Bacon Cheese Dog from Five Guys - $???

1249 Quintilio Drive, Bear, DE - 302.832.7555

Here's the bacon cheese dog to follow up the bacon cheeseburger. I gotta say, not really much difference.

Chicago Hot Dog from Portillo's - $2.25

950 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - (630)961-1151

Here's a genuine Chicago hotdog. It's a Vienna Beef "all beef" hot dog, with a dill pickle spear, chopped onions, tomato slices or wedges, yellow mustard, sweet relish, sport peppers, and celery salt, all on a poppy seed bun.

There are two things to notice about that list. Firstable, there's no ketchup. Supposedly, it's taboo to put ketchup on a Chicago dog, so don't do it unless you want to be scrutinized as an outsider. Secondly, I put "all-beef" in quotes because my friend told me that Vienna Beef was recently sued for not being all-beef. Instead, they use sheep casings on their dogs. That's close enough for me, but some people out there are kosher fanatics.

The important thing is, it's a damn good hot dog. It's probably my favorite style hot dog and I've tried to be unbiased about it too.

Polish Sausage from Jim's Original - $3.25

1250 S Union Ave, Chicago, IL - (312)733-7820

I had a recurring dream about this Polish sausage for over five months. In my dream, I would crave one of these and set out to get one, but then never reach the restaurant. That had to be one of the most frustrating dreams I've ever had, so you can imagine how delighted I was to finally get to eat one.

Of course, it's hard to meet expectations like that, but man, that was one satisfying Polish sausage. Objectively speaking, it's a very basic Polish sausage with only grilled onions, mustard, and hot peppers, but there's something very alluring about it all. My friend and I actually both concur that it tastes better without the peppers too. Also, did I mention that it's open 24x7? That probably has something to do with it.

Texas Tommy from Johnnie's Dog House - $3.50

3401 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE - (302)477-1440

The Texas Tommy is a hot dog wrapped in bacon, then deep-fried and finally topped with cheese.

This hot dog is good, but I feel like it has potential to be SPECTACULAR if it has a little something extra. Maybe chili? Maybe onion rings? I don't know. Mostly, it tastes like a solid foundation for something even better.

One thing's for certain though - this experience has taught me that EVERYTHING should be wrapped in bacon.... starting with my toothbrush.

Michigan Style Chili Dog from Johnnie's Dog House - $2.95

3401 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE - (302)477-1440

It's just yellow mustard, chili, and chopped onions on a regular hot dog. Now, I can't say that I've had a Michigan Style chili dog before so I can't tell you how close this is to the real deal. But what I CAN tell you is that after this experience, I would happily try another one. Good stuff.