Airports are nothing but glorified bus stops with bad food. But every once in a while you stumble across a good little place that you have to go back to when you fly in or out of an airport. And at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago one of those places is Gold Coast Dogs.
Gold Coast Dogs has been in business since 1985 when Irv and Thelma Potekin scraped together their last few dollars to open a hot dog restaurant on North Wabash. They wanted the restaurant to serve the highest quality food with great service for a fast food joint. They named their hot dog place after the ritzy "Gold Coast" neighborhood of Chicago just north of the downtown area. After awhile, their reputation began to get out and today they have 13 Gold Coast Dog locations across the Chicago area.
The Gold Coast hot dogs are a little different than most of the others in the Chicago area. Not only do they steam the all-beef weiner, but they also offer a char-broiled hot dog with the same toppings as a typical Chicago hot dog. It has a distinctive taste to it - one that I kind of like.
Gold Coast Dogs also offer burgers and Italian beef sandwiches, although I've only tried the hot dogs when I go to the one at O'Hare. Actually, I get one steamed and one charred. The taste of the two are sort of 180 degrees away from each other, but they're both very good.
If I'm flying American Airlines through Chicago, I try to stop and get a couple hot dogs at Gold Coast Dogs in the Halsted Street Food Court in Terminal 3. It's sort of tough to find, but it's worth going a little out of your way for a great Chicago hot dog.
Update - Gold Coast Dogs closed their O'Hare main terminal location much to my unhappiness. However, they still have a location open in the International Terminal (Terminal 5) at O'Hare and at Midway Airport. But since I usually don't fly through Midway - ever - I'll have to go to one of their other free standing locations when I want a Gold Coast hot dog.)
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