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Steven A. McCarter Jr.

@snackattacksteve

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Owner- @urbanbeetschicago
Head Chef/Kitchen Manager- @smalltowncoffeeco
South Side of Chicago.

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If you asked me what my local hot dog spot was growing up, I’d give you two answers. One is just over the border in Indiana (it’s the only non Chicago exception on the list) a stones throw from where I grew up on the southeast side of Chicago. The other is Skyway Doghouse. 9 minutes north of home, and stop number 8 on the Big Dawg Summer 2026 Tour.

Opened and unchanged since 1969, Skyway has it all! Vienna Beef Hall of Fame status, a drive through so small your SUV will probably get stuck, and a shrine to all of the cars that ran into the building due to the very busy, somewhat chaotic, intersection it sits on.

The dog is as old school as it gets. It had been quite a while since I’ve had skyway and I had to text @GloriaHafer for some clarifications. I had completely forgotten that they put cucumber on their dogs. It’s a practice that many places use to do but would probably deny ever happened. Although it’s not my favorite topping on a Chicago dog, I can’t deny its cultural relevance. Skyway holds that tradition strong and pulls that dog through an additional vegetable patch when they drag it through the garden.

$5.99 with fries. A pretty great price.

When you stop by, I need you to make an important detour after getting your hot dog. Head west down 95th for about 60 seconds, and stop once you cross the bridge. Walk into Calumet Fisheries, get the smoked shrimp and fried smelt, eat them on the bridge that the Blues Brothers jumped, throw the shrimp tails in the river, and send me flowers for the amazing suggestion I just gave you. taken in Skyway Doghouse by @snackattacksteve

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19 days ago

Happy 2nd anniversary to my favorite, @kyrapan_ . There’s nobody else I’d rather be eating raw shrimp and bubbly red stuff with. I love you.❤️ by @snackattacksteve

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a month ago

Honorable mention hot dog added to the Big Dawg Summer 2026 Tour.

Any dog at Sox Park is a Chicago Dog!

$8.00 but the mustard was free.

Sox Win! taken in White Sox Stadium Chicago by @snackattacksteve

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a month ago

Stop number 7 on The Big Dawg Summer 2026 Tour is a real one.

The Chicago staple. Travel destination. A place where the timid are afraid to enter. Where a chocolate shake isn’t a chocolate shake but is a Chocolate 👀 Shake 👀. An enigma wrapped in an enigma. A place that could easily be renamed “If you know, you know………hotdogs”.

This is The Wieners Circle.

Just like Nicole Kidman goes to the movies for Magic….
We come to this place to get roasted.
Upon walking in, my partner and I were immediately called “BoysTown’s Finest” (derogatorily). Thats why you go, though. You come for the poignant slurs and stay for the char dogs.

That’s right. I said CHAR DOGS. These babies are few and far between and I love them. Cooked on a griddle and not steamed. It takes that same Vienna dog we know and love and changes it completely. Crispy, almost chewy (not derogatorily), slightly salty, and split at both ends because it couldn’t handle how good it was. Drag it through the garden and you got one hell of dawg.

$7.00 on its own. All sides are separate, but get the cheese fries. Let’s talk about these for a second, because it takes some input and you’re gonna be pissed later on if you don’t already know. The Wieners Circle makes some of the best cheese fries in Chicago, and by “makes” I mean actually makes the sauce. If you’re taking your food to go (why?), do not, I repeat DO NOT order the cheese fries. When those things come out of that window (followed by an F bomb because you’re taking too long to grab them), they are as hot as lava and you better start eating them on the way to your seat. Without exaggeration, you have 4 minutes TOPS before that sauce turns back into the brick it started as. Kinda like Cinderellas carriage, and dress, and horse…….. I’m just realizing how messed up that story is…….. but I digress. With this heat, maybe 5 minutes. Sit outside.

The Wieners Circle really is a Chicago classic everyone should experience.

