A lot of people have suggested that Mr. G’s should be entered into Peoria’s Hot Dog Wars and the only trouble with that is I usually do these on Sunday afternoons and they’re closed on Sundays. But I was looking for somewhere to have lunch with MBIP pal and semi-regular guest star, Matt Buedel last Friday and decided that Mr. G’s would be perfect, I could have lunch with Matt and do an episode of the Hot Dog Wars all at the same time. It’s called multi-tasking, folks and here we go! Oh, Ringo...could you please sound the battle drums, old chap?
And we're off into the wild blue yonder.
Obligatory rear view mirror shot!
Here we are at Mr. G's. What a picture perfect postcard day it is today!
They have shakes and cones here and the word on the street says that they are delicious.
As usual, I'm about a half an hour early, so let's go in and wander around a bit and see what's going on in Mr. G's at this lunch time hour.
Here's Christie, who we met back in December when I came here for a tenderloin. She's looking cuter than ever!
And speaking of cute, here's Darnisha who was passing by and wondered if I worked for the Journal Star. I told her you just don't walk in off the street and write for the Peoria Journal Star!
These dancing hot dogs are probably my favorite things in here...outside of Christie and Darnisha.
Matt just showed up along with his friend, Chris. I told these two to show up clean-shaven, but no, they have to avoid their razors and showed up looking like a couple of hobos! I tell you, this younger generation...what are you going to do?
I'm going to get a hot dog with mustard and the chili cheese dog. I'm not going to get the Chicago Dog because, quite frankly (pun somewhat intended), Chicago Dog's SUCK ASS! I hate them, who puts tomatoes and pickles on hot dogs? The same jerkwater jackoffs that put beans in chili, that's who.
Here's Manal, who took our order, does Mr. G's have the prettiest women in town working there or what?
Mr. G's gets pretty crowded at lunch time, so I thought we'd take our order and go somewhere else to eat it. If you want to see pictures of Mr. G's, check out the first post I did of the place back in December. And since we're in walking distance of The Costume Trunk there's one thing I need to do...
I need to get a rubber chicken from this place and add it to my collection. Matt took my camera and snapped a couple of photos of me marveling at the fact that there's two different chickens in stock at The Costume Trunk. One is labeled as a "Comedy Rubber Chicken" and the other is tagged as a "Clown Fake Chicken." God, I love it in here!
Matt snapped a shot of me and Steve Spain, the fun and engaging owner of The Costume Trunk and yes, I'm choking the chicken in my right hand. I thought I'd say it and get it out of the way. Cock-a-doodle-doo!
I thought we'd eat the hot dogs in one of my favorite Peoria stores, Urban Artifacts, they have a room which I think would be a perfect battle ground for this week's Hot Dog Wars.
Here's the front of the store which is chock-full of fun stuff to look at. We'll check out the store in a bit, but now it's time to let the Hot Dog Wars begin...
I thought we could sample the hot dogs back here in the Urban Artifacts Sandy's room. As you can see, Matt has temporarily collapsed and Chris is quite amused at his condition.
This amazon Sandy's woman is looking harmlessly down at the events unfolding...
While this evil and psycho looking Sandy woman glares down at us. As I'm wondering what kind of evil shenanigans she's capable of, I look over at my dining companions and...
I see that she's frozen them in mid bite and they've entered a statue-like state in the store. I told you to shave guys, but you didn't listen. Now you're stuck here like a couple of hobo statues for God only knows how long. I'd try to help out, but I've got a Hot Dog Wars to attend to here.
Okay, time to unveil the entries in this week's Peoria Hot Dog Wars.
We'll start off with the chili cheese dog, wow, it looks amazing. I love the fact that they have equal ratio of chili and cheese on the dog. Plus it comes in a styrofoam container so you can enjoy a chili cheese dog and wreck the environment all at the same time. Fun!
This is a really good chili cheese dog. The chili is tangy and tasty and the bun is bakery fresh. We may have a contender to beat the long standing victor known as the Hofbrau House!
I got a couple of tamales for the mid-dog palette cleanser.
Wow, this is one great tamale! Really tasty and I like the fact that there's melted cheese in the middle, that was a nice surprise. I've always thought that Tom Molly would be a good porn name, but that's just me. Okay, let's move along here.
The mustard dog is unveiled and once again, they've used generic yellow mustard and they're a little chincy on spreading it on the hot dog. You should slather the dog with mustard, preferably a spicy, deli mustard.
It's a good tasting hot dog, but the generic mustard and the lack of it take it down a notch. You can see the results of this war down below.
But for now, let's take a little post-lunch stroll around Urban Artifacts, I love looking around in here.
There's so much fun stuff in here to look at, it always boggles my mind. Okay, my mind was boggled up before I even came in here, but that's another story for another day, let's look around in here.
I love this framed pin up calendar picture.
Check out the Hamm's bear! This belongs in Phil Luciano's garage!
I have to get a Sandy's key chain!
Here's Urban Artifacts owner Jon Walker with today's purchases, from left, a piece of art designed by Jon's mom, Margaret Walker, the Sandy's key chain and in honor of the Peoria Hot Dog Wars I got a Benji lunch box. Woof, woof! See you all tomorrow.
Hot Dog War Status
Mr. G’s had us with their wonderful chili cheese dog, but then they lost us with the generic mustard and the lack of it on the mustard dog. Once again, The Hofbrau House stands victorious in this week’s weenie wars. Stay tuned to see what happens next Tuesday.
Hot Dog Rating
Three Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles. The chili cheese dog is one of the best in town! If only they had spicy mustard!
Further Reading: Mr. G’s, The Costume Trunk and Urban Artifacts.
P.S. A Reminder...
That the reception for Matt and Scott’s Every Other Photo Journal at the Peoria Public Library is going to be this Saturday from 10AM to 11:30AM. You can read all about it here and check out the Every Other blog right here. Hopefully Matt will be unfrozen by then and let’s pray he shaves for the event.