For your Chicago dog: 941-497-1611

In Depression-era Chicago, the poor and hungry heard rumors of hot dog vendors selling all beef dogs with a salad on top. Lined up and down Maxwell Street, the vendors peddled their franks for a nickel and, with the help of the Austro-Hungarian founders of Vienna Beef, helped codify and popularize what’s known today as the Chicago-style hot dog. A pure Chicago-style dog comes in a poppy seed bun and is topped with: yellow mustard, chopped white onions, cartoonishly green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, pickled sport peppers and a dash of celery salt. Never, under any circumstances, should ketchup be added to the dog. In fact, at Tony’s Chicago Beef Company in Gulf Gate, a bottle of ketchup is hard to find. A few are scattered here and there around the diner like booby traps, daring the unwitting novice out of hiding to be marked forever by Vienna Beef spies. All jokes aside, the dogs served out of Tony’s are rich, savory and a messy good time. The mix of tang and salt and textures and temperatures are seldom seen in traditional American street foods, and at $4.67—including fries!—you’d be hard pressed to find a more satisfying meal that’s been dragged through the garden. And try the fire dog, which comes with giardiniera and adds a layer of kick.

For your Chicago dog: 941-497-1611

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