I'm in Phoneix this week, doing Spring Training. The last time I was here, I was working on my MBA thesis, and getting a fine collection of "off-spec" collectibles from various organizations.
So, things have changed in 12 years. Spring Training is a much bigger business than it was before. And part of that is that a number of parks have been replaced with newer parks.
Hohokam, where the Cubs play, is one of these. The last time I was here, Hohokam was a high school park with delusions of grandeur, but it had one thing the shiny new Hohokam park doesn't have.
You could actually get a "Chicago-style hot dog" at the park.
I'm not going to go into which is the best hot dog, because we all have our own opinions (completely misguided that the "Dodger Dog" crowd might be) but if you're going to get a Chicago-style, there are some rules:
1. It's a Vienna Beef hot dog
2. It comes on a poppy seed bun
3. It does *not* have ketchup
4. It *does* have glow-in-the-dark green relish, onions, sport peppers, pickle spears, celery salt, and tomato slices
Both the concession stands at Hohokam, *and* the "real Chicago Hot Dog" cart break rules 2-4. The buns are generic, there are no nuclear-green relish, tomatoes, etc, available at the concession stand (the cart has a lonely shaker of celery salt), and #3 is violated by the stadium having a standard concessions table of mustard, ketchup, regular relish, jalapeno slices, onions, and sauerkraut. At other places I would applaid having that many options available for hot dogs, but this is supposed to be an extension of Chicago.
At the old Hohokam, you could get a hot dog and and Old Style beer from a stand run by local volunteers. You ordered in one line, told them what you wanted on your hot dog, and picked it and the beer up in another line (allows the under 21 to take orders, but not have to deliver them--clever).
Now? I guess that now the Cubs are their own marketing concept, they don't have to deliver the goods.
*sigh*--they just don't make them like they used to.....
Recent Comments