The best hot dogs in Chicago, chosen by a local who's eaten thousands
The best hot dog in Chicago is a serious question, and Amy Cavanaugh is unusually qualified to answer it. In a new roundup for Condé Nast Traveler, the longtime Chicago resident admits she's eaten hot dogs "in the many thousands," starting with a post-high-school job at Nick's Nest in her Massachusetts hometown and continuing through daily lunches in the city that made the dog a local institution.
Her list is a working map for any traveler, starting with the one thing you need to know before you order. A proper Chicago dog means an all-beef link with a natural casing that snaps, in a steamed poppyseed bun, dressed with mustard, chopped onions, neon green relish, tomatoes, pickle spears, sport peppers and celery salt. And never, ever ketchup. Ask for yours "dragged through the garden" and you signal you want everything on it, the insider way.
Among her picks, Fixin' Franks is the most delightfully Chicago of the lot: a family-owned stand tucked inside Home Depot stores, serving a locally sourced menu next to the exit. Byron's Hot Dogs, the 51-year-old stand that once catered the White House during the Obama administration, takes a salad-first twist, piling lettuce, green peppers and cucumber on top of the standard dressing.
The classics and the splurge
Cavanaugh sends first-time visitors to Portillo's, the local chain Dick Portillo founded in 1963, for solid versions of the dog, Italian beef and a Maxwell Street Polish - plus a chocolate cake shake made from a whole slice of cake blitzed into the milkshake. For a bargain, she points to Redhot Ranch's Depression-style links, served with just mustard, onion, relish and sport peppers plus a pile of fries, a full meal that tops out at $5.20.
If you want the city's other beloved sausages instead, Jim's Original is her pick for the Maxwell Street Polish and the bone-in pork chop sandwich, both served with a mountain of grilled onions. Whether you order a dog or a Polish, the rule holds: skip the ketchup, and you'll taste exactly what Chicago has been perfecting for decades.
