Late-evening fun: an insulin injection, a handful of pills and “Hardcore Pawn” reruns.

Breaking news tonight from Howdygramland ... Blue Mesa was no big thrill this morning and it kills me to write this review. We used Sam’s free birthday brunch certificate and it’s apparent that the restaurant is falling on hard times. This conclusion is based on the following facts: 1) there were a lot fewer choices than usual on the buffet and no beef fajitas; 2) the adobe pies were cold; 3) the dining room was only one-third full; 4) nobody was waiting in line to be seated when we left at 11 a.m. (it’s usually packed to the rafters by then); and 5) our server quietly mentioned to Sam that “business has been really slow” and his coworkers are being laid off. Sad but true. If we ever decide to go back for brunch we’ll probably try a different location. There are five in the Dallas area.

In other news, Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale died today at the age of 95. McHale is survived by Ensign Chuck Parker (see inset); Captain Binghamton passed away in 1974 when he drowned in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills.

Many of you may know that I grew up in Chicago, and my fondest childhood memories include going to the beach, riding the roller coasters with my dad at Riverview Park and eating hot dogs. The latter, incidentally, is not just a sandwich. In Chicago, the hot dog is an ART FORM. The perfect Chicago hot dog has to be Vienna Kosher on a Rosen’s poppy seed bun with the following MANDATORY INGREDIENTS: 1) mustard; 2) neon green relish; 3) chopped onions; 4) one pickle spear; 5) tomato wedges; 6) hot Italian sport peppers; and 7) a shpritz of celery salt. My favorite hot dog stands were Hot Dog Island in Evanston at the corner of Central and Crawford and Wolfy’s on Peterson Avenue in Chicago.

I was carrying on like this about hot dogs with so much passion this afternoon that Sam finally said, “Can’t we get these damn things in Dallas?” which, of course, is enough to make a person from Chicago laugh out loud. You can’t really get a genuine Chicago hot dog anywhere except in Chicago, but according to Yelp there are a few local reasonable facsimiles, including Five Guys (they use Hebrew National instead of Vienna) and a little drive-through in far north Dallas called The Dog Stop that’s closed on Sundays. Unfortunately, I doubt that either of them includes the top three key Chicago style hot dog ingredients (items 2, 6 and 7 from the previous paragraph).

Sam picked up hot dogs from Five Guys for dinner tonight. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being Hot Dog Island, Five Guys’ hot dogs were maybe a 6¾. Next weekend we’ll drive up to north Dallas and try The Dog Stop. Stay tuned for an official review.

And now it’s time for some late-evening fun, which includes an insulin injection, a handful of pills and a couple of “Hardcore Pawn” reruns. Thank you for reading this.