Things and themes constantly evolve as you do a daily blog. I’ve decided that every Sunday till Labor Day, I’d go out and sample hot dogs around town in search of what I declare is the best hot dog around the Peoria area. I originally called this series, “Hot Dog It’s Sunday,” but I’ve decided to change it to, “Peoria Hot Dog Wars,” to be a little more blunt and to the point.
Those of you who followed my Marty After Dark blog, remember the Papaya Hot Dog Wars I started in Manhattan, I know Al does! Anyway, I thought I’d do the the same thing here on a bigger level and post each week’s challenger versus the favorite hot dog of the moment.
Last week I went to Bartonville’s Dream Hut and got a chili cheese dog and a hot dog with mustard. This week, Rich Schmitz suggested via facecrack that I should check out the chili dog’s featured on Sunday’s at Meadow’s Tap in East Peoria. He even said he’d meet me there, so let’s go start this installment of Peoria’s Hot Dog Wars!
Whenever you start a war, there's bound to be casualties and this is no exception to that rule. The first few photos I took for this post accidentally got deleted, so I'm taking this photo off the internet of the outside of Meadows Avenue Tap. As you can see, it's a large, sprawling space for a bar.
Here's a closer look at the front of the bar, let's go in and see what's going on in here on this Sunday afternoon.
It's 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon, so there's plenty of seats at the bar. I love the checkered floor in here. Let's go snag a seat and get a beer.
This is Patty the bartender, I had a better shot of her serving me a beer, but that too accidentally got deleted. Ah, the horrors of hot dog wars!
These tables sit opposite the bar, giving the place a little bit of a diner like feel to it.
And there's more communal tables leading into the back room of the joint.
Three pool tables are lined up in a row here in the back room of the bar.
And there's one more tucked away in the far left corner of the room back here.
If you're a Cub fan beware, this looks like a Cardinal bar to me!
Budweiser lamps hang over and illuminate the pool tables at night.
The kitchen is closed on Sunday's and they only serve chili dogs and pizza, but there's a full menu of inexpensive food in here the other six nights a week.
Here's Bob who's a regular at the bar. Bob's a barber at the Old Fashioned Barber Shop in East Peoria. Maybe I'll stop by for a trim one of these days.
Check it out, Kitchen Cooked Potato Chips! Always the mark of an excellent tavern!
Look at the little mini taps in here, nothing fancy, but if you look at the fine print on the Pabst tap, you can get an 18 ounce beer for a buck, until the tap is emptied. What a deal! That should boost the Spike-O-Meter rating up a bit!
Drunken one night stand alert: A quick stop in the bathroom reveals the condom machine is broken!
Oh baby, everyone's a comedian!
Meanwhile back at the bar things are mellow on a springtime Sunday afternoon. Let's go sit back down and wait for Rich to show up.
And through the miracle of the internet, here he is along with his lovely wife, Dee. It was great to meet Rich and Dee and we had a great conversation at the bar. That's one of the many things I love about this blog, meeting fun new people in town.
To the left is Jim, who was seated next to me at the bar. He joined in the conversation and after a bit jumped up and told Dee he had something to show her and started taking off his shirt. I was both intrigued and a little frightened.
Once again, my imagination got the best of me. He just wanted to show her his T-shirt, which says, "How To Speak Redneck" on the front.
Then he turned around and gave us a quick lesson in redneck-speak. Somewhere Jeff Foxworthy is smiling. Me, I'm just ready to begin this edition of this week's hot dog wars.
And right on cue, Patty serves up a couple of freshly wrapped dogs. Let the games begin!
Here's the chili dog and it was great. The chili is homemade and has just the right amount of kick to it. If they would've grilled those onions and toasted the bun, it might've gotten the first four Oscar Mayer Wienermobile rating.
After the chili dog it was time for a Kitchen Cooked palette cleanser break.
And now to sample the pure thing, a simple hot dog with mustard.
Even though the bun's not toasted, it was really a nice and fresh wrapper for the hot dog. Patty said they don't steam them because when they wrap them, the buns self-steam themselves. They serve up some delicious hot dogs here and they're just a buck fifty on Sundays.
After the hot dog feast, Rich, Dee and I were ready to hit the road and we leave you with this two finger salute! See you all tomorrow. And hey, let's be careful out there!
Peoria’s Hot Dog War’s Status:
Meadow’s Tap is the winner so far, their chili dogs beat out the Dream Hut’s dogs, though both were solid hot dog contenders. We’ll see if they can hang on to the crown next Tuesday, stay tuned!
Hot Dog Rating:
Three Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles, very tasty and delicious hot dogs!
Meadow’s Avenue Tap
2000 Meadows Ave.
East Peoria
309-694-0736
Further reading: Play Team Trivia, Peoria Night Out and facecrack.
