View allAll Photos Tagged chilidogs
In honor of the opening day/night of Baseball season, dinner at the Foster household is Chili Dogs. Homemade bean-free chili, Ball Park All-Beef Hot Dogs with cheese and onions. I have mine with mustard and ketchup. I'll be regretting this tomorrow.
Ben's Chili Bowl, at 1213 U Street, has been an integral part of the U Street Corridor since it was founded in 1958 by husband and wife team Ben and Virginia Ali. The restaurant is located in the former Minnehaha, Washington's first silent movie house, which was established in 1911. Ben's was frequented by both police and protesters during the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots, and is regularly visited by celebrities, most famously Bill Cosby. Then-President-elect, Barack Obama, stopped into Ben's for lunch when he first arrived in his new hometown. Scenes from the films The Pelican Brief and State of Play were filmed in the restaurant.
Ben's signature dish is the Original Chili Half-Smoke, a favorite of Cosby's since the early 1960's. The 1/4 pound half-pork, half-beef half-smoke, a sausage similar to the hot dog, but larger, spicier and with more coarsely ground meat, is grilled, served on a warm steamed bun and topped with mustard, onions and a spicy homemade beef chili con carne. The etymology of "half-smoke" is debated, as the sausage is not always smoked. It may instead refer to the practice of cutting the sausage in half when grilling, or that many half-smokes are 50/50 beef and pork. The "original" half smoke is considered to be the sausage distributed by D.C.'s Briggs and Co. meatpackers, originating in around 1950, though Raymond Briggs started selling his half-smokes circa 1930
The greater U Street Historic District, roughly bounded by New Hampshire Avenue, Florida Avenue, 6th Street, R Street and 16th Street, in the Shaw neighborhood of northwestern Washington DC, is largely a Victorian-era neighborhood, made up of row houses constructed in response to the city's high demand for housing following the Civil War and the growth of the federal government in the late 19th century. The area was predominately white and middle class until 1900, but as Washington became progressively more segregated, the U Street Corridor emerged as the city's most important concentration of businesses and entertainment facilities owned and operated by blacks, becoming known as "Black Broadway" in its cultural heyday. The late 1960's saw the neighborhood begin a fall into decline, marred by violence and drug tacking, that would last well into the revitalization and gentrification of the 1990's.
Greater U Street Historic District National Register #98001557 (1998)
Ben's Chili Bowl was featured on the Travel Channel show, Man Vs. Food (Episode 20)
World famous Pink's Hot Dogs famed for their chile dogs and numerous other tasty hot dog combos. Numerous celebrities have been going here for 70+ years. On the corner of La Brea and just off the famed street Melrose
I went to S'Links yesterday, thinking I'd try one of their burgers, but instead opted for a chilidog. My mistake.
The West Virginia Slaw Dog is their regular wiener, topped with the house chili and coleslaw, along with mustard, sweet onions, and pimento cheese. All of is in set into the new, slimmer Monrovia Bakery bun.
The main problem is that it's so overstuffed. For many people I suspect this is a feature, but in practice is means that the whole thing falls apart once it's picked up. And after a couple of bites, the bun, soaked with the chili, begins to disintegrate.
The flavors are okay, but I found the spicy heat of the chili overpowered everything else. Again, your mileage may vary when it comes to the amount heat, but for me it was too much. The slaw was nice and crunchy, but rather bland and unable to cut through the chili. After a few bites, I ended up just setting the thing down and eating it with a fork. I hate eating a hot dog with a fork.
So, while not bad, I doubt I'll try it again, at least for a while. But if a messy, spicy hot dog which falls apart in your hands sounds good, then this in the one for you. Hot dog, about $6.
When choosing my third dog from the new Umami Burger in Toluca Lake, I decided to go with a classic. Their chili dog starts with a mustard sauce smeared inside one of Umami's custom hot dog buns, then beer cheddar, house chili, and minced fresh onions go atop the all-beef hot dog. And it is all about that frank, which is the star of the show. Dense and full of flavor, Umami has these dogs made to spec, and it's probably the best hot dog frank I've tasted. All the rest of the ingredients, in this and all the other Umami hot dogs I've had so far, are in service to that central player, the dog itself.
The chili too is pretty excellent, very meaty and not overpowering with its spices. Yet for a chili dog, this was a little too refined, and if I had a wish it's that there was more of the actual chili. The minced onions provide nice crunch and freshness, with the cheese and mustard sauce rounding things out. My only real complaint is the bun was either stale or, more likely, under-toasted. It was rather dry around the edges, as if it had been sitting on a shelf for a few hours. A fair amount of it was left on the plate.
