The Wiener’s Circle – Chicago, Illinois: aka Where I Fell in Love with Hot Dogs (2019)

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If you know anything about me at all, you should know that I love hot dogs. Don’t get me wrong, a LOT of American foods make my top food lists (chicken wings, hamburgers, American pizza), but my love story with hot dogs did not fully begin until a trip to Chicago in 2019. Specifically, at the hands of the fine establishment named “The Wiener’s Circle.”

If you think this is going to be some kind of helpful post like a ‘things to do in Chicago’ travel guide or something, you’re wrong. It’s not at all helpful and just a goofy lil story. In fact, I’m literally just talking to myself here – no tips, just vibes. So feel free to go to another post if you’re trying to be productive. Otherwise, just enjoy the ride that is The Weiner’s Circle.

Let me start from the beginning.

Humble Beginnings

Considering my food palette, it might surprise you that I didn’t always stuff my face full of hot dogs. You see, I’m a very picky eater. So growing up, my hot dogs were literally just…mustard. I did like ketchup, but I would usually use them for fries and if I doubled it up on the hot dog, it was just too much for my lil sensitive stomach. Thankfully, I stopped caring about my gut comfort as I got older.

In undergrad (and after lol), my diet consisted of boring turkey sandwiches and hot dogs sans bun.

No seriously. My sandwiches were two slices of bread with yellow mustard and two pieces of deli turkey. And I literally just put Oscar Meyer weiners into the oven on broil and ate them plain.

IT WAS SAD.

But alas, ’twas my budget. I had no emotional connection to hot dogs, but I did begin to see their usefulness. How could you go wrong with a tube of meat? It was GENIUS.

How Did I End Up in Chicago?

2019 is when my world changed. You see, I was madly obsessed with becoming friends with one of the coolest cats on the internet, Amanda from PtPassages. She is hilarious, smart, beautiful, and has impeccable tastes in food. And tv shows. And style. But I’m getting ahead of myself. 2019 was the year I was going to MEET MY IDOL IN PERSON!!!

At the time, she lived on the East Coast of the USA, and here I was in Oregon. Since traveling in the USA overall is pretty expensive, and we both booked in the summer for birthdays and whatnot, we landed on traveling in a low-season to a city located between the both of us.

Chicago, Illinois.

I had never been before, and since I’m on a quest to visit every state in the USA (and also Mexico, and all the provinces in Canada…), I thought it would be a great double whammy to see Illinois for the first time! Plus, I was able to use my Alaska Air companion pass for super cheap tickets! To top off the amazing-ness, it turned out that our mutual internet friend Paige from Lah Hay Travels would be in Chicago at the same time.

When the timing’s right, the timing’s right.

Hurry Up and Get to the Hot Dogs

Okay okay okay. I’m getting there.

Our schedules were slightly skewed, but there was one magical day (Sunday? Monday? I forget) where our schedules perfectly overlapped and we spent the ENTIRE day together. I’m talking wake up, brunch, coffee, pier stroll, lunch, achetecture tour, midday snack, photoshoot, stroll, dinner, dessert….and then finally…

Paige had officially tapped out of the dessert round, looking on amazed as Amanda powered through hers. My ice cream had already pooled in its cup, melted, because I give up extremely easily. We were all beyond stuffed. BEYOND. After an entire day of eating and laughing but mostly eating, our stomachs had been taking to lengths they had never gone before. But still.

I looked up from my phone. “Yo, there’s this like, hot dog stand that yells at you or something.”

“What?” They asked, as if I had just announced I was going to teach a dog to sing Celine Dion.

“Yah, eye-dee-kay, it’s like a famous hot dog stand or something. It’s just down the street. Do you want to go?”

At this point, anyone else would probably say “Kay, what is your literal problem?” But not my crew. For some reason, at 10pm on a Monday, we went down to a random hot dog stand known for harassing its customers. Yes, that place was The Weiner’s Circle.

The Wiener’s Circle

Just a little bit of background, The Wiener’s Circle is located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. To a tourist like myself, that means nothing. But it was established in 1983 or so, which is a decade older than myself, so I’d say it’s a pretty engrained local spot. In fact, the tips are so high (more on that later), that they have multiple employees that have worked there for more than ten years.

The draw to The Wiener’s Circle? Verbal abuse.

I’m not joking.

Legend has it that some drunk dude wandered into the Wiener’s Circle all disorderly and called one of the staff members out of their name. In response, the staff member ripped them a new one. Except instead of their manager immediately firing the staff member and offering up some lame social media message saying the customer is always right no matter how inappropriate, the member was actually backed up. But again, instead of the customer demanding that her civil rights were being taken away and she was going to sue everyone, they laughed it off and tipped.

And…it sort of became a thing.

The customers are loud and rude, the staff are loud and rude back (and usually funnier too). Everyone laughs. The customer tips big and everyone wins.

Except for crybabies I suppose…though do they ever win?

