I was introduced to the culinary wonder that is the Chicago-style hot dog in the mid-1980s, courtesy of the Hot Dog Connection, a family-owned restaurant that occupied a space just south of the intersection of 71st Street and Mingo Road for close to two decades.
The Gaffen family were natives of the Chicago area and made it a point to bring as authentic a taste of Chicago to Tulsa as possible, starting with the Vienna Beef brand franks they had imported from points north.
On top of this garlicky-peppery all-beef sausage, grilled to give its natural casing a hearty crunch, was arrayed slices of tomato, a stripe of yellow mustard, a healthy dollop of sweet and tangy neon-green relish, a spear of kosher dill pickle, a scattering of chopped onions, a few spicy bullets that hid under the tame moniker âsport peppersâ and a dash of celery salt.