CONSTELLATIONS // THE BEST BITES IN CHICAGO AND PHILLY
Hunting for Bears and Dogs
In search of the perfect Chicago-style hot dog croissant and Philly pretzel innovation
by Diana Lu
EXCERPT //
On my first home-hunting trip, I primarily ate around Wicker Park and Logan Square. The servers and town gossips behind the bar told me everything I needed to know about the neighborhoods at all hours, while I people-watched and dug into comfort food at Dove’s Luncheonette and rustic Alpine cuisine at Table, Donkey and Stick. I roamed the corridors and a few residential side streets, trying to imagine myself calling this place home. Did these feel like the kinds of houses I’d like to see every day? Are there more neighbors than shoppers or visitors from other neighborhoods? It was very gray and misty this first trip in January; I tried to brace myself for the harsh Chicago winters, overdramatizing in my mind the most brutal icy accidents depicted on ER.
The last thing I ate, and the most memorable, was a Chicago-style hot dog croissant at Daisies. My friend Ilknur chose our lunch spot, a restaurant by night and bakery café by day. We both gasped when a glorious new tray appeared of poppyseed-dusted pastries with Vienna beef dogs sticking out, each topped with dill pickle spear, pickled pepper, and tomato. By the time we made it to the front of the line, the tray was nearly empty, just enough remaining for the two of us. Ilknur let me know how true to the classic it really was while I marveled at every detail—croissant dough, mastered by a Michelin green-starred chef (an award for sustainability), filled with yellow mustard, onions, celery salt, and bright, unnaturally green relish. I had never seen such a thing! I was incredulous. Why does it have to be that color? That makes it authentic, she told me. I grew up eating hot dog pastries from Asian bakeries, so I already knew that I’d love it. My first Chicago-style dog was both familiar and entirely different. So delicious and easy—it just worked.
Later research made my heart skip. I didn’t know how lucky I was. That croissant was a special one-month collaboration between Daisies and Wieners Circle, a famous hot dog stand in Lincoln Park. I can only taste this interpretation of a Chicago icon in my memories, but it was as true and pure a source as they come.//
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