ANYWAYS, The Wiener’s Circle became known for the rowdy exchanges, late night yelling, and bomb hot dogs. They even had a mini television show about it. SO YEAH, PRETTY BIG DEAL. Obviously, once I found out about The Wiener’s Circle, I HAD TO GO.

Our Experience at The Wiener’s Circle

So we wander in. It’s not THAT late, in terms of when naughty things happen in cities, but far past the PG-hours for The Winer’s Circle. I mean, you didn’t expect them to be vulgar to small children at 2pm did you? So traveler’s tip, go late at night if you want to get your booty handed to you.

Surprisingly, we’re the only ones in. Actually, again, it was Monday night so maybe not that surprising. There were only two people working one at the register and one at the grill, and they just kind of looked up at us and smiled.

Not exactly the rowdy welcome I was expecting. The Wiener’s Circle definitely keeps with its 1990s neighborhood spot, and will probably give you a bit of nostalgia if you were a teenager then. I looked to Amanda. She looked at me. I cleared my throat and (meekily) made my way to the counter.

“Hello! Welcome to The Wiener’s Circle. Let me know if you have any questions about the menu :)” they said, their colorful short hair catching the yellow light of the building.

“So uhhh…” We all looked at the menu in relative silence. I had never been in a screaming match with a stranger (yet), but I was almost looking forward to getting a taste of it that night. “Mmm..” we meandered over the menu, more or less being weird with our awkward shuffling and uncomfortable looks between each other.

“Look, what the *dolphin squeal* are y’all gonna order?” The cashier raised an eyebrow. Our faces must have lit up like a Christmas tree because then it dawned on them. “Ohh, that’s what you squirrely mother*dolphin squeal*s wanted, huh?”

“Kind of,” I admitted, trying to conceal my glee at being called a squirrely mother*dolphin squeal* – a first in my career. The cashier waved over the femme working the grill and they basically cooed over us like new mothers in a nursey. Or perhaps lions coming across a herd of slow animals.

Or US military recruiters at underfunded and under-resourced highschools.

But I digress.

“Well, you gotta say something back to us,” they prompted trying to keep the flow going. This was the moment, the very moment we were waiting for. All we had to do was spit out a friendly dig and they’d dish it back to us. They were WELCOMING it.

“I like your hair.” I said with only geniune admiration in my heart.

Clearly, I was terrible at this.

They shook their heads, laughing at us. “We can’t do this, y’all look like a fu-*dolphin squeal*-ing PBS special.”

Welp. Sometimes, you just might be TOO friendly looking to roast. So if you want the verbal abuse, be prepared to dish it out in return. In their defense though, we did look like a fu-*dolphin squeal*-ing PBS special. I mean – COME ON –

We even wore different colors hahahah. Amazing. We’re so sweet looking.

What We Ordered

After what could only be described as an ONSLAUGHT of eating all day, yes. I ordered my first Chicago hot dog, also known as a Red Hot. Well, actually, I ordered a Char-dog, which is the less common variation.

But first, what is a Chicago hot dog? If you want to experience a true Chicago hot dog, you’re going to need the following:

• all beef hot dog
• poppy seed bun
• yellow mustard
• white onion
• “bright green” sweet pickle relish
• a dill pickle spear
• tomato slices
• pickled peppers
• a dash of celery salt

Chicago-style is often referred to as “dragged through the garden,” because there are so many toppings, especially vegetables. And notice – NO KETCHUP. In fact, at many hot dog places in Chicago, they purposely do not offer ketchup as a condiment at all.

Typically, the hot dog is boiled/water-steamed and are all beef. In fact, pork-free and kosher style beef hot dogs originated by Flunky’s, a Chicago establishment, in 1929. Char-dogs, on the other hand, are cooked on a charcoal grill. The Wiener’s Circle is one of the few places that serves char-dogs, by the way!

Lol, since when did this turn into a recipe post? Anyways, my hot dog was delicious. SO delicious in fact that it literally turned me into a hot dog fiend. I never knew the amount of thought and creativity that could go into a hot dog. It’s such a underrated market, and it is now my mission to compile a list of the BEST hot dog restaurants across America.

The Wiener’s Circle: Conclusion

Long story short, I had a great time. When I visited back in 2019, they were cash only, but after their renovation, they might be accepting card now. I also heard they were adding a bar as well, which I imagine will only enhance the possible rowdy shenanigans that will go down.

While I enjoyed my food, the highlight was definitely the staff. Although the Wiener’s Circle Staff weren’t the iconic “mean” to us, they were super friendly and even followed us on Instagram haha. Under their witty comebacks, they were also super sweet.

AND – we’re totally stealing the name ‘PBS Kids’ for our band. Keep an eye out for when we drop the mixtape.

Have you ever been to The Winer’s Circle in Chicago, or anywhere that has a reputation for chewing out its customers? Let me know in the comments below! For more food posts, check out my Sloppy Joe post in Cuba (fair warning, you’ll be drooling!)

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