A Taste Of Chicago In Glenwood
Stephen Hunt prepares a pair of Chicago Dogs for DeShawne Bird-Sell and her father Rick Bird from his hot dog cart at Glenwood Lake Park.
Stephen Hunt puts the finishing touches on a Chicago Dog from his cart parked outside the Mills County Historical Museum in Glenwood Lake Park.
Jessica Phelps came out to the park to have a Chicago Dog lunch with her father, Verlin Phelps.
Word is starting to get out about a new lunch option in town on Wednesdays – authentic Chicago Dogs being served in Glenwood Lake Park.
Chef Stephen Hunt, manager of the Mills County Historical Society’s Zeum building, has been preparing and serving the Chicago Dogs for about a month now from a cart outside the Mills County Historical Museum. Hunt said his all-beef Chicago Dog is as tasty and authentic as the famous hot dog served in the Windy City.
A traditional Chicago Dog is a beef hot dog served in a poppy seed bun and garnished with mustard, neon green relish, tomatoes, diced white onions, a pickle spear and celery salt.
“The tomatoes and pickles I buy here, the peppers and relish I have shipped in from Chicago from the only company that makes it,” Hunt said. “The buns come from Chicago – from the Vienna Beef Co.”
Hunt noted that the Chicago Dog evolved from a sausage introduced to the city in the late 1800s by German immigrants.
“When they came to Chicago, they brought their German sausage with them, not like a Polish sausage – more of a Vienna-type sausage,” Hunt said. “It became very famous. During the Depression, you got one of these dogs for a nickel because nobody had money. Then they decided to put on all the stuff you see on a Chicago Dog so that if you bought a hot dog there, it became a meal.
“It was very popular during the Depression and during the 40s and that’s how Chicago hot dogs became Chicago hot dogs. That was the only place you could get them.”
According to historian Bruce Kraig, author of Hot Dog: A Global History, the ingredients in a Chicago Dog are a reflection of the melting pot of immigrants who came to the city in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and the demographic changes that took place during that time period. The all-beef frank and mustard were German and Jewish traditions. The poppy seed bun was popular with Polish and Czech immigrants, while the relish and tomatoes depict Italian and Greek influences. The sport peppers were part of the culture brought up from the American South.
Hunt said he acquired his hot dog cart from a local resident who had used it a time or two during RAGBRAI.
“I had always wanted a hot dog cart so I fulfilled another item on my bucket list,” he quipped. “My thought was, let’s give people in town an option. Don’t go get some fast food and then come down to the park and eat your fast food here. Why don’t you just come down to the park and get some real food? Sit down, relax, enjoy the park and eat.”
The hot dog meal at the park sells for $9 and includes a bag of potato chips and a cup of iced tea or lemonade. The meals are sold from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. with proceeds benefiting the Zeum. Patrons have the option of eating their lunch in a shaded gazebo or in the climate-controlled Zeum. Take-out is also an option.
Hunt said business has picked up graduatlly each week since he started selling the Chicago Dogs. Verlin Phelps, a second-time customer, brought his daughter Jessica along last week.
“I’ve actually been to Chicago a few times and they (Chicago Dogs) are really good,” Phelps said. “These are very similar.”
Hunt said he plans to sell the Chicago Dogs every Wednesday until the weather turns cold. He’ll bring the cart back out next spring.
“It may take this year for people to get accustomed to it,” he said. “My expectation was if one person came and bought a hot dog, I was successful because if they really liked it, they’re going to say something to someone else and then somebody else is going to come.”