The sweet potato fries were flavorful, but a little disappointing. I like a fry which is big and firm enough to be eaten one-by-one. These I had to eat by the batch, as they were mainly small pieces and a bit too limp. That said, the house-made ketchup was excellent, as always, and the garlic aioli went well with the fries. All told, a good meal, though next time I'll probably choose a different side dish.
Hot dog and fries, about $10.
Vendor at Macomb Heritage Days. It makes me hungry just to look at this!
Press "L" for a larger view.
Cupid's Hot Dogs is another Los Angeles institution. Yet I don't remember the last time I had eaten there. But when I drove by one of their locations the other day, and hungry for lunch, I decided it was a good time to reacquaint myself.
This dog is simple. It's a frank in a bun, with optional toppings of onions, mustard, and chili. I took all three. The frank itself it probably the best hot dog I've had in a long time. Maybe a bit small, but that's not bad. It had an excellent snap and nice consistency. The chili was fine for what it was and, unsurprisingly, overpowered the flavor of the dog. But the sharpness of yellow mustard and fresh onions did cut through and offered a good contrast. The bun is very soft and had pretty much disintegrated by the time I was finished. The fries were edible, but too soft. I suspect they were only fried once since there was no bite at all. Fine, but meh.
This ain't gourmet. And it's not supposed to be. It's a good, cheap hot dog, which you get fast and eat fast. Just as it should be. Dog and fries, about $5.
Larry's is a great little hot dog stand in Burbank CA. that serves up some awesome chili dogs since 1953
One thing that sets apart the best hot dogs is how carefully they are constructed. This is especially true when the volume of the ingredients is substantial. And that's where Tommy's chili dog fails.
It's a mess, and not just because it's served open-faced. First, look at the size of the bun compared to everything else. There's no way it's big enough to contain anything beyond the frank. So instead of a chili dog, it ends up being a chili coated dog with a big puddle of chili on the plate to be mopped up later. And what in the hell am I supposed to do with that huge tomato slice and those pickles? It's as if the person who put this together thought it was fine to just plop down each item on their 6-ingredient checklist, one on top of the other, without regards to how it's actually supposed to be eaten. So indeed, I treated it as what it was, and open-faced sandwich, and dug into it with a knife and fork.
First, the chili flavor smothered everything. But as a person who grew up eating at Tommy's, that was expected. The Cantella's beef frank is dense and chewy with little discernible snap, but good flavor. The tomato was a bit soft, leaving me chewing a long thin string of tomato peel. None of it was bad, but none of it was great. In the end I left half of the grease-soaked bun and a couple pickle slices behind on the plate. It was an okay hot dog, as long as you like Tommy's chili, but nothing I plan on ordering again. A bigger bun and more care in its assembly might have changed that. Chili dog, about $2.50.
Ben's Chili Bowl, at 1213 U Street, has been an integral part of the U Street Corridor since it was founded in 1958 by husband and wife team Ben and Virginia Ali. The restaurant is located in the former Minnehaha, Washington's first silent movie house, which was established in 1911. Ben's was frequented by both police and protesters during the 1968 Washington, D.C. riots, and is regularly visited by celebrities, most famously Bill Cosby. Then-President-elect, Barack Obama, stopped into Ben's for lunch when he first arrived in his new hometown. Scenes from the films The Pelican Brief and State of Play were filmed in the restaurant.
Ben's signature dish is the Original Chili Half-Smoke, a favorite of Cosby's since the early 1960's. The 1/4 pound half-pork, half-beef half-smoke, a sausage similar to the hot dog, but larger, spicier and with more coarsely ground meat, is grilled, served on a warm steamed bun and topped with mustard, onions and a spicy homemade beef chili con carne. The etymology of "half-smoke" is debated, as the sausage is not always smoked. It may instead refer to the practice of cutting the sausage in half when grilling, or that many half-smokes are 50/50 beef and pork. The "original" half smoke is considered to be the sausage distributed by D.C.'s Briggs and Co. meatpackers, originating in around 1950, though Raymond Briggs started selling his half-smokes circa 1930
The greater U Street Historic District, roughly bounded by New Hampshire Avenue, Florida Avenue, 6th Street, R Street and 16th Street, in the Shaw neighborhood of northwestern Washington DC, is largely a Victorian-era neighborhood, made up of row houses constructed in response to the city's high demand for housing following the Civil War and the growth of the federal government in the late 19th century. The area was predominately white and middle class until 1900, but as Washington became progressively more segregated, the U Street Corridor emerged as the city's most important concentration of businesses and entertainment facilities owned and operated by blacks, becoming known as "Black Broadway" in its cultural heyday. The late 1960's saw the neighborhood begin a fall into decline, marred by violence and drug tacking, that would last well into the revitalization and gentrification of the 1990's.
