After twenty-three years I made my way to Los Angeles' most famous Hot Dog spot, Pinks. Pinks, opened in the early 1900's, is one of LA's few long standing, unchanged food spots where you go to stand in line and make friends with common strangers all there to enjoy the most famous Pink's product, their Chilli Dog.
On a Sunday night, at about eight PM we made our way to Pink's only after stopping by Grace Restaurant, which we were unknowingly totally underdressed for...oh well...
Our time in line took about an hour and 15 minutes but went by quickly as we made friends with some people from Ventura County that live in a trailer home, and some hispanic 'thugs'. What was nice is that we all came there together, to enjoy some good food that hasn't changed tastes in many, many years.
A friend and I enjoyed the famous Chilli Dog, some Onion Rings which were amazing, a Mullholland Drive dog and a Chicago dog.
The original chilli dog was really good with a very basic chilli and a great hot dog with some cheese and onion to garnish. The mullholland drive dog had nacho cheese, mushrooms, grilled onions and bacon on it - that was too much for me so I let them hold the bacon. Finally, the chicago dog was a salad over a spicy hot dog; tasty but too spicy for me to finish.
The onion rings were great. They were very crispy and well coated with batter.
Make sure you make your way to Pinks if you are visiting LA, and if you live here, and have never been, then hurry up. It is on the North West corner of Melrose and La Brea.