On June 28th, 2008 at around 7:45 p.m., the quest to find the perfect Chicago-style hot dog began. I don't know exactly how Frodo Baggins, Don Quixote, or the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics felt when they all began their respective quests, but to be quite honest, my stomach hurt a little. Stomach rumblings aside, I was ready to take on the gazillions of hot dog joints in Chicagoland, and I decided to start close to home.
Plush Pup, located at 5344 S. Cumberland, is just a few blocks outside my native Park Ridge. During my days back at Maine South High School, Plush Pup was a favorite place to go after track practices. However, the goal of this quest is to be objective and pure, so the sentiment goes by the wayside.
You can get a "Plush Dog" for $2.35, but I opted for the combo package at $5.25 which got me a "Plush Dog", an order of fries, and a drink. The first thing I noticed about the dog was that there weren't any hot peppers, but instead there was a single cucumber slice. My friend Christine told me this isn't that out of the ordinary, but I had never seen it.
Along with that, you had the standard: tomato slices, onions, relish, mustard, Vienna dog, and a poppy-seed bun. There were a ton of onions on both mine and my friend Kayla's, so that leads me to believe that that is the norm at Plush Pup. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing because I felt like it made it a bit sweeter. The bun itself was not stale but really soft, however, my one gripe with the Plush Dog was that it was very hard to keep together. This made it a bit messy, but I'm not adverse to eating with my hands so I really didn't mind all that much. All in all it was a great dog, as all the flavors really seemed to come together. By default the Plush Dog jumps to the top of the leader board.
There was a good portion of fries, but I found myself having to put a lot of salt on them. I would say 5.25 is a tad higher than you'd like for this combo, but it is not back-breaking. A Plush Pup employee who went by the name of "Cayo" (who has been working there as long as it has been open), informed me that the restaurant stands out because of its large portions. The interior of Plush Pup was roomy with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, and was set in a '50's retro style, which was kind of cool.
A great place to go in my opinion. It is about a 3 block walk South from the Cumberland stop on the Blue Line.
