When you’re in Disneyland and in serious need of a hot dog, we have just the place for you — the Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner!
Refreshment Corner -- Outside View
This spot will remind East Coasters of Casey’s Corner with its decor and location. With a nod to early twentieth century vintage, this spot anchors Main Street U.S.A. with lots of charm as well as good eats.
And today, we’re bringing you news and pictures of a brand new menu item here. Let’s take a look!
Refreshment Corner
Refreshment Corner occupies a corner of Main Street U.S.A., just before you get to Jolly Holiday Bakery and Cafe. It’s compact to be sure, and seating is all outdoors, but there’s plenty of fun decor to check out!
Tiffany-Style Shades with Coca-Cola Branding
This spot is best known for hot dogs and really tasty chili. And today, we are dropping by to report big news. We say goodbye to one of the menu items, and make way for a brand new one!
Menu Updates and the New Chicago Style Hot Dog
When you arrive, head to the counter to make your selections and place your order with the cast member.
Ordering Counter
The menu is fairly small. The main items are Hot Dog Baskets, which come with a hot dog and your choice of apple slices or a small bag of chips.
There are also a few Kids’ Meal selections, Chili in sourdough bread bowl, and some beloved Disney Soft Pretzels in three varieties.
Menu That's About to Change -- Click to Enlarge
But as of this week, the Mac & Cheese Hot Dog is being replaced by the Chicago Style Hot Dog.
The jumbo All-Beef Hot Dog is served with Sweet Pickle Relish, Pepperoncini, Fresh Tomatoes, Red Onions, Chives, and a long slice of Dill Pickle.
Chicago Style Hot Dog
We know from experience that Chicago style dog lovers are a passionate and loyal crew! So let’s hear from you:
Does this look like a Chicago Style Dog that will meet with your approval and expectations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Not being a hot dog gourmet, my opinion hardly counts (though I do think people would be happier if they ate more hot dogs). Having said that, I did once eat a Chicago dog, in Chicago, the hometown of an old friend. Mine came from a vendor in the train station and had quite a bit of lettuce on it, which I understand is one variation, though it didn’t add much to the experience let me tell you! My friend kept hooting “dragged through the garden” over and over as I ate it, this apparently being something that people in Chicago say about their hot dogs (while other people are trying to eat them). She also said the key ingredient was celery salt, and I could, indeed, see and taste the little flecks (is there celery salt on Disneyland version?). I had not seen my friend in a long time, and, as it turned out, she was mad as a March hare, so who knows if she had all her facts straight. The hot dog in the picture does look good to me, though, and if the Refreshment Corner is as atmospheric as Casey’s, then it gets my vote! . . . and, of course, Walt Disney was born in Chicago, after all!
That is not even close to what is in a Chicago Style Hot Dog. I lived there for over 20 yeas of my life…
One..No Chives or Pepperoncinis in a Chicago Dog. Two…Tomato SLICES not diced. Three…Must have Mustard and Warm Poppy Seed Bun.
Actual ingredients are as follows….An all-beef hot dog on a poppy seed bun piled high with mustard, sweet pickle relish, onion, tomato, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt.
Having lived in Chicago my whole life I have never seen one with lettuce! They are delicious!
Perhaps it was an “add-on” requested by my mad friend (she ordered it for me and presented it to me at the table) in order that her hooting of “dragged through the garden” might be more relevant. The lettuce was shredded iceberg, alas, and, as previously noted, added nothing to the experience (other than to get all down the front of my shirt). I will say, in my mad friend’s defense, that the folks at Wikipedia claim that vendors sometimes add sliced cucumbers or lettuce. I am grateful to have been spared the cucumbers (and wish I might have been spared the hooting). The Disneyland dog does look good, though, and not a shred of iceberg in sight! I wonder if people who liked the Mac & Cheese dog are going to be angry that it has been replaced.
Based on the information that Chicago residents Jason (20 years) and Kirsty (whole life) have provided to us (and surely they ought to know!), here’s what I’m thinking: (1) the Disneyland Main Street U.S.A. Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner Chicago dog is NOT a Chicago dog; and (2) the dog that was slyly passed off to me at Chicago’s Union Station by my mad Chicago friend was also NOT a Chicago dog. (I’m thinking it’s very hard to find a real Chicago dog!) Still, I do think the Disneyland dog looks tasty, and I would not hesitate to eat it. I like the way its meat glistens in the light and the ends dangle out from the bun. I would tilt it up and dip those ends into some plastic cheese for a real treat. That would make it entirely different from a Chicago dog: it would become a Walt Disney Special Dipped-in-Cheese Chopped-up-Vegetable-Covered dog!
