Burgers or hot dogs?

Today I was on my way to lunch with a few of the guys from work. I was driving Blue as usual when we go out on Fridays. We decided to try something new and were on our way to Hamburger Works on 15th Ave. After navigating through the rocky construction terrain of Cental Avenue we finally turned on Thomas only to be met with a sign telling us 15th Avenue was closed.

To avoid further traffic frustration we u-turned and ended up at a Chicago style hot dog joint. Here's a rundown of the items we ate.... italian beef... they pour au jus on the bread not the meat so the overall reaction was not great, meat too dry. Polish dog, not bad he said, nice bun. Italian sausage with onion and peppers--a habenero may have snuck in, making this eater less than happy. Jumbo chili dog and cheese fries-- Bun nice and soft, chili half bean-half meat. Cheese fries nothing special. Overall-- Cheap meal left us still hungry and wishing we'd tried to find the burger joint.

Growing up in IL I used to eat at the Velvet Freeze (known to the oldtimers as Fred's Hotdogs). Fresh brewed rootbeer and lip-smacking-meat-sauce-covered hot dogs in a warm fresh bun. The WORKS would get you relish, onion, mustard, and ketchup. My parents loved the works. My brother only ate them plain cuz he was a picky eater. And I would take everything but the relish and onion. It became a tradition after I went to college that we'd always go to Fred's to get dogs and take them over to my grandparents house for lunch one day when I was in town. Each dog came wrapped in a white parchment paper with its code written in charcoal pen and was delicately placed in a plain brown paper bag with the rest of the family's. You have to have 2 or 3 dogs to be satisified but boy oh boy do they hit the spot. No dog like it in the world! If you ever get out to Peoria, IL be sure to find a Velvet Freeze!