Chi-dogs in Delavan WI

This might be of interest to any Flatlanders who visit southeastern Wisconsin, or just anyone in the area looking for a decent hot dog.

There's a little restaurant called Market Street Italian Sandwiches just off of Main St. in downtown Delavan. Today I stopped in for the first time and wasn't disappointed; I'd been wanting a Chicago-style hot dog for sometime and MSIS came through with 2 dogs and a Polish.

I could almost swear that it used to be a Vienna Beef place called Jimmy's, but now it's Best's Kosher for the sausage and Turano for the bread (and the buns are the correct poppyseed style). All the other staple menu items like beef, Italian sausage, gyros and deep-fried sides are also available as well as brats, subs, and other hot sandwiches. About the only thing I didn't see was a fat guy in a replica Urlacher jersey.

Brad

Thanks, Brad! In the summer we often take our Harley on daytrips out that way...

Thank you again Brad. In my younger days I was known to stop in The Clowns Lounge in Delavan.

A couple of weeks ago Kathy and I were passing through Delavan on a Sunday and since I hadn't eaten yet we stopped at Market Street.

The big sign on the building says David Berg, the sign above the door says Best's Kosher, and the sign behind the counter says Red Hot Chicago, which the owner confirmed is the current sausage purveyor du jour.


Order at the counter and at the other end is a dining room, which I believe is a recent addition created by taking over the formerly separate shop space next door.


I ordered a beef & sausage combo, juicy.  The sausage was pretty mild and the beef was OK, but the combo at my local place is much better.  And I've yet to see a beef sandwich that doesn't look dull in a photo.


Kathy ordered one of the specials; 2 dogs (hold the relish, please), fries, and a soda.  I'm pretty sure the RHC dog is a naturally-cased version; she was nice enough to save me the stub end of her 2nd dog and I seem to recall a little snap and some good flavor, although if I'd ordered it I would've just gotten mustard and pickle.


Which, coincidentally, was just how I got my flat-grilled Polish sausage.  I don't know what brand of pickles Market Street uses but it tasted pretty authentic to me; nice and pickly!


If I had to I'd guess that they use frozen fries but we got them fresh from the fryer so they were hot, crisp, and tasty.  Give me a good frozen fry over a mediocre fresh fry any day.


I could swear that my high school cafeteria used this same fry bag design some 30 years ago!


All in all it's no Hot Doug's or anything like that but Market Street does a nice job.  CSD places are starting to become more prevalent in southeastern WI; there's even a biker bar on US-14 that has a big Vienna Beef sign hanging outside.

Delavan has a fairly sizable Hispanic population and therefore a couple of restaurants and at least one ethnic grocery, and while I've never stopped at any I've sampled cookies from the grocery, and they were pretty good.  And I'm someone who doesn't like sweets.  If anyone coming to Madison on May 2 is thinking about going through Delavan these could be some possible stops...in fact, there are also a couple of diners/cafes downtown and with Delavan's history as a circus town perhaps it could even be a possibility for a future Contingent meet.

Brad