tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Wienerschnitzel
Owner -- Galardi Group
Primary Operating Region -- Southwest
Number of Locations -- 352 (2004)

Founder John Galardi had the name suggested to him by Mary Bell (wife of Taco Bell founder Glen Bell) who took the name out of a German cookbook (it was "Der Wienerschnitzel" until 1977).

The menu is pretty basic...Hot dogs, and hot dogs with stuff on them (like onions, cheese, chili...)  Most of the "stuff" will also work well on the French fries too.  And if hot dogs aren't your thing but you get dragged in by a pork by-product aficionado, hamburgers are available.  

The signature menu item (and my personal favorite) is the Chili Dog.  The original Chili sauce at Wienerschnitzel was Glen Bell's recipe for his stand back before he created Taco Bell.  As far as I know, it still is.  That's what has kept Wienerschnitzel running when you can find bigger hot dogs cheaper at better convenience stores.  You can't touch their chili dogs.

Wienerschnitzel now offers their chili sauce in a cold microwave grocery pack.  And the Tastee-Freez stuff now includes the marketing of “limited time” flavors.  I happened to catch the Orange Crème milkshake.  Dreamy.

You can also find Wienerschnitzel products at sister chain Hamburger Stand, which is actually the better place to go because the burgers are better and cheaper, and you can mix-and-match with the dogs.

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