April Regional Hot Dog!
Available every Thursday in April

Hot Dog: Chicago Francheezie
Region: Chicago, IL

Now, that’s how you celebrate the month of St. Patrick’s Day! The Kansas City Dog was the perfect dog to celebrate in March, and prepare us all for Spring and the start of Baseball Season!

April is when the trees start to bud, the flowers will begin to bloom, and Bitter Pops will celebrate our 9th Anniversary!!! So for this special month, we are digging into the culinary past of our great hometown to present to you our version of the historic Chicago Friancheezie!

The Story: Much of the research on the Francheezie will land on simply naming the Francheezie, “The other Chicago Dog” without naming an original location. Other lines of research will state that the Francheezie is a deviation from the “Danger Dog”, a hot dog wrapped in bacon and deep-fried. The dog is served on a hot dog bun with various toppings. The Danger Dog was first sold by street vendors in Mexico near Tijuana or Herosillo where it was served in a Bolillo instead of a hot dog bun. The name “Danger Dog” came from the perceived lack of food safety precautions taken by the street vendors who sold them at the time. The Danger Dog eventually evolved into the Sonoran Dog which our dog enthusiasts will remember as featured at Bitter Pops in December.

A deeper dive to discover the true origins of the Francheezie led us to an old hamburger chain that closed in the 60s called Peter Pan.Traditional Build: At Peter Pans, you could order a Francheezie that came with a king-sized frankfort with melted cheese wrapped with crisp bacon served on an open-faced toasted bun with sliced tomato, fries, and cole slaw for 75 cents!

BP Spin: In celebration of Bitter Pops’ 9th anniversary we’ve collaborated with our friends at Hop Butcher for the World to bring you both food and drink this month!

We start by calling Hop Butcher and chatting with them about the Francheezie which inspired them to craft the Francheezie - a Pilsner. From there we connected with our friends at Vienna Beef to grab our all beef hot dog that we tightly wrapped in bacon and onions. The bacon and onion-wrapped dog is then fried to perfection in the deep fryer. Once the dog is fried, it’s laid into a toasted Turano hot dog bun, smothered with a layer of Francheezie beer cheese, and topped with traditional Chicago sport peppers!

Enjoy this dog with a Francheezie West Coast Pilsner, and your Francheezie T-shirt, to celebrate Bitter Pops’ 9th year in style with a full belly! Cheers to 9 wonderful years and many more to come!