And now, they’re little, and cute, and their mission is clear! To bring a little bit of Chicago into our life.  The real Chicago, that brought you inch thick deep dish stuffed pizzas harboring two pound of cheese, and beefsteak hoagies with spreadable cheese sauce, and of course the one thing you can’t take a trip to Chicago without: the authentic Chicago hot dog.  You’ll know it when you see it.  It’s pretty unique, and it has to fit a certain criteria.  It must be an all-beef Vienna sausage.  It must come topped with onions, tomato slices, hot peppers, and a whole pickle spear, and neon green, psychedelic, glow in the dark relish.  This is not a naturally occurring pickle they use for this stuff.  Its nuclear relish.  Also the bun must be covered in poppy seeds.  That’s the rules.  If you are missing just one of these elements it is NOT a real Chicago hot dog.  And JK burgers & dogs in the Renaissance Center in La Jolla understands that responsibility.  They take it seriously, and they deliver real, Chicago eats.

They have real shakes, actual beef and cool toppings for their all angus burgers, like Kim Chee or a fried egg.  They even have the other Chicago staple, bratwurst with onions.  Unfortunately, my eyes tend to be bigger than my stomach so I didn’t get a chance to try everything I wanted to but I’m going back.  Today in fact, so that would be a good way for some of you folks to meet me if you were so inclined.  just don’t bother me when I’m eating, that tends to bring out the Canadian yeti in me.

It’s hard to find real Chicago food here in San Diego; remember what a big deal we made of it when we found Lefties Real Chicago style pizza?  We were so happy we gave them a wooden plaque with stars all over it.

Check them out at www.jkburgers.com and get a real taste of Chicago, without the airfare.  I just love this place.  Delicious meats, real chips and fries.  Now all they have to do is talk about Ditka a bit more and they’d totally have it.