Chili Dogs

        Kimmy was a chili dog afficionado.  She loved chili dogs.  And she knew the best places to get them.  I know I've written about Pott's Hot Dog shop - this was our favorite.  We had a two mile walk home from Liberty High School, and we'd make sure to make our way down Fairview St and  walk by Pott's, grab a chili dog, maybe some Tastykakes and an iced tea.  Sometimes, we'd sit on the bench out front of the shop and eat, or we'd just walk and eat our dogs.  Their motto is 'bite the one you love'.

Here's a photo of a guy robbing Pott's Hot Dog Shop.  I'm pretty sure he's got a ticket punched straight to hell.

        Yocco's was another favorite spot.  They had a great jingle; 'Let's go get Yocco'd!' and had two locations that I remember Kim and I going to.  They had a great deal on six packs of chili dogs. We liked the location on Liberty St., in downtown Allentown, amongst the row homes, it had character.  It was a good 'joint', as Kimmy would like to say.  Now, they have 5 locations, the hot dog business is good.  And a regular dog is only $1.24.  That's a steal.

       
        And then there Shakey Betty's chili dogs.  I don't remember the real name of this neighborhood bar, that was about a block from our high school.  We renamed it.  As loving, caring, high school kids will do.  Betty was the lady who worked the counter, at this bar, that served chili dogs - she had two crock pots.  One for dogs.  One for chili.  They did not serve anything else that I would consider food.  They did have a big jar of pickled eggs - somehow, purple eggs never appealed to us - and a huge jar of dill pickles. 
        Looking back, I guess Betty probably suffered from Parkinson's disease.  She was a suicidal smoker, too.  Often had one hanging from her mouth, one in an ash tray and one ready to light up.  And as she smoked, and the ash on the end of her cigarette grew, her shaking would inevitably dump the ashes in random places. When we'd order, we'd always say 'Hi Betty, we'll take two chili dogs, with mustard'  and then cleverly add 'hold the ashes!'.

           When we moved to Tucson, we discovered the Circle K dogs.  And were immediately hooked on jalapenos!  They certainly added a new dimension to the experience.  We hit multiple Circle K's on our first trip to the Grand Canyon together.  And, when we first moved here, the month of July used to be Circle K customer appreciation month - they'd give out free thirstbusters and hot dogs!  Kim and I would hit a Circle K daily!!


            Then there were the Sonoran hot dogs...wrapped in a thin slice of bacon, and is like a chili dog on steroids!  It usually has beans, tomatoes, onions, mustard, mayo, ketchup, sometimes cheese and some sort of peppers.  They are awesome!  Our friend, Mario's sister's husband, Pepe was the master at making these delacies and at their family functions, he'd make dozens of them working hard to keep up with the demand - Kim thought Pepe's Sonoran dogs were the best - we tried several stands through out Tucson, always enjoyable, but not like Pepe's!

           Sadly, by the time we heard about Pat's Hot Dogs, over on Grande, Kim had cut back her chili dog intake, so we never got to partake - but we heard they were tremendous.

           Tonight, nostagically, Manny and Lupe made chili dogs and invited us over to partake.  Lupe made homemade red chili, which, in itself, was incredible.  They had cheese and jalapenos, in addition to mustard, mayo and ketchup.  And nachos!  We watched some Premeria Liga Mexican soccer (Cruz Azul winning a lopsided match 3-0) and I related Kim's love of a good chili dog to them.  Monsi, Autumn and Antonio watched movies, built legos, screamed that a couch monster was after them and had a great time.  We lost Cody to roller skating with his friend Wyatt around 6:30 and he will sleep over at Wyatt's tonight.
             But, Lupe can cook!  As I said, the chili alone would have been enough.  We had a great time and I'm still trying to get these little chuckleheads in bed.

             Autumn, Tonio and I went out back to say a quick goodnight to Kimmy - it is pretty cold - rained all day and only in the 40's.  I'm sure the mountains got snow.  Cody's track meet got canceled half way through and before he got a chance to showcase his dazzling speed!  There were no stars out tonight, as we said good night just a blanket of clouds...

               Love,
                      Dave