The Wieners Circle

The Wieners Circle on North Clark in Chicago.

The Wieners Circle is a hot dog stand in Chicago, Illinois. It is famous for four things: its signature Chicago-style hot dogs, hamburgers and cheese fries, and the mutual verbal abuse between the employees and the customers during the late-weekend hours. On the weekends, the establishment stays open as late as 5:00 AM, drawing many drunken customers who have arrived from bars and clubs.

Food

The establishment is known for its char-grilled food, especially its hot dogs and hamburgers (commonly called chardogs and charburgers).

A Wieners Circle hot dog with "the works."

A Wiener Circle char dog with "the works" (i.e., all available toppings) includes a grilled Vienna Beef hot dog on a warm poppy seed bun, topped with mustard, onions, relish, dill pickle spears, tomato slices, and sport peppers - plus a final dash of celery salt (see photo at left).

Abusive language

Sometime in the early 1990s (circa 1992), one of the proprietors either Larry Gold or Barry Nemrow called a drunk and distracted customer an "asshole" in order to get his attention. This set-off the late-night abuse culture of the restaurant. The atmosphere can range from playful to hostile. The language used by both the staff and customers during these hours in notoriously foul and aggressive, and, especially among the customers, is sometimes racist in nature. As the wait-staff is largely African-American and the clientele middle-class to wealthy white, the more racist epithets have led to the rare physical altercation. Customers commonly request a "chocolate milkshake," or for one of the female African-American employees to lift her shirt and shake her breasts.

The nightly tips are very high, and people have worked there for ten years or more. One of the more famous employees is Roberta "Poochie" Jackson, who was featured (along with the restaurant) in a 2007 episode of the Chicago Public Radio/Showtime program This American Life. as well as an episode of Extreme Fast Food on the Travel Channel. In Chicago travel guides, ........

While Weiner Circle is undoubtedly frequented by scores of both hungry patrons and drunk marauders each night, one man stands out as perhaps the most key and influential customer in Weiner Circle's history. Craig T., a one-time grad student in the Chicago area, made Weiner Circle a weekly ritual on his late-night drinking & eating circuit. His most notable feat may be instigating the first "milkshake" incident.