The Spoon

A Dog, A Beef & A Dive

We caught wind of a joint in Coeur d’ Alene that was rumored to have real Chicago style hot dogs. For those of you who don’t know, a Chicago dog is a set above most others for a couple of reasons. Primarily I think that the number of Germans that settled on the west side of Lake Michigan, from South Bend, IN up past Green Bay, WI, make the population pretty selective about their sausages. I’ll admit up front that I’m not all that familiar with street dogs from other major cites and perhaps I’m more than a bit provincial when I talk about Chicago dogs. But the difference I usually find in a Chicago dog is that they are all beef dogs in a natural casing. So the drek one finds at the grocery stores out west doesn’t even come close.

By far the biggest selling dogs in the greater Chicago area are the Vienna Beef Jumbo Franks. The casing gives the hot dog a distinctive “snap” when you bite into it. An even better dog, but less available due to it’s expense, is the David Berg Premium Beef Frank. This is the hot dog that is exclusively sold at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox.

The Real Deal

There is art in building a Chicago dog as well. The typical dog includes:

1. Yellow mustard
2. Bright green relish
3. Fresh chopped onion
4. Two tomato wedges
5. Kosher pickle spear
6. Two sport peppers – which I can’t find in stores here.
7. A dash of celery salt

Notice the poppy seed bun – a must.

It’s almost an act of heresy to put catsup on a hot dog in Chicago. And I’ll admit, dressed this way I think it’s better without it.

Anyway, we found our way to the joint mentioned above, named Giuseppe’s, now located about a mile north of I-90 on American Way in C d’A serving out of a mobile kitchen. As advertised they served up a true Chicago style dog. The rub? $3.75 for a fricken’ hot dog. But what got my attention was the fact that they also had Italian beef sandwiches.

Those who have read davebudge.com for a while know my penchant for an Italian beef sandwich. In fact, since I can’t get the stuff here in Montana I had to discover how to make the things myself and, after a couple hundred pounds of beef, I have the meat part down. The problem is that I can’t get the right bread here. The vast majority of beef stands use Gonnella Bread Company sub rolls. There is something about the crust that holds up to the soaking of spiced beef juice that I can’t seem to get here. But lo and behold, Giuseppe’s served a beef on Gonnella bread.

I talked a while with the owner and found out that he gets both his beef products and bread from a distributor out of Portland. The bread comes par baked frozen and he has to bake it off for five minutes before serving. I couldn’t resist of course and ordered me up a beef – for which I had to wait 5 minutes while he baked the bread. And he had all the accoutrements that would indicate a great sandwich – sweep green peppers, a good hot giardiniera, and sport peppers. When I got the sandwich, however, the bread was dead on but the beef was not what I was expecting.

Most good beef stands sell a product produced by Scala Packing Company or they make the roast the beef themselves. Compared to the Vienna beef product most other Italian beef is much spicier. Thus, I have to give Giuseppe’s a mediocre review. I asked him why he didn’t get Scala beef and he told me that Scala was not USDA inspected for inter-state shipping. I don’t think that’s right and it’s a shame that I spent $6 bucks on a sandwich that didn’t make the grade because, I think, the guy didn’t want to deal with another vendor. But maybe I’m wrong

The good news was that he did have that great olive oil based giardiniera that Vienna does a good job making. It made the sandwich at least edible.

But I tell ya, if you’re looking for a really great hot dog and you’re near Coeur d’Alene, head up American Way about 2 to 3 miles north of I-90. I don’t have an exact address but the trailer is painted red and yellow, is covered with the Vienna logo and parked at a Cenex station on the west side of the street. They may be a bit spendy, but they are definitely the real deal and the eating makes the price go down pretty well too.

Posted in Beef, Fast Food, Italian | 2 Comments »