Decisive

Barack Obama picks up the crucial Gray's Papaya endorsement in Hillary Clinton's hometown (it's a great place to get a cheap hot-dog when it's late at night and you're drunk/high and in high school . . . under other circumstances your results may vary). The proprietor turns out to have a pretty typical "wine track" endorsement record, including Bill Bradley during the 2000 cycle.

UPDATE: That photo's by Flickr user Doobybrain used under a Creative Commons license. And, yes, ketchup on hot dogs is an abomination.

Comments

under other circumstances your results may vary

It's great when you're drunk/high and in college or after as well.

Posted by right | March 3, 2008 5:41 PM

Ketchup? Really?

Posted by Ryno | March 3, 2008 5:42 PM

What is that crap on those hot dogs?

Posted by Kevin | March 3, 2008 5:44 PM

Don't forget to mention why they are endorsing him now. They were for a Bloomberg run before, but changed after he dropped out this week.

Posted by Dan Panorama | March 3, 2008 5:45 PM

That is an awfully strange, foreign sounding word, this "Papaya," and I'm not sure we are ready yet to trust our hot dog issues to this man until this is thoroughly explored by our conservative talk radio experts.

Posted by El Cid | March 3, 2008 5:47 PM

Ketchup? Blasphemy.

Posted by firebrand | March 3, 2008 5:47 PM

Clearly Hillary has the better of this comparison.

Obama is the hot dog candidate: flashy, but narrow and lacking in substance. (With suspicious foreign additives like Sauerkraut, or Tony Rezko)

Clinton is (by process of elimination) the hamburger candidate. Meaty, substantial, and all-American. (With the heavenly crunch of pickle)

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night.

Posted by heedless | March 3, 2008 5:47 PM

What is all that disgusting looking stuff on the hot dogs?

Posted by blah | March 3, 2008 5:51 PM

Probably because Papaya King endorsed Hillary last month.

(And, in any event, Chelsea Papaya is better than them both.)

Posted by Al | March 3, 2008 5:54 PM

Now it hits me. In increasing level of tastiness (heck, you can't even get chili on your dog at Gray's):

Gray's Papaya = Obama
Papaya King = Hillary
Chelsea Papaya = McCain

OK, the likelihood that anyone in Chelsea would endorse McCain is nil, but it would make for a good story.

Posted by Al | March 3, 2008 5:57 PM

No pickle, no relish? I trust that Mr. Obama will denounce and reject the maker of these inferior east coast hot dogs. To do otherwise would be to betray his hometown...

Posted by Kraz | March 3, 2008 5:58 PM

The only thing to put on a hot dog is mustard. Plochman's, while we're throwing around brand names.

Well, when in Chicago, it's ok to have them Chicago-style, but 99.99% of the time I'm not in Chicago.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | March 3, 2008 6:03 PM

You already know Matt is fully down with Heinz Ketchup being the perfect food.

Posted by Rob | March 3, 2008 6:17 PM

I'd just like to point out that frankfurters are actually pretty bad food for when you're high if only because one can easily make the transition from laughing to choking on them.

Papayas, on the other hand, are EXCEPTIONAL.

Posted by V. | March 3, 2008 6:18 PM

ketchup -- already determined to be a veggie therefore creating a well-balanced meal on the FDA pyramid "scheme" --

Posted by mike c | March 3, 2008 6:20 PM

No pickle, no relish? I trust that Mr. Obama will denounce and reject the maker of these inferior east coast hot dogs. To do otherwise would be to betray his hometown...

Well, in fairness, Obama addressed this issue in his autobiography. He put ketchup on his hot dogs a few times in high school, but only because he was struggling to come to terms with his socio-culinary identity. Since moving to Chicago he's been very clear that the only acceptable hot dog toppings are mustard, relish, tomatoes, pickles, celery salt, and onions. Now, some say that he can't win the election unless he denounces his pastor, who's on the record preferring caramelized onions to raw onions. But I think that's an issue about which reasonable people can disagree.

On the other hand I could never vote for McCain--his solution to every problem is to slather ketchup all over it.

Posted by JB | March 3, 2008 6:21 PM

Grey's Papaya isn't a wine track endorsement. How can a dive that offers two hot dogs and a drink for $3.50 in Manhattan be considered wine track? Box of wine track, yes.

