Leon's Hotdogs

Does anyone know where we can get Leon's hotdogs? We used to order them from someone in the Chicago area, but this was in the '60's. The hotdogs had a natural casing, that would sizzle and sometimes split as they were grilled. They were the best hotdog that was ever made! If you know anywhere that we can purchase them, please let us know as we can no longer find them. csb

Call Leon's Sausage Company at (312) 829-2250. They're located at 1141 W. Lake Street Chicago, IL 60607

Bill's Drive-In in Evanston, Illinois is now serving Leon's hot dogs.

Isn't Bill's one of the places that was featured in A Hot Dog Preogram? I'm sure it was. I have a copy; I'll have to check. From what I remember, 2 guys who wrote a book on Chicago Hot Dogs in 1983 were shown eating in Bill's in A Hot Dog Program. Did Bill's recently switch from Vienna? Can you tell me the difference between a Vienna Beef dog and a Leon's?

Some Chicago hot dog stands featured in "A Hot Dog Story" on PBS have changed their product.

The Leon hot dog serves as the base to the alternative school of Chicago hot dog called (by me), the tastee school. It was centered around a stand called Tastee Hastee on the NW side of Chicago. While the dominant Chicago style hot dog is based on a Vienna hot dog, hopefully one with a natural casing, dressed with mustard, relish, pickle, tomato, onion and potentially celery salt and hot (sport) peppers. The tastee school featured the Leon's dog, both spicier yet squishier and an even more abundant range of toppings: lettuce, green pepper, cucumber and all the other stuff. The Leon's based Tastee school is fading from the Chicago scene. One stalwart is Famous Bowser Dog in the Old Irving Park Neighborhood in Chicago.

More discussion of the schoold of Chicago hot dogs and a link to a report I have done on Bowser Dog can be found here:
http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/2004_02_22_vitalinformation_archive.html#107757203676818217

In 1970, I lived in Niles, one block from Milwaukee and Ballard, home of the original Tasty Pup. TP served hot dogs covered with salads, at least 20 toppings. I ate there a couple of times, but couldn't handle eating a salad on a hot dog. TP is now located in Chicago at 6262 N. Harlem, near the Niles border. www.danasresort.com/slides/HotDogs2/HotDogs.04.html
Browse through the pictures for other famous Chicago hot dog stands.

Ah, in 1970, I lived in Niles too, near Cumberland and Greenwood. Our family got their fast food primarily from Boobies, on Milwaukee near Dempster. One of these days, I'm gonna do a burgers of my youth expidition to Boobies, Little Louies and a few other joints.

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Originally posted by Vital Information

Ah, in 1970, I lived in Niles too, near Cumberland and Greenwood. Our family got their fast food primarily from Boobies, on Milwaukee near Dempster. One of these days, I'm gonna do a burgers of my youth expidition to Boobies, Little Louies and a few other joints.

Let me know. I be honored to be your eating partner. Remember Boobie's Big C with cheese? A cheeseburger on marbled rye with fries and the original salad bar. I also enjoyed his fried salami & cheese sandwich on French bread, as well as his ribs. Boobie was my neighbor in the town houses on Washington until his untimely death. He always came off as being gruff, especially when he would insult you upon entering his restaurant. He was really a cream puff with a big heart. His wife then took over and sold the store.

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Originally posted by chicagostyledog

quote:

Originally posted by Vital Information

Ah, in 1970, I lived in Niles too, near Cumberland and Greenwood. Our family got their fast food primarily from Boobies, on Milwaukee near Dempster. One of these days, I'm gonna do a burgers of my youth expidition to Boobies, Little Louies and a few other joints.

Let me know. I be honored to be your eating partner. Remember Boobie's Big C with cheese? A cheeseburger on marbled rye with fries and the original salad bar. I also enjoyed his fried salami & cheese sandwich on French bread, as well as his ribs. Boobie was my neighbor in the town houses on Washington until his untimely death. He always came off as being gruff, especially when he would insult you upon entering his restaurant. He was really a cream puff with a big heart. His wife then took over and sold the store.

If you go to my blog, http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/
you can find out how to reach me. I'd love to do a Booby's nostalgia run. I heard Arvey's closed about a year ago.

Rob