Philly Dawgz

So my first impressions of this place was not that great. Since its located around a school/​hospital it was difficult to pay more than 2.50 for 2 hotdogs. But besides that the food is good. Now I have been to chicago couple times but have no idea what they mean by chicago style hot-​dog.
So I stopped going there for a while until i discovered that they made burritos. That was it for me… I was hooked. Their chicken tikka burritos are amazing and Ive heard so are their paneer ones (vegetarian). Its run by a husband and wife who are very friendly. I go here atleast once a week.
just make sure if you go during lunch time it might be a little crowd so u migh have to wait like 10 mins… so I have started calling them in advance and ordering food for pickup on the phone.

A food informer of mine told me that Philly Dawgz had a Chicago style Hot Dog complete with the neon green relish. Well I had to see this for myself, so broke camp and slid on down to the Temple University area.
I walked into the spot around 6 pm and there was only 1 customer there, and I noticed the walls were plastered with posters of Hot Dogs, Polish sausage and other foods.
I went to the counter and ordered a Chicago Dog with all the trimmings. I asked the owner, a delightful guy named Stan, if he had the neon green relish and he replied «yes, I’m the only one in Philly that has it and I use the poppy seeded hot dog bun and Vienna Beef hot dogs and sausages. The Dog came and it was just like the ones I had in Chicago, piled high with the relish, tomato, onion, mustard, peppers and a kosher pickle spear. Talk about your daily servings of veggies! And most of all it was delicious!
But the star of the show wasn’t the hot dog, it was the owner Stan. He migrated here from India over 30 years ago and he was penniless so he lived in Atlantic City. Under the Boardwalk. For 2 years. His belongings in a shopping cart. He finally got a job at a hotel and worked his way to Philly, working at all the major hotels here before opening his own restaurant.
Since it wasn’t busy, he sat down with me and talked about improving his business and I gave him the same advice I give people from other countries selling food here. I ask them to sell a version of your product prepare in the style of your homeland, for instance I suggested that he serve a hot dog in Indian bread with a Masala sauce and I swear I saw A light bulb over his head!
I don’t know if it’s just me, but It pains me to see all the Dominicans, Koreans etc selling Cheese steaks and Hoagies. I hope Stan makes it there and his spot is between my house and Center City and it will be like dropping in on a old friend.

I spent a large portion of life in Chicago and while there ate way too much Chicago-​style street food. I had it all and learned to love it. Seeing that this was a chain and one that doesn’t even have a branch in Chicago, I thought this place would totally suck. I told myself I wasn’t even going to give it a try because there would be no way it would live up to my expectations. Then one day I got a little nostalgic for the good ol’ days, caved in, and gave it a try.
I firmly believe that a good Chicago-​style dog is as good as it gets in the hot dog world. Anyone who says otherwise is just plain wrong Nothing else compares. For the uninitiated, a true Chicago-​style hot dog is a steamed, all beef, natural casing sausage placed in a fluffy poppy seed bun and topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomatoes, sport peppers, and celery salt. It should never, and I repeat, never include ketchup. Philly Dawgz really surprised me with a legit dog. Sure it’s no Hot Doug’s, Superdawg, or Gene and Jude’s, but they got everything correct, right down the neon green relish. The even use Vienna Beef. Very tasty – nicely done.
The Italian Beef on the other hand is not even close to some of the better Beefs in Chicago. A good Italian beef beats out a cheesesteak any day in my book. The meat is supposed to soak in a glorious jus of meat juice, garlic, and other Italian spices for hours and hours (much like the roasted pork you find in Philly). The sandwich should be soaking in garlicky, savory goodness. This stuff tasted like cold cuts were warmed up in a microwave in comparison – very weak. The only saving grace was the giardiniera (a pickled condiment made up of hot peppers and various other veggies). Boy do I miss giardiniera.
Overall I’m glad that Chicago-​style food is being made available outside of Chicago. Though for customers, a franchised fast food place probably isn’t the best way to find out how glorious it really is. Philly Dawgz is a decent option if you’re craving some Chicago-​style chow or want to try it for the first time. Just don’t expect anything amazing.

I wanted to hate Philly Dawgz.
I loathe the utilization of the letter «z» to replace my beloved «s» when pluralizing a word. I despise restaurants that can’t seem to get some coherence to the menu (Philly Dawgz boasts a diverse menu whose sections include: hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, Austin BBQ, and Latin Flavors).
Needless to say, my first impression of the establishment was not good.
I tried the Chicago Style Fully Dressed Philly hot dog, described as a «100% Vienna Beef Dawg stuffed in a poppy seed bun topped with yellow mustard, neon green relish, diced onions, tomato wedges, pickle wedge, sport peppers and a dash of celery salt.»
It sounds great until you take a bite out of it. I was ridiculously underwhelmed.
That being said, I decided to give them another shot and try their bbq beef sandwich. They offered to put any of their toppings on it, which was very cool. My chosen toppings were onion, tomato, and jalapeño pepper. It was pretty darn good and earned this establishment a 3-​star review. The spicy rice side was OK.
on the action-​movie-​parallel-​satisfaction-​scale, this establishment is Romeo Must Die.