Posted by joejoejoe | March 3, 2008 6:21 PM

(it's a great place to get a cheap hot-dog when it's late at night and you're drunk/high and in high school . . . under other circumstances your results may vary)

The "in high school" part is not to be taken lightly. More mature palates may find it necessary to be very drunk indeed before a Grey's Papaya dog tastes "great."

A Nathan's dog, however, is a different story.

Posted by James Gary | March 3, 2008 6:25 PM

Well, in fairness, Obama addressed this issue in his autobiography. He put ketchup on his hot dogs a few times in high school, but only because he was struggling to come to terms with his socio-culinary identity.

Oh, come on. Everybody knows that only Muslims eat ketchup on their hot dogs.

Posted by Al | March 3, 2008 6:26 PM

With great reluctance, butn ot for the first time, I have to say:
Al is right. (Not about the McCain comparo, but Chelsea is the superior purveyor of hot beef injections. Me, I'd think I'd call McCain Beard Papa: Charming, old, and full of shit.)

Posted by max | March 3, 2008 6:26 PM

I dunno what's in them, but they're the best tasting hot dogs I've ever eaten.

(I suspect the ketchup in the photo is just for color, to make up for the fact that you can't smell the incredible aroma. Well, unless you used to eat them and have a good memory, like me. I'm salivating as I type.)

I used to get a kick out of one of the many signs in the Gray's Papaya window:

"We're talking French fries!"

I never got French fries there, but I was tempted to try them to find out what they were saying.

Posted by Swift Loris | March 3, 2008 6:28 PM

Barack Obama picks up the crucial Gray's Papaya endorsement in Hillary Clinton's hometown...

Her hometown? She was born and raised in Chicago, lived in Little Rock for the better part of two decades, and now lives in Chappaqua. Obviously, that means her hometown is...New York City!

WTF?

Posted by gustav | March 3, 2008 6:29 PM

I think we need to know what the hot dog vendors who backed Edwards think about their plans to endorse or not soon.

By the way, I don't care if the snobs don't like it, if I have to eat a regular hot dog (you know, not a real sausage), the good ol' NC / SC variety with chili, mustard, slaw, and onions are just fine.

Because, you know, that's the kind of hot dogs that were eaten by the son of a mill worker, and I grew up in a mill town myself, and that's the kind of people we are representing now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dog_variations

http://www.thevarsity.com/menu.php?action=viewcat&mCat_id=1

Posted by El Cid | March 3, 2008 6:30 PM

By the way, I don't care if the snobs don't like it, if I have to eat a regular hot dog (you know, not a real sausage), the good ol' NC / SC variety with chili, mustard, slaw, and onions are just fine.

What bothers me about this isn't that it's a chili dog--everyone understands that access to an good chili dog is crucial. I'm more concerned by Clinton's plan to make everyone buy a chili dog even if they can only afford a hot dog. That's not the kind of proposal you'd expect from a candidate who promises that she'll be "ready to eat on day one."

Posted by JB | March 3, 2008 6:43 PM

I've heard that Hilary would likely make Bill the National Hot Dog Czar.

Posted by blah | March 3, 2008 6:48 PM

Same thought as gustav. But she wasn't raised (born, yes) in Chicago any more than she currently lives in NYC. Park Ridge, baby.

Posted by zaleriana | March 3, 2008 7:09 PM

In light of recent polling results, I am getting genuinely worried about the possibility that Matt's (and Gray's Papaya) election anti-predictions may have real causal power. Before the night is up, Matt, could you please re-predict a Hillary primary victory? I'm serious.

Posted by CG | March 3, 2008 8:09 PM

Matt: "ketchup on hot dogs is an abomination."

Screw you, Matt! I put ketchup on hot dogs all the time!

Now you get the William S. Burroughs "A.J., Merchant of Sex" story all over again for your insult!

"I was working for an outfit known as Islam Inc., financed by A. J., the notorious Merchant of Sex, who scandalized international society when he appeared at the Duc de Ventre's ball as a walking penis covered by huge condom emblazoned with the A. J. motto "They Shall Not Pass."

"Rather bad taste, old boy," said the Duke.

To which A. J. replied: "Up yours with Interzone K.Y." The reference is to the K.Y. scandal which was still in a larval state at that time. A. J.'s repartee often refers to future events. He is a master of the delayed squelch.

