With help from Chicago customers, The Hotdog House is mastering the Chicago dog and more

Tim Harty, The Business Times

Les and Coreen Edwards readily admit they had never heard of a Chicago-style hot dog until they started considering what kind of food trailer they’d like to operate.

Then, when they opened The Hotdog House for business at the northeast corner of North Avenue and 28 Road in mid-July, they started serving Chicago-style hot dogs. Or so they thought that was what they were serving.

They had all of the ingredients: Vienna Beef hot dog on a poppy-seed bun, topped with a dill pickle spear, sweet pickle relish, tomatoes, sport peppers, white onions, yellow mustard and celery salt.

But Coreen used sliced white onion – Uh-oh! – to the horror of some transplanted Chicagoans in Grand Junction.

Les and Coreen quickly learned what they did wrong via social media.

“My first hot dog, I had sliced the onions, so many, beautiful, and laid them out on my hot dog, and the first (social media) post just crushed me,” she said.

A respondent said, “Everyone knows you do not slice onions on a Chicago dog. You dice the onions.”

Coreen added that person came to The Hotdog House the next day and said, “I don’t want to be mean to you, but you can’t serve a Chicago dog here with sliced onions. You got to chop them.”

Lesson learned. Correction made. Chicago customers happy.

Les and Coreen were glad to have the feedback. They want to get it right, and they said their Chicago following has their back.

“People have been really helpful,” Les said. “This old guy and his brother said, ‘We will not let you fail. We’re from Chicago, and we want you to make it here.’ So, yeah, they came down and told me to chop the onions.

“Just so many people have been so nice – you know, that do know how a Chicago dog was supposed to be – so we’ve got just overwhelming positive response off Facebook and so forth.”

The Hotdog House exists for several reasons. The fourth of their four sons, Alex Edwards, will soon open a toy store, Tic Tac Toys, on the lot where the food trailer operates. Alex is still working on getting the building zoned retail instead of office.

In the meantime, Les and Coreen are each 64 years old and nearing retirement. Les said he has sold building materials for Boise Cascade for 20 years, and Coreen has owned a daycare for more than 20 years.

Les said a food trailer on the same lot as his son’s toy store seemed like a good way to help Alex with some bills until the store gets established.

Les said he and Coreen considered selling hand-dipped corn dogs. Then, they learned about Vienna Beef hot dogs and thought maybe they can sell both.

Ultimately, Les said, “Without an extensive restaurant background, we wanted to keep things simple and just go with quality. So, we had the truck built in Boise and brought it down and then are selling Vienna Beef.”

The Chicago-style dog is just one of the varieties of hot dogs on the menu, joined by the likes of a chili dog and a Polish sausage, and Les said they plan to expand the menu.

Several weeks ago, The Hotdog House added an Italian Beef sandwich, another item the Edwards had never heard about, but the Chicago crowd made sure they got it right from the outset. Les said the au jus and Chicago-style giardiniera (a spicy vegetable mix) are especially important, and some customers like enough au jus on their Italian beef sandwich that it runs down their arm when they eat it.

In addition, Alex has been working nearly full-time at The Hotdog House while waiting to proceed with the toy store, and he’s added some fun hot dogs to the mix.

“He’s kind of experimented with some stuff and came up with some creative ideas that are selling really well,” Les said. “He did a pineapple-mango dog and a hot Cheetos dog. He’s creative.

“We’re going to experiment a little bit, but we’re staying true to the Chicago stuff.”

Alex also is experimenting with super fries and using chicken, pork and beef in them.

And for anyone who wants plain ol’ fries, Les said, “Our fries have got really good reviews. Lots of people told us we have the best fries in Grand Junction.”

Les said The Hotdog House can travel to events and has done a few already. However, the super-high percentage of the time it will be parked at 2800 North Ave.

“Primarily it’s here,” he said, “because I didn’t want to be moving around, and I want people to kind of know they could come down here and we’d be here.”