We’re up to six weeks on this doggone hot dog tour which means we’re about halfway done! Summer will be over in about six weeks…time flies when you’re eating hot dogs every week like clockwork…orange!

This week we’re headed off to a hot dog eatery that’s been serving up frankfurters in Pioneer Park for years, the Chicago Grill. And we’re meeting not one, not two but a trifecta of guest stars!

Hot dog, let’s make tracks to the Chicago Grill!

Here we are at the Chicago Grill in Pioneer Park. This place has been here as long as I can remember…but then I can’t remember much past last night…so maybe it just opened up! Who knows?

They have outside seating, but we’ll sit inside because I’m not a fan of the outside, especially during daylight hours.

You order up at that counter, but, as always, I’m obscenely early, so I’ll wander around and take some photos.

They have tables and comfortable booths to sit at and enjoy your food in here.

The tables are covered with sports trading cards, most of them from Chicago, of course!

I love the hot dog art on the walls, perfect for today’s blog!

There’s a glowing photo of Peoria along with two positive reviews from the PJ Star.

That’s a newspaper that you just don’t walk in off the street and write for, in case you didn’t know. You have to crawl in from a vomit and feces filled gutter and then they’ll happily employ you and embrace you as one of their own…the more you know!

Da Bears!

That’s a signed photo of Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers, two Chicago Bears legends!

There’s an excercise bike if you want to peddle away the calories you just put on in here!

I settled into a booth and the fact that the salt shaker doesn’t fit into the stand is setting my OCD on fire!

It’s getting to a fever pitch level as I tried to jam it in there, but luckily our guest stars have arrived, so I can let this go!

There’s Amber, Joe and Julie and they’re all looking absolutely fabulous! It’s a real treat to have them join me for lunch and hang out for the afternoon!

A fun fact is that yesterday was Julie’s birthday! I commissioned my old friend, Island Ed to write a special birthday song for Julie and here it is…take it away, Island Ed!

That’s fantastic, Island Ed, thanks so much!

Happy Birthday, Julie!

And now…we return to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress!

We went up to order and there was a couple ahead of us, so we studied the many styles of hot dogs to choose from.

So many hot dogs and so little time!

Rose, who owns the Chicago Grill took our orders and flashed a pretty smile for the MBIP Camera.

There’s Rose and her co-worker cooking our order in the kitchen!

And here’s our food, that was fast!

From the top: Of course Julie got a Chicago Dog, you can read our debate about the Chicago Dog vs. the NYC Hot Dog by scrolling down in this post, Amber also get the Chicago Dog, she and Julie both ordered them just to taunt me, Joe got the Maxwell Street Sausage and I had the good sense and sanity to order a New York styled dog with mustard and onions.

We split an order of chicken wings, they have “Suicide Wings” on the menu, but Rose said they discontinued them because they were too hot.

So we tried the “Failed Suicide Attempt Wings” and they were good, but could have been a little more life-threatening, in my humble opinion.

There’s Amber and Joe sampling the wings and Julie dove mouth first into that frightening thing known as a “Chicago Dog!”

I took a bite from my sane, New York style hot dog and it was delicious, juicy and perfectly made!

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Hot Dog Rating

The hot dogs here are Vienna Beef hot dogs and they are pure beefy deliciousness!

They have a nice flavor and mine was topped off with mustard and onions and it gets a high rating of three and a half Wienermobiles. The bakery-fresh poppy seed bun was the icing on this dog!