Poochies Hot Dog Named Top Five Dog in U.S

By Laura Oppenheimer in Food on Jan 8, 2007 10:40PM

If we had to think of the top five hot dog spots in the city, we would need some time. There are some obvious choices — a dog in the Cell for one — and there are the famous spots, but choosing the five best would take more than a casual effort.

Now imagine choosing the five best hot dogs in the nation. Just thinking about this monstrous task made our belly expand and our eyes glaze over. Luckily, someone else did all the dirty work for us, and now we have a handy reference for a hot dog tour of the U.S.

Serious Eats asked Roadfood to compile a top five list of hot dogs all across the nation. We were ready to dismiss the list when we saw that it lacked a Chicago option, but after reading the description, we'll accept their choice of Skokie's Poochies as an acceptable substitute.

Chicagoist has never been to Poochies, but if it is half as good as the borderline obscene description, we are well overdue for a visit. From the review:

Informal though it may be, the food Poochie’s serves is exquisite. To us, a meal at Poochie’s is more delicious and more deeply satisfying than the finest, fanciest $100 dinner. Star of the menu is the humble all-beef hot dog nestled in a steamed-soft Rosen’s bun and available with the full array of Chicagoland frankfurter condiments.... Beyond taut, plump red hots that are steamed, Poochie’s offers crunchy-surfaced char dogs, cooked over coals until their skin is chewy-dark and flavored by the fire. Polish sausages are plumper, porkier sausages that are slit in a spiral pattern to attain maximum crunchy surface area as they cook.

Porn, people, pure porn.

The other four winners are Super Duper Weenie in Fairfield, CT; Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C.; Dew Drop Inn in Mobile, AL; and Pink's in Los Angeles, CA.

Poochies is located at 3832 Dempster St. in Skokie; 847-673-0100.

Image via Serious Eats.