I enjoy a hot dog once in a while, but they have to be hot; I don’t like it if they’re cold and not cooked enough! How do I like them? Very simple, a nice juicy dog on a soft fresh bun. Period. Nothing fancy and easy to please! If I’m in a gourmet mood, a little sauerkraut is nice! 🙂
As another who has lived in the Chicagoland area her whole life, I can say that Jason is spot on with the description of a Chicago dog……and, as Kristy said, lettuce is never involved! LOL, at least Disney didn’t include ketchup!
Since it has now been established that I am a person who imagines eating lettuce where none exists, could we at least have confirmation from the good citizens of Chicago(land?) of one aspect of my experience of eating (what I thought was) a Chicago dog? Is it common to repeatedly say, “dragged through the garden” in a loud, honking, nasally voice, as was the case with my poor, mad friend? I ask in a genuine spirit of inquiry, since I have now been informed by our representatives of the Hog Butcher to the World, that much of my experience of eating a Chicago dog in Union Station in Chicago on July 8, 2009 was an imagined and shameless falsehood. Did I also imagine this part?
Also, we’re still waiting to hear from the people who are angry to lose the Mac & Cheese dog.
Perhaps no one really liked it and they are glad it is gone, replaced by this adulterated, inauthentic abomination of processed meat!
Also, maybe they should have consulted their Disney history before putting something from Chicago (supposedly) on Main Street, U.S.A. At first I thought it okay, since old Walt was born in Chicago, but then I remembered that he well and truly hated his time in Chicago. Since Main Street represents what he truly loved (Marceline) and Chicago is what he truly did not love, I think it is an issue worth consideration.
I’m from Chicago… definitely no lettuce, EVER! Gross!
I live in Minnesota, which is reasonably close to Chicago. I can get an authentic Chicago Dog here just as Jason described it. I have never had chives on a hot dog. It sounds weird to me. And without the neon green relish and the sport peppers, it is a poor substitution. I’m sure they could have done better as it’s easy to find out exactly what goes on the dog to make it Chicago style. They should call it a Cali dog instead.
Lifetime Chicagoan piping in: an authentic Chicago-Style Red Hot should be served in a poppyseed bun, with white (or are they considered yellow?) onions- NEVER red. NO chives and the relish should be neon green. I’m sure we will be giving them a try when we visit Disney in December and will be glad to give you our review. We are connoisseurs of Chi-Town Red Hots!
Oh and no lettuce, ever! That’s akin to asking for ketchup on it! And we like sport peppers, not pepperocinni’s.
I think this point needs to be restated. There is NO lettuce ever put on a Chicago dog! No lettuce ever! (Lisa) No Lettuce ever! Gross! (Jenna Jameson). (Jenna is right, actually, the whole thing was gross.) Please ignore the fact that I ate one with lettuce in Chicago. I am clearly deluded. Also ignore this from Wikipedia: The “dragged through the garden” style is heavily promoted by Vienna Beef and Red Hot Chicago, the two most prominent Chicago hot dog manufacturers, but exceptions are common, with vendors adding cucumber slices or lettuce, omitting poppyseeds or celery salt, or using plain relish or a skinless hot dog.” And also ignore this from the Dining Chicago website: “Variations: There are, of course, numerous variations. Adhering to the vegetable-stand history, doggeries such as Byron’s Hot Dog Haus in Wrigleyville and Ravenswood add shredded lettuce, sliced cucumbers and green bell peppers to their ‘dragged through the garden’ wieners.”
It’s interesting that the lettuce variation is found in Wrigleyville, which is, in fact, where my mad friend lived. I suspect she had them add the lettuce onto it in Union Station so that it would accord with the sub-regional specialty of the regional specialty that she was used to and had grown up with (she was also a native Chicagoan–the daughter of a corrupt local pol, in fact, though that probably covers to many people in Chicago as to be a meaningless descriptor.
I admit I was skeptical when I ate the wretched thing (it would have been bad even without the lettuce), but I will say this for it: it was infinitely better than the hot mess that was put before me and called “pizza!”
Professor, you didn’t imagine it. There is a variation of the Chicago dog that is called a dragged through the garden dog because it has additional raw veggies on it. I’ve lived in Chicago for my whole life- 72 years. The garden-style dog is not common but it does exist. It’s actually the older version of the dog that goes back to the days when they originated as a product of vegetable street carts. Like with most regional foods there are always variations within the region. Your crazy friend was not pulling one over on you and that also explains why she kept saying your dog had been dragged through the garden.
As a lifelong Chicagoan, I can tell you that thing pictured above is not at Chicago-style hot dog. It is barely even a distant cousin!
A Chicago-style hot dog is:
An all beef hot dog (preferably Vienna) on a steamed poppy-seed bun. Topped with mustard, neon green relish, chopped white onion, two slices of tomato, sport peppers, a pickle spear and lighted dusted with celery salt.
No chives, no pepperonchinis, and certainly no red onion! Ick.