot dogs, so no big loss for me. I've done G&J probably five times or so, and every time, undercooked fries.

So if you know that they always cook their fries the same way and you don't like them like that, why don't you do what I sometimes do and ask for them crispy? They are usually happy to oblige.

Done deal. Thanks for letting me know they are usually happy to oblige.

Da Beef wrote:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Just out of curiosity, are you from Chicago? While the "Chicago Style dog" is more well known with its poppy seed bun, pickles, tomato, celery salt etc...The real original Chicago style is that served at G&Js.

I call them depression dogs and they are becoming harder and harder to find. Luckily G&J' isnt going anywhere.

By far the best hot dog in the great land.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Sorry, i don't know how to do the fancy formatting. Well I wasn’t born here, but I have lived in the area for the past 37 years. My friend who went with me was born here.

I guess I am ignorant of the depression dog. The only ‘Chicago style’ I know is what is on the link that Rene G gave above.

I don’t understand why a depression dog is hard to find. It just seems to be a dog without some toppings. I just was surprised G & J didn’t give its customers the option to dress the dog the way they want.

I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree on whether it is the best in the land. I thought it was very good, but not great.

D.

Da Beef wrote:While the "Chicago Style dog" is more well known with its poppy seed bun, pickles, tomato, celery salt etc...The real original Chicago style is that served at G&Js.

I call them depression dogs and they are becoming harder and harder to find.

You're free to call them whatever you want, of course, but that term might be confusing. For many decades Fluky's has been known for their fully dressed "Depression sandwich—a hot dog with mustard, relish, onion, pickles, pepper, lettuce, tomatoes and french fries."

cito wrote:December 13, 2008--- A day that will live in infamy.....

From the Gene & Jude's Secret Menu