A. J. once reserved a table a year in advance at Chez Robert where a huge, icy gourmet broods over the greatest cuisine in the world. So baneful and derogatory is his gaze that many a client, under that withering blast, has rolled on the floor and pissed all over himself in convulsive attempts to ingratiate.

So A. J. arrives with six Bolivian Indians who chew coca leaves between courses. And when Robert, in all his gourmet majesty, bears down on the table, A. J. looks up and yells: "Hey, Boy! Bring me some ketchup." (Alternative: A. J. whips out a bottle of ketchup and douses the haute cuisine. )

Thirty gourmets stop chewing at once. You could have heard a souffle drop. As for Robert, he lets out a bellow of rage like a wounded elephant, runs to the kitchen and arms himself with a meat cleaver.... The Sommelier snarls hideously, his face turning a strange iridescent purple.... He breaks off a bottle of Brut Cham- pagne... '26.... Pierre, the Head Waiter, snatches up a boning knife. All three chase A. J. through the res- taurant with mangled inhuman screams of rage.... Tables overturn, vintage wines and matchless food crash to the floor.... Cries of "Lynch him!" ring through the air. An elderly gourmet with the insane bloodshot eyes of a mandrill, is fashioning a hangman's knot with a red velvet curtain cord.... Seeing himself cornered and in imminent danger of dismemberment at least, A.J. plays his trump card.... He throws back his head and lets out a hog call; and a hundred famished hogs he had stationed nearby rush into the restaurant, slopping the haute cuisine. Like a great tree Robert falls to the fioor in a stroke where he is eaten by the hogs: "Poor bastards don't know enough to appreciate him," says A. J."

Remember - ketchup is a VEGETABLE!

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | March 3, 2008 8:41 PM

As someone who grew up in suburban dc eating hebrew nationals cooked on the jenn-air, I find hot-dog nationalism a bit strange. For me, it's when in Rome, etc...

high and/or drunk in manhattan, a grey's papaya is a glorious experience.

stumbling home drunk and or high from a cubs game, nothing in the world beats a trip to the Wiener's Circle.

I'd like to know where the candidates stand on chicago vs. new york pizza. Now THERE's an important question. (Hint: The correct answer is: New Haven.)

Posted by djslippyb | March 3, 2008 8:51 PM

Obama needs to stop by the incomparable Hot Doug's in Chicago.

Hell, Doug would probably name one after him. Unless he's a Hillary man, which I find inconceivable.

Posted by live | March 3, 2008 9:13 PM

And, yes, ketchup on hot dogs is an abomination.

Dude. This is a hot dog we're talking about, not freakin' filet mignon.

Even a good-quality, kosher, all-beef hot dog is made of the parts of the cow that nobody else had any use for. There's really nothing you can do to a hot dog that would qualify as an abomination, other than shredding it and sprinkling it over someone's filet mignon.

Posted by low-tech cyclist | March 3, 2008 9:21 PM

"Since moving to Chicago he's been very clear that the only acceptable hot dog toppings are mustard, relish, tomatoes, pickles, celery salt, and onions."

And sport peppers. How could you possibly leave off sport peppers? You're just as bad as my mother in law, who thinks she can order "everything, no peppers." That's not everything, nor can it be.

Posted by Aaron | March 3, 2008 9:23 PM

BAH! I say BAH!!! Anyone who can't appreciate ketchup on a hot dog is objectively worse than 70 Hitlers.

Posted by Miller | March 3, 2008 9:23 PM

I avoid ketchup on anything. Even fries, where I prefer malt vinegar or barbecue sauce or mustard.

Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | March 3, 2008 9:28 PM

Miller-

As a Mets fan, let me just say that not only do I agree, I must add that the only way it's possible to eat one at Shea is with ketchup, mustard, and the blood of the innocent, because that's the only way it's going to taste good.

Now, I could never understand the obsession with Gray's when I grew up in the city, especially since I now go to college in Chicago with dogs that are, frankly, superior to anything I had in Manhattan.

Of course, if Hillary or McCain could open a decent kosher place in Hyde Park, I'd vote for them, because the bagel situation in this city is atrocious.