Greater U Street Historic District National Register #98001557 (1998)
Ben's Chili Bowl was featured on the Travel Channel show, Man Vs. Food (Episode 20)
We are careful to suck them only. We neither bite nor chew.
Ah the ceaselessly smiling face of our foster dad in the sky, looming godlike and watchful forever.
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In Fort Wayne, Indiana, on November 11th, 2018, "Zesto Ice Cream" at the northeast corner of West Creighton Avenue and Broadway. The building is said to have been erected in 1950. The restaurant sells frozen desserts and sandwiches including hot dogs.
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Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names terms:
• Allen (county) (1002143)
• Fort Wayne (7013933)
Art & Architecture Thesaurus terms:
• billboards (site elements) (300055079)
• blue (color) (300129361)
• fast food restaurants (300005191)
• ice cream parlors (300005194)
• logos (300028715)
• stripes (300010230)
• white (color) (300129784)
Wikidata items:
• 11 November 2018 (Q45921752)
• 1950s architecture (Q7160137)
• Buildings and structures completed in 1950 (Q10089987)
• foster parent (Q2427941)
• Northern Indiana (Q7058433)
• November 11 (Q2987)
• November 2018 (Q31179571)
• streetcorner (Q17106091)
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
• Business names (sh85018315)
• Small business (sh85123568)
Three Chili Dogs
Assembled at home, for National Chili Dog Day
Honest Dogs from Fork in the Road, placed into grilled New England-style hot dog buns, overfilled with with store-bought chili, diced white onion, and extra-sharp cheddar cheese.
www.forkintheroad.com/eat-savor-share/honest-dogs-with-pa...
And,
Built in 1956 and designed by architect Marcel Dumas this Hamburger/Chili Dog stand is a wonderful example of some real zoomy fifties architecture along with having great food
Places like this are a rare find anymore and thanks to the local Chatsworth area residents and LA city councilman Hal Bernson........... The Munch Box is now listed as a historic-cultural landmark
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It's a Hotdog eat Chilidog world in which we live, and the Steaks are high. Conflicting reports from so called Egg-sperts who are seemingly peeled out from whichever dark recess they Current Bun inhabit, and Del Taco you all sorts of lies to to warn you of the perils of this weeks harmful additives and foods, to keep a Rib-Eye out for! I myself put little faith in the useless bunch of Dairy Queen's, Fuddruckers all of them! Make my Pizza Express to go, I get a Hardee's just thinking about a twelve inch meat feast, ready to Pret A Manger. Call up a Little Chef to prepare a fresh Spud U like, me and my Chick-Fil-A will be out on the town tonight, so Cluck-U-Chicken.
What in the Dunkin 'Donuts do these Egg-sperts know anyhow? Arby's the judge of what's nutritionally balanced and what's not. If I wanted to Monster Munch on Lettuce leaves and Carrot Juice, I'd have pointy ears and a furry butt! Nu Way Weiners! How dare they Taco Bell me what to eat and not to spend my hard earned Starbucks on. Yo Sushi my ass, they can kiss my Red Burrito 'cos it's all Hogi Yogi to me anyhow.
When the Corn Chips are down, just Chilli out my friends, tickle those Prime Ribs with a little of what you fancy, loosen your pant belts a Nacho, and simply indulge. Checkers out the variety that's available to you. Let's not Chocolate Fudge the outcome or Burger King around, any fool can clearly KFC that these idiots have no clue what they are talking about, and our bodies constantly need fuel, and that is no Coke. Diets be damned, Get those Foot longs down the Subway , do not give a flying Timmy Hortons, my little Krispy Kreme's what the reports tell you, do not stew on facts and figures, don't be a Wimpy, you know you want to 'go biggie' , you great big sex god, love your lumps and bumps and forget the fact that your cholesterol is through the roof, your fat intake sky high and coasting down the highway of fatality. Old McDonald's certainly had his farm and you want to eat every damn animal that ever set foot in it before you expire.
There's no use crying over spilled Milkshake, fast food does not Costa the earth these days, so tuck in, eat, enjoy and screw the consequences. Big is beautiful, life is short, pass the Gateaux and cork it Big Boy. Burger King me, I'm flane grilled starving now! Ah, that'll hit the White Spot.
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Rewritten May 22nd 2011 from a piece originally penned on December 21st 2009.
Photograph taken inside the Stratosphere Tower on Las Vegas Boulevard, in Las Vegas, USA on September 23rd 2009
NIKON D300 48mm 1/30s f/4.8 iso200
Nikkor AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IF. UV filter