Entries associated with the tag "Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog":

friday12

Armanetti's Wine Shoppe & Beverage Mart hosts a free tasting of Goose Island's seasonal beers, Mild Winter and Christmas Ale. 6-8 PM, 3530 N. Lincoln, 773-529-0288.

saturday13

Michael Foley, former chef-owner of Printer’s Row restaurant, and Mary Kirth of Dominican University’s nutrition and dietetics program discuss the effect of sound on health and fitness during a cooking demo and luncheon at Foley’s new culinary studio, Vegetable Alchemy. Foley will “fire up the iPod with tunes from ballroom, jazz, hip-hop, salsa, reggae, and more”; the menu includes roasted mushroom soup with miso, turkey Caesar salad with sweet potato, chocolate cupcakes, and pomegranate jellies. Reservations suggested. 9 AM-noon, 1041 W. Grand, 312-479-8612, $39 including tax, tip, and wine.

Bob Schwartz, VP of sales for Vienna Beef, gives a talk for the Culinary Historians of Chicago on the history of Chicago hot dog stands and signs copies of his book, Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog. Hot dogs will be served. 10 AM, Kendall College, 900 N. North Branch, 708-788-0338, rsvpchc@yahoo.com, $5.

Delilah’s hosts its tenth annual Christmas and winter beer tasting. Among the more than 100 brews are Three Floyds Alpha Claus Christmas Porter, Summit Winter Ale, St. Freulian Noel, and six vintages each of Anchor Christmas Ale, Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale, and Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Noon-5 PM, 2771 N. Lincoln, 773-472-2771, delilahschicago.com, $20 for 20 sample tickets.

Charlie Trotter signs his new book, Home Cooking With Charlie Trotter, at Barnes & Noble Webster Place. He'll also be doing a cooking demo; attendees will get to taste his creations. 1 PM, 1441 W. Webster, 773-871-3610, free.

Cuatro hosts a holiday entertaining class with executive chef Edie Jimenez, who'll teach participants how to make pomegranate mojitos, coquinho cocktails, crab empanadas, and crab cakes. 1-3 PM, 2030 S. Wabash, 312-842-8856, $30.

sunday14

Cooks whose latke recipes were chosen by a panel of "Jewish kitchen divas" compete in a cook-off judged by chefs Laura Frankel and Ina Pinkney and comedian Aaron Freeman. There's a buffet brunch beforehand, and after the latke battle spectators will be able to taste the results. 11 AM brunch, 12:30 PM cook-off, Spertus Cafe, 610 S. Michigan, 312-322-1757, $42.

monday15

City Provisions hosts its first BYOB supper club, with a five-course meal featuring canned and fermented foods by Jessica Johnson. 7 PM, 1820 W. Wilson, 773-293-2489, $50 (includes tax and tip).

This week in Omnivorous I profiled Vienna Beef VP Bob Schwartz, whose new book Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog is a warm and fuzzy history of classic Chicago hot dog stands. Schwartz is a gregarious and funny guy--that's his license plate in the photo--and despite his book's provocative title (provocative to outsiders anyway) it is fairly good natured when it comes to the raging controversies that flare up from time to time when debating hot dogma. If you don't know what I'm talking about check out the minor shitstorm that broke when contributor David Hammond dared to slag Jimmy's Red Hots. Hey, you guys are friends! (But for the record, I wondered what Hammond was smoking too.)

I bring this up because that distinguished Investigator of South Side Culinary Oddities Peter Engler referred me to a few old newspaper clips during my research that challenge some of the conventional wisdom passed down through the ages about the origins of the "Depression sandwich." For one thing the legend of Fluky's founder Abe Drexler pioneering what we know today as the Chicago hot dog "dragged through the garden" seems somewhat flawed given this passage by Charles Leroux from the Tribune of May 17, 1975:

There are a half-dozen or so hot dog stands that have grown into shrines to the Chicago-style pup—steamed poppy-seed bun; big slices of tomato, pickle, etc. One of these is Fluky's, 6749 N. Western Av. There, under a three-story revolving hot dog sign, you can sit in the spacious parking lot and have a dog (50 cents, 89 cents for a double) with the works (mustard, catsup, relish, onion, pickle, hot peppers, tomato slices).  

That's right--"the works" at Fluky's at one time included "catsup."

I come from a land where it is perfectly acceptable to dress franks with ketchup, but I really don't have a dog in this fight. I only point it out--with apologies to Schwartz--to suggest that the wiener police ought to take a deep breath and concentrate on their own condiments.

We have 20 other hot dog joints in the listings, orthodox and reformed.