Posted by Greg | March 3, 2008 9:31 PM

Ketchup on a hot dog is wonderful! It's the plain yellow mustard that ruins it! Spicy mustard is good, plain yellow is bad.

Posted by JDinBalt | March 3, 2008 9:52 PM

I don't think I need to be lectured about not putting ketchup on hot dogs considering that there are those who put pickle spears on them.

Posted by El Cid | March 3, 2008 10:09 PM

Ketchup on a hotdog is absolutely not an abomination. Now, I'll tell you a little secret. Put a line of honey down the center of the bun. Regardless of the way you choose to dress it, the honey makes it better.

Posted by Big Blue | March 3, 2008 10:17 PM

Just don't put mayonnaise on a hotdog.

Posted by bjd | March 3, 2008 10:52 PM

Hillary's hometown? I grew up near Park Ridge, and her drunken hot dogs of choice probably came from Irving's (Cheese fries!!!)

Chicago-area fold: Is Irving's still with us?

Posted by Jim | March 3, 2008 11:27 PM

IMO, wrap the hot dog in bacon, pan fry it then add onions, sauerkraut, mustard and nacho cheese. At 2am I can hardly think of anything better.

Posted by JordanT | March 4, 2008 12:25 AM

And sport peppers. How could you possibly leave off sport peppers? You're just as bad as my mother in law, who thinks she can order "everything, no peppers." That's not everything, nor can it be.

Mea culpa. Although at Hot Doug's "everything" doesn't include peppers--I usually order a dog "with everything and peppers."

I was thinking of linking to Hot Doug's website--I'm glad live did it. Seriously, anyone who visits Chicago and loves hot dogs should check it out. Great hot dogs, great atmosphere.

I don't think I need to be lectured about not putting ketchup on hot dogs considering that there are those who put pickle spears on them.

Them's fighin' words.

Posted by JB | March 4, 2008 5:11 AM

Now, I could never understand the obsession with Gray's when I grew up in the city, especially since I now go to college in Chicago with dogs that are, frankly, superior to anything I had in Manhattan.

Having moved from the Midwest to NYC recently... man do I miss a decent hot dog and decent pizza. Those fried abominations with the crummy "spicy" mustard and the onions. No thanks. I mean I eat them when I'm in a hurry but that's it. The pizza depresses me too: Floppy, undercooked, weak tasting sauce, and the inevitable fresh mozzarella. I have taken to making my own. It's amazing how regional this stuff is, and how much it depends on what you're used to. :) There are no warm fuzzies for either Neapolitan slice pizza (pasta on a pizza? WTF?) or fried hot dogs.

That said, I'm with Dirty Harry on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5JIpT4GkyM

Posted by Crimfan | March 4, 2008 8:12 AM

Hot Dougs and Chicago-style hot dogs, both amazing.

Unfortunately, someone was up peeking at Peter Singer and now I can't eat the fracking things anymore. I'm so pissed.

I mean, I'm a blue collar guy from Chicago.

Posted by MattD | March 4, 2008 8:53 AM

Criff Dogs trumps all.
And the Chicago dog is messed up... if I'd wanted a salad, I'd have ordered a salad.

Posted by daveNYC | March 4, 2008 9:24 AM

Gary's Papaya? Feh. PAPAYA KING!

Posted by Horatio Parker | March 4, 2008 10:40 AM

What low-tech cyclist said. This is a hotdog we're talking about. I like them, but you can put whatever you like on them and it's not going to "spoil" anything. It's a meat product delivery system.

Posted by Ginger Yellow | March 4, 2008 12:21 PM

since when is ketchup on hot dogs an abomination?

which america did you grow up in?

Posted by taoless | March 4, 2008 2:57 PM

which america did you grow up in?

There is not a ketchup-using America and a mustard-using America. There is the United States of America.

There is not a thin-crust America and a deep-dish America. There is the United States of America.

No, hold on, I can't keep living this lie. Anyone who puts ketchup on a hotdog, or prefers thin-crust pizza, is not a real American. Go back to Russia! You and your kind aren't welcome here!

Posted by Barack Hotdog Obama | March 4, 2008 5:53 PM

If you go to Hot Doug's go on Friday or Saturday when they serve french fries cooked in duck fat. Yum.

Posted by Biz | March 4, 2008 7:23 PM