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FTFY. As someone who had friends in the first category in Pilsen and then on Milwaukee in Logan Square, I got firsthand views of what we unintentionally did!

I mean, nobody intentionally ruins the cool place they live in.

Over time your income and tastes change, maybe you buy property and then have kids, form hard opinions on cold-pressed juice and where you should be buying your produce and steadily you've forgotten all of the things you were drawn to in your early adulthood that brought you to what is now your neighborhood, which is fine because they're mostly gone now and what little remains looks more like blight to you than charm or character.

Hey, maybe we should stick to talking about hot dogs?
 
I mean, nobody intentionally ruins the cool place they live in.

Over time your income and tastes change, maybe you buy property and then have kids, form hard opinions on cold-pressed juice and where you should be buying your produce and steadily you've forgotten all of the things you were drawn to in your early adulthood that brought you to what is now your neighborhood, which is fine because they're mostly gone now and what little remains looks more like blight to you than charm or character.

Hey, maybe we should stick to talking about hot dogs?
No one intentionally ruins hot dogs either.
 
So does anyone want to self-promote their hot dog cart? This conversation hasn’t quite gone full circle yet.

After middlebrow dropped them juicy pics of Icelandic dogs I've been thinking about whether or not people would buy those here, or if Chicagoans would accept such a dog. But then I realized that, for all the hand-wringing about the "right way" things should be made, we're ultimately food pluralists.

If a Quad Cities-style pizza joint can thrive, why not an Icelandic doggery?
 
After middlebrow dropped them juicy pics of Icelandic dogs I've been thinking about whether or not people would buy those here, or if Chicagoans would accept such a dog. But then I realized that, for all the hand-wringing about the "right way" things should be made, we're ultimately food pluralists.

If a Quad Cities-style pizza joint can thrive, why not an Icelandic doggery?
That’s it, the brew pubs doin Icelandic dogs and not Great Lake/beddia rip off pizza.
 
After middlebrow dropped them juicy pics of Icelandic dogs I've been thinking about whether or not people would buy those here, or if Chicagoans would accept such a dog. But then I realized that, for all the hand-wringing about the "right way" things should be made, we're ultimately food pluralists.

If a Quad Cities-style pizza joint can thrive, why not an Icelandic doggery?
Leo’s Coney island failed after a year.
 
Leo’s Coney island failed after a year.

Was this because their business/product was bad, or was the Coney "too extreme" for the buttoned-down Chicago neon relish-slathering purists?

EDIT: I see now that this is a big chain in Michigan. Lots of factors go into why a chain thrives or fails in a new market, I think. Surely a community that created the Mother-In-Law can also find a place in its heavily blocked arteries for a well-made, if slightly foreign, chili dog.
 
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Was this because their business/product was bad, or was the Coney "too extreme" for the buttoned-down Chicago neon relish-slathering purists?

EDIT: I see now that this is a big chain in Michigan. Lots of factors go into why a chain thrives or fails in a new market, I think. Surely a community that created the Mother-In-Law can also find a place in its heavily blocked arteries for a well-made, if slightly foreign, chili dog.
I think they just chose the wrong neighborhood for a test market. They chose Lincoln Park (priciest of pricey in terms of rent, not easy for those suburban Michigan ex pats to get to). Something lower in rent, more central, etc., would have done better. Coney Island doesn’t quite have the versatility of Portillo’s, but should have stood up to any of the suburban Greek-American greasy spoons around.
 
I think they just chose the wrong neighborhood for a test market. They chose Lincoln Park (priciest of pricey in terms of rent, not easy for those suburban Michigan ex pats to get to). Something lower in rent, more central, etc., would have done better. Coney Island doesn’t quite have the versatility of Portillo’s, but should have stood up to any of the suburban Greek-American greasy spoons around.

OK, I see where that would've gone awry. In retrospect they maybe should've started in a more working-class suburban locale.

Speaking of, I highly recommend checking out Raising Cane's. I drove to Harwood Heights for the sole purpose of eating chicken tenders and it was all worth it.
 
For a Michigan dog, you can't beat Yesterdog

rfl_13884.jpg
 
YOU WIN.

For starters: are you a ride-or-die Iltaco purist, or are you all in for "gourmet" pizza puffery?

Second: Did you get the Pizza Puff burger from Kimski, and if so, what is your report?

I am old school, a purist. Pete's Red Hots on Roosevelt and Ridgeland will always have a special place in my heart when it comes to these fried, puffy pizza pockets full of delicious...

