Monday, May 16, 2011

Casey's Cafe

Casey's Cafe is located on Court Street in downtown Salem, Oregon. They are best known in the area for their hot dogs, which have been voted some of the best in the city for a few years now.




Casey's serves everything...burgers, hot sandwiches, hot dogs, cold sandwiches, and drinks. After a few minutes, I opted for a Chicago Dog.




Looking around, I saw a lot of vintage pictures, especially pictures of the first trip to the moon in 1969. I felt that was just way too much clutter on the wall. The inside really did not appeal to me very much. Just my take on it, but see for yourself.




While I had to wait a while, at least the hot dog came to me fresh. I thought it was a good Chicago Dog. I liked the wiener itself; it has that great snap from the natural casing. It also had a nice char on the outside, something you get when cooking the wiener on the flattop. The bun was warm, although I wish it were actually toasted instead of steamed. To me, there's nothing like a good toasted hot dog bun with a charred natural-casing hot dog. I had no complaints with the vegetables and other toppings. A nice amount of toppings to make it a pretty large hot dog.

But seriously, is a Chicago Dog worth $5.25? I don't think so. If it was a meal (with chips and a drink), sure. But when it's just the hot dog alone...major complaint from me here with the prices. I'm not saying hot dogs should be 99 cents or anything, but I feel charging $5.25 in this economy is just too high. Perhaps somewhere around $3.50 is fine with me if I were just getting the hot dog itself. A price like that makes me want to make my own damn Chicago Dog -- heck, I'll make several -- at home.

Overall, I had a respectable experience with the food, but the wait time and the high price (in my opinion) will likely prevent me from coming back. I'm also unlikely to dine in, as the decor does not fly with me. 3.75/10

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