Chicago Reader 5/18/07 "The Art of the Cart"

By Anne Ford Chicago Reader 5/18/07 http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/s ... 7/hotdogs/

Adorable write-up, and equally adorable pix.

That's what you get for living in Wisconsin. I heard they don't fully ripen their cheese, either

I had my last Chicago dog yesterday afternoon @ Portillo's. Twas doused with ketchup, hold the mustard.

Good riddance, what a stupid argument.

TonyC wrote:I had my last Chicago dog yesterday afternoon @ Portillo's. Twas doused with ketchup, hold the mustard.

Good riddance, what a stupid argument.

There's no argument here. Two out of three of our customers use ketchup over mustard. "The customer is always right. Do I get all wacked out about it if someone wants ketchup? No!" Use all you want, as much as you want. You paid for it and it's yours.

chicagostyledog wrote:

TonyC wrote:I had my last Chicago dog yesterday afternoon @ Portillo's. Twas doused with ketchup, hold the mustard.

Good riddance, what a stupid argument.

There's no argument here. Two out of three of our customers use ketchup over mustard. "The customer is always right. Do I get all wacked out about it if someone wants ketchup? No!" Use all you want, as much as you want. You paid for it and it's yours.

But you're in Wisconsin, right?

stevez wrote:

chicagostyledog wrote:

TonyC wrote:I had my last Chicago dog yesterday afternoon @ Portillo's. Twas doused with ketchup, hold the mustard.

Good riddance, what a stupid argument.

There's no argument here. Two out of three of our customers use ketchup over mustard. "The customer is always right. Do I get all wacked out about it if someone wants ketchup? No!" Use all you want, as much as you want. You paid for it and it's yours.

But you're in Wisconsin, right?

Steve, I'm in southeastern Wisconsin (Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee) and the majority of our customers are from Chicago and Milwaukee.

this debate is as dumb as "ketchup or mayo for your fries"

ketchup is a lightning rod for controversy.

I finally had my first chance to stop at Gene & Jude's this weekend, and the no-ketchup thing was just a hassle. I don't mind; I'm happy with mustard and onions, and ketchup, or not. But kids do mind - especially not getting any ketchup to go with the fries. People in line advised me to go next door to swipe ketchup packets from McDonald's, but that seemed just a bit too low-life to me. Fortunately we found a convenient store down the street and I bought a small bottle of ketchup there.

Could also have done without the hot dog and fries being bundled together so that the fries are steamed to a soggy mess by the time you get to a place where you can sit down and unwrap everything and eat ... but I guess that's a topic for a different thread.

The hot dog itself,meanwhile, was no bigger around than my thumb ... so why is this place so great? But I guess that's a topic for a different thread too.

Mike Royko always seems to have it right:

No, I won't condemn anyone for putting ketchup on a hot dog. This is the land of the free. And if someone wants to put ketchup on a hot dog and actually eat the awful thing, that is their right.

It is also their right to put mayo or chocolate syrup or toenail clippings or cat hair on a hot dog.

Sure, it would be disgusting and perverted, and they would be shaming themselves and their loved ones. But under our system of government, it is their right to be barbarians.

chicagostyledog wrote:Steve, I'm in southeastern Wisconsin (Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee) and the majority of our customers are from Chicago and Milwaukee.

People cross the border to do all kinds of crazy things. When I was younger, we used to cross the border because you could drink at 18. What happens in Wisconsin stays in Wisconsin.

Could also have done without the hot dog and fries being bundled together so that the fries are steamed to a soggy mess by the time you get to a place where you can sit down and unwrap everything and eat ... but I guess that's a topic for a different thread.

That's because you wasted vital hot-dog-eating minutes getting ketchup! The bare hint of onion and mustard that the French fries pick up from being next to them is what makes them sublime.

I keep ketchup packages in my glove compartment basically for Gene's and Jude's. That way the kids can have the stuff on theirs. That said, I have a theory about this whole ketchup magillah, which is, in other parts of the country a hot dog tends to be milder, even sweeter, certainly less garlicky, and ketchup is appropriate on it, judge not lest ye be judged, the blander meat needs some saucing up to be fully flavorful. A Chicago dog is a different thing, closer to European sausage traditions and spice profiles, and that's where ketchup is overkill-- and the spartan simplicity of mustard, onion and relish to accent, not sauce but accent, is exactly right. So I don't condemn ketchup on hot dogs, but it's superfluous on a good authentic Chicago dog (as is all that other celery salt tomato pickle peppers stuff).

Me, I put it on the blandish dog at the movie theater, but never anywhere else in Chicagoland.