It all started with the PQM burger battle, which then gained a cult following. It is a piece of pure gluttony and worth trying at least once (I have). I also own the Puff Daddy enamel pin and wear it as a badge of honor...
 
Please read my Taco Bell Wabash Cantina revelation from the TB tread below:
Next time I want to get a chili cheese burrito, take it across the street, get a plain hot dog from Gold Coast Dogs, maybe just some chopped onions, insert doggo, bunless with onions, into burrito, enjoy Coney Dog Burrito.

X-posyed.
 
First come the gastropubs, then the mid-rise condos. You'll know it's all over when it's announced that a Lululemon store is coming to the neighborhood.

I was honestly surprised to find there was not a Lululemon in Lincoln Square....on the other hand, there is a double storefront walking taco restaurant, so Icelandic Dogs May just have a fighting chance.
 
Was this because their business/product was bad, or was the Coney "too extreme" for the buttoned-down Chicago neon relish-slathering purists?

EDIT: I see now that this is a big chain in Michigan. Lots of factors go into why a chain thrives or fails in a new market, I think. Surely a community that created the Mother-In-Law can also find a place in its heavily blocked arteries for a well-made, if slightly foreign, chili dog.

I bet a Rocky Rococco would do well here.


OK, I see where that would've gone awry. In retrospect they maybe should've started in a more working-class suburban locale.

Speaking of, I highly recommend checking out Raising Cane's. I drove to Harwood Heights for the sole purpose of eating chicken tenders and it was all worth it.

Thanks for the heads up on this, I do the Foster/Cumberland run when I go to O’Hare on Thursdays so I’ll have to hit this up.
 
Someone please tell me what beer I should be excited about. Shills welcomed.
I am so far outside of beer. I did explain to some nice folks last night that Wild Blossom actually makes some pretty good mead and it sits around on shelves because it has been sitting around on shelves since before mead was cool, but it is totally worth checking out.

As for local beer, if it isn’t Off Color, Imperial Oak or Aferthought, I haven’t a ******* clue.

EDIT: I know a little about REV, too.
 
the hilarity of the mobius stripe that is chicago beer scene...mikerphone and corridor brew a collab with hops and some red fruit that is supposed to taste like hawaiin punch in 2017. middle brow and maplewood make a neighborly collab where we jokingly say lets make a stupid over the top NEIPA with all the fruit in a hawaiian punch and use this weird yeast we love. days after its brewed, roger of corridor joins maplewood. two days later mikerphone posts they're making the Hawaiian punch IPA with corridor again. maplewood posts the beer on instagram and roger gets congrats on his first creation and facebook gets a question of ripping off mikerphone. like any of this is remotely original

Ouroboros-dragon-serpent-snake-symbol.jpg
 
Someone please tell me what beer I should be excited about. Shills welcomed.
i walk into binnys or some other small shop and am so overwhelmed. I have no idea what most of anything is and question why prices on some stuff is insane (who's energy city and why is it 19 dollars?). Also I aint flippin 20 4-packs over to find whats fresh and why do some brewers have 30 sku's, i dont have time and patience to read NEIPA 20 different ways. i typically bypass all the colorful noise and buy off color or 2nd shift technical ecstasy.
 
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So I am still on a quest to locate C&C La Folie (did any come to the burbs?) so I can blend some Black Folie. I was pleasantly surprised to note Five Rabbit canned a second flavor of Paletas this year.

I've been looking as well, but haven't seen it in the burbs. Got some at Beer Temple a couple of weeks ago.
 
i walk into binnys or some other small shop and am so overwhelmed. I have no idea what most of anything is and question why prices on some stuff is insane (who's energy city and why is it 19 dollars?). Also I aint flippin 20 4-packs over to find whats fresh and why do some brewers have 30 sku's, i dont have time and patience to read NEIPA 20 different ways. i typically bypass all the colorful noise and buy off color or 2nd shift technical ecstasy.

Yeah. This.

Granted, my local is Beer Temple and for several reasons (many being practical) their selection is MUCH more curated than Binny's, but still I struggle to get excited about things that aren't lambic, which I already know is a ****** late-stage beer geek take.

I now greet every new IPA I see with strong suspicion, and every "non-traditional" fermented beer just kinda sounds like a run-of-the-mill Milk the Funk posting. I occasionally buy new flavored stouts thinking, "hey, maybe I've been too cynical and some of these are actually interesting," but of course they're no more interesting than the **** Southern Tier has been cranking out for over a decade.
 
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