Chicago is Hot Dog City

No city loves its hot dogs as much as Chicago, “hog butcher for the world” as Carl Sandburg wrote in his poem “Chicago.” Though the go-to frank there is the Vienna Beef wiener.
On a recent trip back to Chicago, I visited two famous hot dog joints in the northern neighborhoods of Chicago: Superdawg Chicago in Norwood Park East and Wolfy’s in West Ridge.
In August, I stopped by another famous Chicagoland hot dog restaurant, Gene & June’s in River Grove, Ill.
The experience for each was unique but all of them offered delicious meals with their own twist on the Chicago-style hot dog.
The traditional Chicago-style hot dog features an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers and a dash of celery salt.
One of the quintessential downtown Chicago hot dog joints is The Weiners Circle in Lincoln Park. It’s known more for its sass and satirical promotions than its food. The late night crowd can get pretty rowdy, according to locals.
Chicago is known for other meaty fast-food delicacies as well including the Italian beef sandwich, Maxwell Street Polish sausage and the gyro sandwich.

Lunch today at the famous Gene & Jude’s hot dog stand in River Grove, Illinois. Delicious Vienna Beef franks and fresh-made fries. I got the double dog with fries and a Coke. pic.twitter.com/TRKUStn4l2

— Patrick Seitz (@PatrickSeitz) August 22, 2025

Yummy lunch today at @Superdawg in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/Wz5xl9KhaT

— Patrick Seitz (@PatrickSeitz) October 3, 2025

Made a stop at popular Chicago-style hotdog restaurant Wolfy’s on the North Side. I wolfed down two Vienna Beef franks with all the fixings plus fries. pic.twitter.com/2sZwkwbQP4

— Patrick Seitz (@PatrickSeitz) October 5, 2025

Related article:

Ode to Chicago-style hot dogs (Aug. 31, 2025)

Note to Netflix: Keep the binge-watching option

One of the key innovations that Netflix introduced was “binge watching,” the ability to stream multiple episodes of a new TV show in one sitting. It replaced the legacy broadcast and cable TV model of releasing one new episode every week.
While some people might tolerate or even approve of the old model, I do not. Proponents of the traditional model say it allows a show to build buzz and anticipation for upcoming episodes. But with so many programming options out there, it’s easy to lose track of shows on a weekly release. I need a recap video to watch even new seasons of many shows.
Binge watching gives viewers the option of watching one or more episodes to satisfy their demand. It puts them in control. Weekly episode releases give all the control to the programmer and it seems stingy by today’s standards.
When services such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max release a new series that I’m interested in, I’ll mark my calendar for when the full season will be available.
My suggestion to those services is to switch to the user-friendly binge-watching model and drop the old-school weekly release model.
According to a survey by Hub Entertainment Research, 64% of viewers prefer all episodes of a series to be released at once as opposed to one episode per week (36%).

Photo: Season five of the Apple TV+ series “Slow Horses” premiered on Sept. 24, 2025. But all six episodes won’t be available until Oct. 29. (Apple TV+)