Honorable mention roasts: My partner @kyrapan_ ordered a char polish with nothing but celery salt (don’t ask me). Immediately from behind the counter we hear “what kinda salty ass shit is that? That’s nasty. You’re gonna eat that?” taken in The Wiener's Circle by @snackattacksteve

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a month ago

Stop number six on the Big Dawg Summer 2026 Tour is The Home Depot a.k.a. Fixin Franks! (Didn’t know they had a name until now)

With its convenience and the surrounding scent of lumber and top soil, I am naming this dog the best in Chicago. Hands down. There’s a weird sense of nostalgia that looms in that vestibule when first walking in that entices you to make your shopping trip quick so you can return and grab a dog on your way out. I say weird because I come from a Menards family and Home Depot was always just a secondary option, so my nostalgic ties don’t go too far back.

As far as the dog itself, it’s always perfect. I usually go for one Chicago dog with everything and one Maxwell street style which is caramelized onions, yellow mustard and sport peppers (also known as a southside dog. I’ll talk more about this in a later post). In this instance there was no poppy seed bun but there usually is, so I’m not holding it against them. I found it surprising that Fixin Franks (Dirty Dogz in St. Louis) doesn’t use Vienna dogs. They have their own proprietary product that is so close to the classic Chicago choice that I couldn’t tell the difference and didn’t know there was one until looking it up.

$8.99 with a bag of chips and a can of pop. A steal compared to what I paid for the paving stones and landscaping materials I was there to buy.😮‍💨

Home Depot has licensed the vestibule space to local/ family-run vendors since 1998, but they didn’t start selling hot dogs until 2000. For the first two years vendors offered coffee and pastries as well as al fresco seating under the awning just outside the doors. Let’s all be thankful that didn’t last.

I dove into this adventure with no intent to rank the establishments, and I’m not. Some places are better than others. Many of them can come off damn near identical. Almost all of them are a great place to eat. But I have strong feelings about this one. When out-of-towners ask me where to get a good hotdog/ classic Chicago food, the first two places out of my mouth are Jim’s off the expressway and Home Depot. Every time. taken in The Home Depot by @snackattacksteve

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2 months ago

Ok. I have something to say. Hand cut fries are far from the best and a Chicago dog can’t exist without a poppyseed bun……………Unless you’re Gene’s and Jude’s.

With that being said…..

Stop number five on the Big Dawg 2026 Tour is Gene’s and Jude’s!

No poppyseed bun. No NEON relish. No tomato. Just mustard/relish/onion/sport pepper. But like Super Dawg, they’ve been doing it this way long enough to call it Chicago style. Since 1946 to be exact. They’re the first to offer a double dog as well. No, not a two sandwich special. But instead, two hotdogs in a single bun. The structural integrity of the bun craps out after the first few bites and you have to double hand it which makes you feel like Joey Chestnut on the Fourth of July. I left covered in so much mustard I thought I was jaundiced but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Let’s get back to these hand cut French fries. They’re still soggy, overly potato-y, the salt falls right off and they get cold really fast just as I stated in my last fry based diatribe. But at Gene’s and Jude’s I’m ok with that for no other reason except it’s just what they do there. That lump of soggy fried potato strips on top of my double dog is exactly what I want when I’m there, just because I’m there.

“Tradition for the sake of tradition is a precursor to the fall of society, unless it’s referring to hotdogs.” -Me

$5.75 for a double dog with fries. Depression era prices at this point.

Depending on who you ask (and many will agree), Gene’s and Jude’s is the best Chicago’s got. I’m here to say it’s absolutely ONE OF the best. Small menu, streamlined process, landmark status and just a good product all together. It’s no wonder they’ve been doing so well for the last 80 years.

And yes. I know it’s technically in River Grove and not Chicago. But nobody cares about your specifics. One of my stops is in Indiana and you can’t say a damn thing about it. taken in Chicago's Gene & Jude's Hot Dogs Since 1946 by @snackattacksteve

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2 months ago

Stop number four on the Big Dawg Summer 2026 Tour is Donald’s Famous Hot Dogs in Pilsen.

This spot was a request from my cousin @mlnorris327 , who lived right around the corner from Donald’s and would go often with her siblings and my grandma.

