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How many of you read that headline and thought we were referring to Hot Doug's?
Now you'll really have a reason to swear at the employees of Wiener's Circle. The City Department of Public Health shut the Lincoln Park institution today after an inspection found no hot running water on premises and food stored at unsafe temperatures.
The video above has language not suitable for some, unless you're a regular Chicagoist reader.
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rumor is they arent reopening either.
update: the building is for sale
Good; that place is a disgrace. This is one "tradition" I will have no problem seeing die.
and your handle is via chicago, you should be ashamed. go to the burbs
Yeah, go to Shaumburg or Oakbrook or something for your fancy hot running water or precious refrigeration...
Well, via chicgo let me ask it this way: if they had properly running water and refrigeration, would you still want to see them "die"? do you just want that hot dog stand gone and why?
I agree. There was nothing special about that dump, rudeness isn't cute, and maybe a few drunken chads will have to go home to frozen pizza instead. Good riddance.
Jesus people, it's a hot dog stand not a baby furnace. That's two doors down by the futon place.
Oh Ira Glass, can you wring a bit more pathos and meaning from the everyday clattering of our simple lives? Don your thick, chic glasses and drop words like "semiotics" and "polyglot" into stories about broken jungle gyms and home wine-making. You've made a career out of sappery and the search for succulent irony you utter, total prat.
I think it's sad when ANY charismatic Chicago institution goes away. I still miss Demon Dogs sometimes.
I ran into Michael Jordan there at 130am circa 2003. He was whipping ketchup packets at a woman behind the counter shouting "those ain't titties, those puppy feeders, you been feeding puppies with those things."
While shaking her head, she calmly replied, "all that money and you still a bitch."
Well with like most legitimate businesses, the market will decide and the market decided that they wanted them around for a long time. If someone doesn't like the atmosphere in there, the simple solution is to not give them your business. I don't understand the "good riddance" stuff. If you don't frequent the business, what do you care what goes on inside? If just their mere presence is enough to set your teeth a-grinding, something is wrong in Perspectiveville. Besides I've gotten rude service from places where I spent a hell of a lot of money (as I'm sure we all have) and I wish they were gone too. And some of them are.
Oh Ira Glass, can you wring a bit more pathos and meaning from the everyday clattering of our simple lives? Don your thick, chic glasses and drop words like "semiotics" and "polyglot" into stories about broken jungle gyms and home wine-making. You've made a career out of sappery and the search for succulent irony you utter, total prat.
Damn, Albany you've been reading my mind lately. Get the fuck out.
Good; that place is a disgrace. This is one "tradition" I will have no problem seeing die.
BTW, I picture Margaret Dumont when I read this. Sorry, but I do.
Demon Dogs was great and sadly I only got one year of it when I was a freshman at DePaul because it closed down shortly after that year. The food was bad at DePaul on the weekends and that was a good, cheap place to go.
Streets: While shaking her head, she calmly replied, "all that money and you still a bitch."
--------------------------------------------
If this is true...NICE.
You've made a career out of sappery and the search for succulent irony you utter, total prat.
Don your internet anonymity, criticize a radio host's pretentious word choices, and drop words like "sappery" and "prat."
But back to the building, if another hot dog place moves in my vote is for another Hot Dougs location. It's a pain to get where it is now.
I loved the cheese dogs from there, perfectly made.
I miss the hell out of Demon Dogs. I worked for a business that carried ads for them and got free dogs from there. The only caveat was we had to eat them on site.
The constant "Chicago" music was a big much, but the guy who owned it was their manager or something. Damn the polish from there were just swell.
I loved Demon Dogs. Now when I want a hot dog fix, I go to the place on Adams between State and Wabash, that place near the McDonald's on Chicago and Dearborn, or the place on 35th close to the Cell. For some reason hot dog stand names never stick in my mind, but I'll carry the memory of the dogs themselves to my grave.
The Polish at Demon Dogs was one of my favorites in the city. What was it? $1.85 for hot dog and fries?
Oh, and CL, my story is true, he was there with his motorcycle gang, the "#1 Stunnas" (sp?)
1.79 for hot dog and fries at demon dogs, rumors it would reopen and a google search brings up a demon dogs in the northwestern suburbs i believe but not sure of the association.
Looks like the want to re-open due to the sign in the window that's scribbled "broken water pipe".
If they think I'm falling for that excuse they're sorely mistaken.
I used to go there and even had friends work there too- I for one won't be sad to see it go, but perhaps SuperDawg could use a Lincoln Park location !!!!
Wiener Circle was never a place for the faint of heart - carrying a hot dog, an order of fries, and a drink was a three hand job, and there was usually no place to sit. But to complain about the place is to miss the point entirely; there are a million hot dog joints in the city. Some are far better in terms of sheer quality, but only one that treated obnoxious drunks the way they deserved to be treated. There was only one Wiener Circler.
http://www.dragitthroughthegarden.com
Hehehehehe... "Three Hand Job". Hehehe
Yeah, I never went to the WC when it was crowded with the wrigleyville/LP bar overflow. I caught a couple of "shows" with drunks who had clearly heard tell of a place where you can yell at the staff. Some guy came in and called the woman behind the counter a "fat bitch" while just ordering a hot dog. She told him to go fuck himself and leave or she was calling the cops.
That was the difference y'see. It's one thing to handle a bunch of drunken goofballs with a pressure valve of foul language, like comedians playing aristocrats, it's another to just be act a fool.
A much better representation was Dave Attel's "Insomniac". Which didn't have the patina of twee that Ira and his english major battalion bring to everything, but actually looked at the thing as the thing.
I'm headed to Hot Dougs.
The place is pretty much a disgrace to humanity at 2 am on a Saturday. I wouldn't take the dude from Day The Earth Stood Still (the original one anyway, I don't know how Keanu would roll) if I wanted to impress him, that's for sure.
However, going there in the afternoon or before closing time is a good experience. The staff is actually pleasant. So I, for one, hope the stories of WC's permanent demise are untrue. (Oh yeah, it is damn expensive for a hot dog stand, so I'm thinking the owner can afford the rent.)
Gene & Jude's
Worth the drive.
Here's the Dave Attell clip.
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;}Insomniac With Dave AttellF**k You, Eat the Food!More Funny Videos
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Stand-Up Comedy
i was always conflicted about it. i'd lived here years before i finally went and it seemed sort of weird seeing all these drunken, privileged white boys yelling at these black women who were serving them food.
HOWEVER, it was pretty amazing how no matter what the guys said, they had a comeback and a pretty great comeback at that. it just seemed like they knew it was all part of the show and they were happy to oblige cutting down these guys in front of their friends. and people seemed to know where to draw the line.
there was this older dude who was mopping, mopping, mopping. he was closing up the place. someone told me that was the owner ... maybe he did. i have NO clue if that was true.