Okay, as I stated last week, I’m no longer doing the Swizzle Stick Sunday thing anymore. I’m still going to cover bars once a week, but I’m going to do it on a different night and publish it on Fridays to start the weekend off. So what to do on Sundays? At first I was going to go to different places and sample sandwiches around town and call it, “Sunday’s Weekly Sandwich” and I’m still going to do that, but it’ll probably start up in the fall. For the spring and summer months I have decided on a different idea for a Sunday series...Al, you better sit down!
I had to drive out of town the other day and as I did, I passed a little hot dog restaurant just outside of Hanna City called, Hog Dog and it made me think about when I did the Papaya Hot Dog Wars on my old blog, Marty After Dark. I love hot dogs and there’s lots of hot dog stands and restaurants, so I thought from this Sunday all the way to Labor Day, we’ll go out and sample hot dogs in and around Peoria and rate them.
The first stop? The Hog Dog, the place that inspired me to do this!
It's a nice day for a drive on a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon.
And whoomp, there it is! Right there on the corner, let's park the car and go check it out.
I love the sign! This looks like it could be a classic place, although if you look at the window portion of the building, there's a little bit of a Cardboard Box Man Mutation going on...I"m just going to ignore that and move forward.
Let's go on in and see what's happening at Hog Dog!
Motherfucker! They're closed on Sundays! Is it me or are these hours kind of weird? They're closed Sunday and Monday and during the week they're only open from 4PM to 9PM during the week. Well, since I work from 4PM to 10PM Monday through Saturday, I guess we'll never know what this place is all about. Time to improvise.
Sometimes while doing this you sort of have to fly by the seat of your pants and that's what's happening now, I figure I'll just drive till I find another hot dog destination. At least it's a nice day for a drive.
Okay, I was just driving down Farmington Road and you won't believe the name of this bar, you can't see the sign in this picture, but I'll park and get a better shot. This is too weird!
Hogs & Dogs Saloon! When one Hog Dog door closes, another one opens up here at MBIP! And this one has beer, so what are we waiting for?
Let's go on in, I could use a beer or three right about now!
Wow, this is a big, wide open bar! This is just the front room, there's another room off to the side I'll show you soon, but first, let's go snag a seat at the bar and get a much-needed beer.
Brandy, the pretty and friendly bartender serves up a beer. Sadly, though, she told me that in spite of the name, Hogs & Dogs Saloon, no hot dogs are available. Oh well, we'll start the hot dog thing next week, I want to hang out in here. They do have food, so I ordered something and you'll see what it is when it's ready. Oh the suspense of it all!
Here's a shot from my seat at the bar. As you can see, it's a casual, no-frills joint, perfect for a few beers on a Sunday afternoon. I'm not even going to ask about a swizzle stick in here!
Here's Joe and Scott who were seated next to me at the bar and posed for the MBIP camera. I had a nice conversation with Scott and it turns out he knows someone I work with! It's a small world after all!
A shot from the end of the ziggity-zaggity wooden bar.
Overhead, electric fans are whirring briskly.
Wooden booths and a dart board line the side wall.
A long, highly polished shuffleboard table sits up against the front wall.
There's two pool tables on the right side of the front room of the bar.
And there's lots more booths in the spacious back room. I told you this was a big bar!
A Family Guy pinball machine is tucked away in the corner, I love that vintage Budweiser sign hanging next to it.
There's a third pool table back here as well.
Well, this guy certainly puts the "dog" in Hogs and Dogs! I tried to get him to stand still for a picture, but he kept scurrying around the place.
Brandy told me his name is Shadow and he belongs to one of the customers in here who lets him roam free around the spacious bar. The look on Shadow's face kind of says, "Put that goddamn camera away, or I'll jump up and eat it for lunch!"
Okay, hot sauce and some special seasoning have been placed in front of me at the bar. The seasoning is a giveaway as to what lunch is going to be...
I got a Butch's sausage pizza which Brandy is serving up!
Brandy cuts up the pie, but she doesn't go the square piece route, like so many other places here in Peoria...
She cut it into four delicious slices. Okay, I'm going to dig into this, next week we'll search for a hot dog. See you all tomorrow.
Hogs & Dogs Saloon
5721 W Farmington Rd.
Peoria
309-0966-2699
Further Reading: Urban Spoon, Judy’s Book and facecrack.
Bonus Video: “Greg’s Big Black Couch”
MBIP pal and co-host of the Greg and Dan Show on WMBD has a started a fun new interview series called, “Greg’s Big Black Couch.” He just shot the debut episode with former Saturday Night Live funnyman, Tim Meadows. Check it out below and check back at the WMBD video page for future episodes.
