Hot Dog!
Cinners4757 N. Talman | 773-654-1624
Location, location, location. This little organic hot dog and ice cream shop across from Welles Park may not seem like much, but with its kid-friendly menu of sausages and well-pedigreed sweets, summer traffic seems all but guaranteed. The dogs themselves come in pork, two different combos of chicken and turkey (one with red pepper and jalapeño, the other spinach and feta), and classic nitrite-free beef; there’s also a vegan version. While they’re not char-grilled, they’ve got a clean, snappy flavor and are refreshingly free of grease. Cookies and pastries are parbaked by Sweet Dreams Organic Bakery in Glenview and finished on-site; the terrific ice cream’s from Traders Point Creamery in Zionsville, Indiana. Owner Andrew Baker carries through on his commitment to sustainability with furnishings as green as they come, all the way down to the biodegradable cornstarch takeout containers. —Martha Bayne
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Squaring off against feuding family members at neighboring Jim’s Original, Express Grill (with the word original prominently plastered all over their very similar building) serves up a somewhat smaller lineup of items starring the smoked Polish sausage ($3.25) and its almost indistinguishable though slightly less garlicky twin, the beef sausage ($3.35). Vienna dogs are 75 percent bull meat, and ground-up is really the only way this tough though flavorful flesh can be consumed; here, relish is added to the standard condiment combo of mustard and onions, making for one sweet wiener. Any sandwich order gets you a “free” bag of fries, leaving you enough spare coin to purchase some bootleg CDs or tube socks from the sidewalk entrepreneurs. —David Hammond
$American | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 2, Sunday-Thursday till 1| Cash only
Hot Doug’s3324 N. California | 773-279-9550
When I left Andersonville, the place I missed the most was Huey’s. They don’t do anything fancy—dogs, char burgers, chili-cheese fries, chicken sandwiches, and a couple of salads—but if you stumble in after a long, hard, debauched Friday night, it’s like you’re dining in the halls of Valhalla. The dogs and the Polishes have a pleasing snap, the burgers are juicy and scored with char, the thick fries cooked perfectly. Even the fountain Coca-Cola is somehow sweeter and zestier than what you find elsewhere. Walking out clear-eyed and sober, hangover conquered at last, you realize that you’ve had one of your best lunches in weeks. Best of all, in the summertime you can sit outside and sip on one of Huey’s luscious milk shakes. —Chip Dudley
