Orville and Wilbur's--the hot dogs

Last summer, the Daily Universe ran a story on the Orville and Wilbur's, the "secret snack bar" at the bowling alley at BYU (basement of the WSC). They offer hamburgers (which didn't look very special), chicken wings (which give the place its name), and the Cougar Dog, which some people claim to be a rip-off of J-Dawg's. I dropped by one day to investigate that claim, but first I want to comment on this sentence from the article:

"If a Chicago-style hot dog with sauerkraut and tomatoes, is what students want, the staff can make it. If a New York style hot dog with mustard and ketchup would please the palate, that option is available too."

First of all, sauerkraut and tomatoes don't make a hot dog a Chicago dog. True Chicago dogs don't even have sauerkraut. They have that radioactive green relish that you can apparently only get in Chicago. In addition to the relish, the distinctive features are really the tomatoes, the hot pepper, and the celery salt. For the true Chicago experience close to home, visit The Hotdog King on South State in Orem.

Second, ketchup on a NY hot dog? fuggetaboutit! That's hot dog heresy. (In NYC, ketchup is for kids--or french fries.) There is a famous scene from one of the "Dirty Harry" movies (which I confess not to have seen) where Harry and his partner investigate a scene where some guy has just been gunned down. They're looking down at the guy eating hot dogs. Harry remarks, "That is absolutely sickening." The partner replies, "Yeah, the guy was in the prime of his life, and now look at him." Harry responds, "No, not him, you just put ketchup on a hot dog!" (Anyone got a source for this one?) In Sudden Impact (1983), the writers return to this gag. After confessing that this job is starting to get to him, Harry indicates that it's not the blood or the violence--it's the fact that his partner keeps putting ketchup on his hot dog. He says, "Nobody, but nobody, puts ketchup on a hot dog."

By the way, I had the Cougar Dog with barbecue sauce and onions (the same way I order the J-Dawg). It bears only a slight resemblance. I think the BBQ sauce was probably KC Masterpiece (which is still a good bottled sauce, but not J-Dawg's homemade). And the hot dog was Vienna beef cut the way the J-Dawg's cuts theirs. The Cougar Dog also has a really good bun, but the whole combo isn't as good as the J-Dawg. The Cougar Dog bun would be really good for a cheese steak.