DINER REVIEW: Pam's Chicago Style Hot Dogs And More

More Or Less

Pam's Chicago Style Hot Dogs and more. I guess the "more" includes and average breakfast.

I always get excited about the stuff in the Loop and stuff they have developed with the Pageant on the east side of Skinker. It is good for the city to have the Loop and the Pageant and Joe Edwards (no longer a rebel but an establishment millionaire) has done an impressive job. I was even more excited to find out that a new hot dog place had opened which also served breakfast. The mind boggles. You can hit Blueberry Hill for breakfast food but not necessarily during breakfast hours so a breakfast place on the Loop... we need it.

So it was with excitement, AND charity in my heart that I made my sojourn to the “east loop”. This place resides in an unremarkable little building right across from the Wabash Metrolink Station (where there may or may not have been gang violence recently). There is no street parking currently so you park in a gated lot to the east (where they soon will be charging you for event parking). So parking is not ideal but it does work.

Upon entering I feel confused and disoriented much in the same way as I feel entering into any State Office Building with out current administration. There is a counter (which is promising) but no stools (not promising). I do not know whether they will take my order or not when I sit down or whether I will have to go to the counter, place an order and then sit. I do not need to deal with things that are not clear. It is morning. i have a newspaper, I need to read and wake up.

I sit. i read about Albert Pujols having a lower batting average with runners in scoring position. I think lower then what. I realize no one will take my order. I go to the counter. lady is friendly and helpful and I order off of paper menu at counter. I order biscuits and gravy with some sausage patties and hash-browns and an iced tea. I pay. it is almost 8 bucks. When I pay 8 bucks I want a waitress.

They hand me a cup. That can be good. I go to where the drinks are hoping for a vat of iced tea but instead am confronted with “The North Peak Tea System”. This is where they have something shaped like a vat of brewed tea but instead it is a clever way to give you a choice between two “flavored” not brewed iced teas. it is at best an abomination and I begin to lose heart. There is soft adult contemporary rock playing softly. The decor is nice with slate floors, new rock walls and heavy chairs at the tables.

I read some more and inspect the Vienna Hot Dog sign. I have always been suspicious of Vienna Hot Dogs. They are not from Vienna. I think i have been to their factory in Chicago. The casing is too heavy.... but I digress.
My food comes. It is on a plastic plate (my drink by the way came in a styrofoam cum). The hash-browns are shredded and mushy. The gravy seems store bought and is grayish and thinnish and that is two too many ishes for this diner. the sausage is unremarkable and along with the fake tea and the soft rock... I am done with this place. it will be closed (at least for breakfast) before the year is out. Try them while they are open.... for lunch.

5 Slingers on the 10 scale.