Fluky's is a Chicago-area fast food restaurant and mail-order food purveyor known for hot dogs.[1]
Fluky's began in Chicago in 1929 on Maxwell and Halsted Streets. Founded by Abe Drexler, the original stand is self acknowledged as the originator of the Chicago-style hot dog.[2][3] They sold what was known as a "Depression Sandwich," a frankfurter on a bun with mustard, pickle relish, onion, dill pickle, hot peppers, and tomatoes, accompanied by french fries, for 5 cents.[1]
Still owned by the Drexler family, Fluky's maintains an in-store restaurant in a Walmart in Niles, Illinois. The one-time chain had dwindled by the time the last city of Chicago Fluky's, 6821 N. Western Ave., changed its name to U Lucky Dawg[4] on February 14, 2006; that site had been owned by a licensee for the previous ten years.[2] A later location in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, was open only a short time.
When the Fluky's sign on Western Avenue came down in February, a lot of hot-dog lovers' hearts sank. This was the only freestanding location and the last city site of the venerable wiener purveyor that, most agree, originated the Chicago-style hot dog back in the Depression.
... Fluky's, which claims to have invented the salad-laden dog on Maxwell Street in Depression-ridden 1929, when it sold for a nickel...