Lonnie's

I visited Lonnie's in St. Matthews again. It is always one of my favorite places to stop when I am on that side of town around lunch time. I do enjoy a good hot dog now and again.

I guess I have two questions.

First, how authentic is Lonnie's to a real Chicago hot dog? I'm from the New York area and Chicago style foods remain something of a mystery to me. Brown mustard and kraut on an old beef hot dog with natural casings is what I'm used to, but these were actually quite different. Good, but different. I don't know what the history of these are.

I was also curious about the celery salt. That struck me as an odd addition. Any suggestions on what to order there. I don't recall the names of the streets I ordered, but the one was the dog with the kitchen sink on it, and the other was with mustard and kraut.

I will be back, but my experience there did give rise to curiosity.

these are authentic chicago dogs - the owners are transplants from chicago.

...they also do a very good fish sandwich combo during lunch!

John,

I lived in the Chicago suburbs for 8 years and I'm quite the connoisseur of Chicago Hot Dogs. ( In college, whenever I made a trip home, I'd buy a dozen dogs at Frank's Red Hots- my great local Hot Dog place - and freeze them in my itty bittty freezer to eat at school). Lonnies are the real deal- Vienna Red Hot dogs with casings and poppy seed buns. Personally I like mine with only kethup so I can really taste the dog, but most Chicago places have a menu of 10-20 variations of toppings- one of which is always chili ( with beans).

Deb

Lonnies uses only Vienna Beef ... Sabrett's is from New York and is a foreign type hot dog, not from Chicago

http://www.viennabeef.com/

Which is what all normal Chicago hot dog places use, the Fluorescent green relish, the onions, the yellow mustard, the cucumber, the celery salt, and the 2 sport peppers on the seeded bun is what you will find in Chicago. That is the golden standard of hot dog makery.
I grew up there and left when I was 30.

They also do a good Polish and not bad Italian Beef sandwich.

GG.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I grew up back o the yards at 33rd and Lowe around the corner from da Mayor.. I also lived in the Ukrainian peninsula at Chicago and Western while I went to Loyola ( Go Ramblers!).

GG.

Lonnies are the real deal- Sabrett Red Hot dogs with casings and poppy seed buns. Personally I like mine with only kethup so I can really taste the dog,

KETCHUP!!!!OMG no way. If theres one thing thats not on a Chicago dog its ketchup! At one point Daley(Mayor) made a lighthearted proposal to ban ketchup from any hotdog stand in the city, but relented as it is good on fries. Also, as already mentioned its Vienna dogs not Sabretts. Gee Deb, If I didnt know any better Id think you were trying to take the sh#@ stirring stick away from Phil.

Celery salt is a must. You can buy the neon green relish from Lonnies by the jar as well as the sport peppers(both made by Vienna).
A couple of other authentic items on the menu there worth checking out. The Combo(Damen Beef/Sausage) its basically just the italian beef(the Wells St) with a link of good sausage tucked in the beef. Thats my favorite Chicago hotdog stand item. They make a fairly authentic Polish(Maxwell St.) covered with yellow mustard and grilled onions.Having gone to Maxwell st. as a kid and eating the real deal(before the Mayor bulldozed the area for U of C and relocated the market a few blocks away with none of the original vendors)its hard to look at any other polish in the same way,but Lonnies is quite good. They also do a pretty good burger,but when Im there I gotta go with the beef or combo.

The combo with hot peppers is a killer!

Lonnies are the real deal- Sabrett Red Hot dogs with casings and poppy seed buns. Personally I like mine with only kethup so I can really taste the dog,

KETCHUP!!!!OMG no way. If theres one thing thats not on a Chicago dog its ketchup! At one point Daley(Mayor) made a lighthearted proposal to ban ketchup from any hotdog stand in the city, but relented as it is good on fries. Also, as already mentioned its Vienna dogs not Sabretts. Gee Deb, If I didnt know any better Id think you were trying to take the sh#@ stirring stick away from Phil.

Celery salt is a must. You can buy the neon green relish from Lonnies by the jar as well as the sport peppers(both made by Vienna).
A couple of other authentic items on the menu there worth checking out. The Combo(Damen Beef/Sausage) its basically just the italian beef(the Wells St) with a link of good sausage tucked in the beef. Thats my favorite Chicago hotdog stand item. They make a fairly authentic Polish(Maxwell St.) covered with yellow mustard and grilled onions.Having gone to Maxwell st. as a kid and eating the real deal(before the Mayor bulldozed the area for U of C and relocated the market a few blocks away with none of the original vendors)its hard to look at any other polish in the same way,but Lonnies is quite good. They also do a pretty good burger,but when Im there I gotta go with the beef or combo.

Gus-
This is what comes of posting after very, very little sleep last night. My head & heart said Vienna Red Hots, and my fingers typed Sabrett ( lived in NJ for 14 years after Chicago). Mea Culpa. I've corrected my grievous error.

John,

Yes, I know I'm supposed to like them best with all that stuff , and I do like my dog with chili, onions and relish, but I still LOVE just ketchup. I grew up in California and moved to Chicago for High School, so maybe that explains my weird fetish for just ketchup. Personally, I just love the snap of those Vienna Red Hots when you bite into them surrounded by that wonderful steamed bun ( never did grow to love NY hot dogs)......

Deb

Deb,

The real grievous error is the ketchup! I saw a lady get thrown out of Rush Street Deli when she tried to order a Corn Beef with ketchup, I'm pretty sure she was banned for life. It was worse than the Soup Nazi !

GG.

Lonnies is great and authentic (though I've only visited Chicago and can't say I'm a true expert). I like their Bardstown location, including the wierd juxtaposition of the building it's in and the look of the signage, etc. I am a New Yorker and cannot stand dirty water dogs from the cart. Sorry.

I do leave off the neon relish, however; I don't want to leave a radioactive corpse.

The real grievous error is the ketchup!

Well that was a close call with the Sabretts reference. By only point in bringing up the ketchup(theres no accounting for taste) was the OP asking about how authentic Lonnies is. Very much so in my opinion. Just dont ask for ketchup on your dog. I think Debs dog would be the Lonnies "Rush St." dog,chili,cheese,onions. Not sure about the relish though. The classic Chicago dog(Lonnies Clark st.) can often be ordered in Chicago by saying garden style,or run it through the garden for me please.

Deb,

The real grievous error is the ketchup! I saw a lady get thrown out of Rush Street Deli when she tried to order a Corn Beef with ketchup, I'm pretty sure she was banned for life. It was worse than the Soup Nazi !

GG.

Worse, when I was pregnant, I once ( attempted to ) order a glass of milk to go with my Corned Beef sandwich at a Jewish Deli in NJ... They didn't throw me out, but probably only because I was very visibly pregnant, After that I learned the Jewish Kosher rules very thoroughly....

Deb

The real grievous error is the ketchup!

Well that was a close call with the Sabretts reference. By only point in bringing up the ketchup(theres no accounting for taste) was the OP asking about how authentic Lonnies is. Very much so in my opinion. Just dont ask for ketchup on your dog. I think Debs dog would be the Lonnies "Rush St." dog,chili,cheese,onions. Not sure about the relish though. The classic Chicago dog(Lonnies Clark st.) can often be ordered in Chicago by saying garden style,or run it through the garden for me please.

There was a time when I regularly ate my hot dog ONLY with ketchup (not bad, actually)....but I was very young and didn't know any better....today only spicy, brown mustard will do...I remain a minimalist when it comes to hot dogs....

Deb, I enjoy hot dogs with just ketchup on the sly at home and I still love you!


*runs away*