> What's that from?  One of my favorite dives is a 
> midwest chain called Maid Rite.  Maid Rite sandwiches 
> are steamed hamburger crumbles on a bun, and 
> everything means mustard, pickles and onions. 
> Everything does not include ketchup. 
That sounds fantastic. Is there a franchise in the Chicago area? I'm actually a Chicago-style hot dog partisan. 'Everything' includes a Vienna Beef dog, yellow mustard, bright green relish, onions, tomato wedges, pickle spear or slice, and a dash of celery salt. Served in a steamed poppyseed bun, of course. "Everything" may or may not include sport peppers. This might be my favorite part of ordering a hot dog in Chicago: saying "everything" but still getting to choose hot peppers or not.

I usually choose to take peppers, but I only leave them on until I'm ready to eat the dog, then I remove them. I just like the lingering heat from their juices. The stand near my home has recently started to substitute jalapeno peppers for the standard sport peppers. I'm thinking of calling my alderman to report this travesty.

The fries there are still great, but I can't recommend it to my friends anymore, since the dogs they're building are no longer regulation. Could be worse, I guess, they could be putting ketchup on them.

Ketchup is possibly the worst use of tomatoes I can think of. Even in New York, they know this.