Amado de la Torre grew up on the big dog from Chicago: the all-beef frank with mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomato slices, pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt on a poppy seed bun.
He devoured them at Portillo’s. He downed them at Gene & Jude’s. Then de la Torre and a brother opened a place in the Windy City, Big Sammy’s Hot Dogs, and liked their dogs better than those at legendary Chicago institutions.
“We use skinless hot dogs,” he said. “I prefer skinless because they’re more tender and the flavor lasts longer if you steam them a long time.”
De la Torre brought his dogs to San Antonio and opened a food truck during the COVID-19 pandemic. He shut the truck down after a year and opened a brick-and-mortar in 2021.
Five years and three months later, Chicago Hot Dogs ranks among the most popular hot dog eateries in town. It holds Yelp’s No. 1 spot with a 4.6 rating based on 236 user-generated reviews.
“Probably half our customers are from Chicago,” said de la Torre, the owner.
Those customers form a strong business core because Chicago hot dogs evoke memories of the Windy City.
“They say it feels like being home,” said Roxana de la Torre, the owner’s wife and head cook. “They feel like they went to Chicago and came back.”
The de la Torres are preparing for the year’s single biggest hot dog consumption day.
Beginning Friday July 3, Chicago Hot Dogs is offering a Fourth of July special through July 10: one Chicago hot dog, one San Antonio hot dog (mustard, mayo, jalapeños, bacon, onion, tomato and Mexican seasoning) or one chili cheese dog (no bean chili and melted cheddar) with fries and a drink for $9.50.
Less than a week after the special ends, the de la Torres will hunker down for National Hot Dog Day, July 15.
“July is definitely our biggest month,” the owner said.
Business has not come easily for them. Amado de la Torre says he left a thriving restaurant in Elk Grove Village, a Chicago suburb, not because of the cold but because of the sky. Cloudy winters. Not enough sun year round. “I was tired of the darkness,” he said.
His brother invited him to San Antonio. He fell in love with the culture, the food, the sunny skies. The restaurants were full during his visit in 2019. So he brought his family to South Texas.
In August 2020, de la Torre opened a hot dog truck just south of Southtown when the pandemic restricted restaurants to only 50% capacity. “We couldn’t really make any money there,” he said.
He moved the truck from one neighborhood to the next, trying to attract business.
He found a brick-and-mortar spot on Jones Maltsberger Road, signed a lease and opened in March 2021.
Business boomed, then flattened. Employees left. Chicago Hot Dogs struggled to remain open. “The first three years were really hard,” he said.
He continued to draw some income from Big Sammy’s in Illinois. He doordashed to earn extra money. He ran up credit card debt. By necessity, the restaurant became a family-run business.
“The only way we made it the last two years was by not having any employees,” he said. “It’s just me and my wife and the kids.”
Amado de la Torre Jr., 19, takes orders and serves customers. Nathan, age 10, handles the cash register. Kimberly, 23, works social media. William, 28, once a part owner, advises on business and social media.
The family takes pride in the sourcing of their menu.
“Our hot dogs, buns, relish, pickles and peppers are straight from the Vienna beef factory in Chicago,” the owner said. “It costs more money. But it’s authentic.”
The second-best selling item is Amado de la Torre’s creation: an Italian beef sandwich made from scratch. He slow-roasts Angus inside rounds for three hours and allows the meat to cool overnight. He cuts thin slices of beef the next day and serves it with hot giardiniera peppers in Turano French bread from Chicago.
Back in the Windy City, Portillo’s served an Italian beef that became Amado’s go-to sandwich.
“But when I learned how to cook it, I stopped going because I liked mine better,” he said.
Roxana de la Torre added: “I think it’s popular because of the freshness of us cooking the beef in the restaurant and baking the French bread here.”
Home cooking warms the taste buds and stirs nostalgia. It carries some customers back to the shores of Lake Michigan. It gives others the taste of an original Chicago dog.
