Chicago knows how to do hot dogs. Hot dogs (wieners) are so Chicago, that we have a unique style for hot dogs. It’s called the Chicago Style Hot Dog and they are delicious…. when prepared the right way! Here’s an illustration of how the Chicago Style Hot Dog is prepared.

The Contenders…

I have had Chicago Style Hot Dogs from the Vienna Beef Café (38th & Morgan) and Portillo’s (Taylor & Canal and Ontario Street). Both restaurants follow the illustrated rules. Here are the photos….

The Winner Is….

Vienna Beef Café!!! Here’s why…

• There’s a lot of juicy stuff on the sandwich, so I need to eat it as soon as possible. Vienna Beef Café makes the sandwich right there and I’m on my way home in a few minutes to enjoy it. No time wasted.
• Portillo’s has a change in their drive-thru service with runners eliminated. Yesterday it took close to 30 minutes to get my order, which is too long. By the time I got home my sandwich was too soggy. They have a lot of tweaking to do to fix this failed approach. Just a couple of runners needed to expedited simple orders.
• There is no drive-thru at Vienna Beef Café, so the issue of a long wait after order placed does not happen.
• Folks may want to skip Portillo’s drive-thru and just place order inside.

I am a fair person. I am not quite ready to give up on Portillo’s. I just will not use the drive-thru at any of their franchises. This summer, I purchased my Chicago Style Hot Dogs mainly at the Vienna Beef Café and never had a single problem.

Competition is good!

Please remember… NO KETCHUP ON HOT DOGS…. EVER!!!!