Foodie Finds Continued

This is Day Two of my Best Thing I Ever Ate (a la Food Network) series. As I wrote before, the reason each of these places is special is moreso because of the experience that is linked to it. This is especially the case with today's nomination for the seemingly trivial category of Best Hot Dog.

In 1998, my dad and I took a trip to Chicago, which is where he is from. It was two years after my mom had passed away, and I think it was our first big trip for just the two of us. He wanted to show me his hometown of Morton Grove (right outside the city), tour the city, and of course see a Cubs game. The trip was a while ago, but it is still a vivid memory. I remember scouring the streets to buy a Sammy Sosa jersey before the game, staying at Doubletree Suites so that we could get free chocolate chip cookies, going up in the Sears Tower, going out on the lake at Navy Pier in the Sea Dog speedboat, and most relevant to this post, getting a Chicago-style hot dog and a chocolate malt, just like my dad used to do at Wrigley Field. 1998 was the year in which Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were in the home-run battle, and we got to witness Sammy hit his 43rd home run of the season. My dad informed me that in order for the Wrigley Field experience to be complete, I had to get a Chicago style hot dog. A Chicago style hot dog is on a poppy seed bun and features onions, tomatos, peppers, and then ketchup and mustard are optional (well for some people, it's a neccesity for me). I can still remember sitting at Wrigley Field on a hot August day eating hot dogs and cheering for the Cubbies - and that is why this is one of my favorite food memories.

I would be amiss if I didn't mention the runner-up in this category. Two summers ago, Nathan and I visited Miranda when she was interning in NYC. Though we planned on only staying for the day, there were just too many things to do, and we ended up staying in the city for one more day. We woke up that morning and caught the subway over to Coney Island for the Nathan's hot dog eating contest where Joey Chesnutt made the U.S.A. proud. Afterwards, we got our own Nathan's hot dogs, and they were soooo good, maybe we were just hungry, maybe we just in the spirit of the event, but definitely a great food memory.