As far as Chicago dogs go, these were the most uniform I’ve ever seen. They would have made a perfect picture if the buns were poppyseed and not plain (I took off non existent points for that one). Overall flavor was ok. Nothing too special. Tomatoes a bit grainy, peppers kind of hard. Nothing the kitchen could control, just kind of the way it is.

2 dogs with fries- $10.79. Pretty good deal.

We also got a Pork chop sandwich and a tamale boat. Classics that everyone should know about! This trip was actually last Wednesday the 15th which was National Hot Dog Day. I didn’t realize what day it was until that morning while I was at work. Luckily @kyrapan_ and I had planned a trip to Textile Discount Outlet later that day which happens to be right around the corner from Donald’s (and literally right across the street from the apartment where my grandma and cousins lived back in the day).

I should also mention that Donald’s is also in the Hot Dog Hall of fame. They’ve been serving Pilsen since 1994 taken in Donald's Famous Hot Dogs by @snackattacksteve

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2 months ago

Here’s some hotdog filler at @cube_cos place in the south loop. Not a Chicago dog. But a dog in Chicago nonetheless.

Brioche bun, kimchi base, Trader Joe’s Magnifisauce topping. The list returns soon. Stay tuned! taken in Chicago Loop by @snackattacksteve

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3 months ago

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3 months ago

Stop number two for the Big Dawg Summer 2026 is Superdawg Drive-In! 6363 N. Milwaukee.
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This spot swaps out the commonly recognized red tomato on its Chicago dog for a pickled green tomato. Purists will tell you that doesn’t count as a Chicago dog, but I’d argue against that statement. Superdawg has been making their green pickled tomato topped Chicago dogs the same way since 1948, right around the time the “dragged through the garden” Chicago dog had become popular. Although their variation isn’t as available, it’s been around just as long. (This argument will come up again when the Maxwell Street dogs/ polish are included because even though they’re not dragged through the garden, they are still a CHICAGO STYLE hot dog). But I digress (reluctantly 🙄).
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This dog was delicious. Aside from the tomato, the dog itself is jumbo sized and slightly spicy. Recognizably different from a classic Vienna. They go as far as letting you know that it’s not a red hot, not a frankfurter, not a wiener…… it’s a superdawg. Ordered from a speaker in your parking spot and delivered by a car hop in its classic decorated box (to hold the heat in).
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$9.50 and comes with fries. Currently the norm.
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My grandfather brought me here for the first time as a kid. I remember being so excited to see the giant Superdawg statues on the roof that I had heard about on the news. All lit up, surrounded by neon including the flashing winking eyes. But when we pulled up, it happened to be the rare occasion the mascots were taken down for maintenance. I don’t remember much about the day after that because i was PISSED.
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If you’re ever curious about who started the trope about ketchup being the inexcusable hot dog condiment. Look no further.
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A lot of you have been asking to join me on this adventure. Up until this point my stops have been completely random and opportunistic. But I’m going to try and map out my next few dog stops with dates and times so those that are interested can join me. Chicago dogs are better shared with friends! taken in Superdawg by @snackattacksteve

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3 months ago

I’m eating a Chicago dog a week, every week, for the entire summer, at the finest establishments this beautiful city has to offer (one might be in whiting Indiana right on the border. Don’t @ me). It’s a project I’m affectionately referring to as Big Dawg Summer 2026. Swipe to see the full list (in no particular order).
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First stop is the hot dog hut right outside the Field Museum. It might have a name, it might not. But either way I’m calling it “the hotdog place right outside the Field Museum”. This dog is the industry standard. No more, no less than what a great Chicago dog is suppose to be. $11 with a bag of chips and a pop is a little up there, but expected for the location. Ate this thing in 4 bites because the bus was coming and I needed a free hand to tap my pass.
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We’re in week one of thirteen official weeks of the summer season. With 16 locations on my list and possibly more to add, I might need to do a handful of double dawg weeks. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned.
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Shout out to @fieldmuseum for being my favorite place in the city. I’ve been a member for many years and would give my big toe before giving it up! taken in Field Museum by @snackattacksteve

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3 months ago

taken in Portage Park by @snackattacksteve

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4 months ago