Portillo's

Dick Portillo founded the original Portillo's in 1963 in Villa Park as a tiny six-stool hot dog stand named "The Dog House" — a roadside operation built primarily to support his young family and provide Dick with an entrepreneurial alternative to corporate employment. The original stand had no indoor seating, a small outdoor walk-up counter, and served essentially one item: the Chicago-style hot dog, made to the strict Chicago specification with a Vienna Beef frank, a poppy seed bun, yellow mustard, neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped onions, tomato wedges, a pickle spear, sport peppers, and celery salt.

The Dog House operated for several years under the original name before Dick rebranded it Portillo's in the late 1960s and began the slow expansion. The chain grew from one location to three by 1970 and to roughly a dozen Chicago-area locations by the early 1980s. The Italian beef sandwich was added in the 1970s and quickly became the second signature item, complementing the hot dog as the chain's identity.

Dick Portillo ran the business as a family operation through the 2010s before selling the company to the Berkshire Partners private equity firm in 2014 for a reported $1 billion. The chain went public on the NASDAQ in 2021. Despite the corporate ownership transitions, the menu, the food quality, and the restaurant atmosphere have remained essentially stable — a notable achievement given the scale of growth.

The Portillo's Chicago-style hot dog follows the strict Chicago specification that distinguishes the Chicago dog from every other regional hot dog tradition in the United States. The seven required ingredients are: a Vienna Beef all-beef frank (Vienna Beef is the Chicago-headquartered hot dog company that supplies essentially all classic Chicago dog stands), a steamed poppy seed bun, yellow mustard (no ketchup — placing ketchup on a Chicago-style hot dog is genuinely considered a cultural violation), neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onions, two tomato wedges, a kosher dill pickle spear, sport peppers (small pickled green peppers), and a sprinkle of celery salt over the top.

The strict no-ketchup rule is a genuine Chicago cultural fixation. Native Chicagoans do not put ketchup on hot dogs — the sweet acidic flavor is considered to clash with the savory dog and the layered toppings. Portillo's reportedly will not put ketchup on a Chicago-style hot dog if asked; visitors who specifically want ketchup must order their dog plain and apply ketchup themselves at the condiment station. This is a small cultural detail but one that long-time visitors find genuinely amusing.

The Portillo's hot dog runs roughly $5 to $6 per dog depending on the location and current pricing. The dog is generally served alongside the chain's signature crinkle-cut fries (one of the better fast-food fry executions in the United States) and a drink for a total combo price around $10 to $12. Most Route 66 travelers should order at least one Chicago dog during their Chicago visit; ordering one at Portillo's specifically is the consensus recommendation.

The Italian beef sandwich is Portillo's second signature item and arguably the more distinctively Chicago of the chain's two iconic offerings. The sandwich consists of thinly sliced slow-roasted seasoned beef piled into an Italian roll, typically topped with sweet roasted peppers, hot giardiniera (a vinegar-pickled mixed-vegetable relish), and finished by dipping or saucing the entire sandwich in the seasoned beef gravy in which the beef was roasted. The result is a substantial, juicy, intensely savory sandwich that's genuinely difficult to eat without dripping.

Portillo's offers four standard preparations: dry (no gravy applied to the bread), wet (light gravy dip on the bread), dipped (the full sandwich submerged briefly in the gravy before serving), and combo (Italian beef plus Italian sausage in the same sandwich). The dipped is the most-recommended preparation for first-time visitors and the most authentically Chicago of the four; eating a fully dipped Italian beef requires lean-forward posture, sufficient napkins, and a willingness to get gravy on your hands.

The hot giardiniera versus sweet peppers choice is a personal preference. Sweet peppers are roasted Italian sweet peppers, mild and accessibly sweet. Hot giardiniera is a chopped vegetable mix in spicy oil and vinegar, substantially spicier and more aggressive in flavor. Many longtime Portillo's customers order both. The Italian beef sandwich runs roughly $8 to $9; the combo (beef plus sausage) runs about $10.

Beyond the hot dog and the Italian beef, Portillo's third signature item is the chocolate cake — a tall, moist, dark chocolate layer cake with thick chocolate buttercream frosting that has become a genuine cult item in the Chicago market. The cake is made fresh in-store and sold by the slice (roughly $5) or as whole cakes (roughly $35-40). The cake is generally considered substantially better than its quick-service-restaurant context would suggest and is the dessert most commonly ordered by Portillo's regulars.

The chocolate cake shake — a thick milkshake blended with an entire slice of the chocolate cake — is the secondary cult item and arguably more distinctive than the cake alone. The shake combines vanilla ice cream, milk, and a full slice of Portillo's chocolate cake blended together; the result is intensely chocolatey, substantial enough to function as a small meal in its own right, and one of the most-photographed Portillo's items on social media. The chocolate cake shake runs roughly $7 to $8.

Other dessert and side options include the chain's signature crinkle-cut fries (a strong fast-food fry execution), cheese fries with a melted-cheese topping, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, the strawberry shortcake (seasonal), and various soft drinks and shakes. The chain also offers beer and wine at most locations, including the Ontario Street downtown location.

Portillo's Ontario Street location combines naturally with a downtown Chicago day as either a lunch or a quick-dinner stop. The natural sequence as lunch: morning at the Route 66 Begin Sign and the Art Institute, walk north into River North, lunch at Portillo's (30-45 minutes including ordering and eating), afternoon at the Willis Tower Skydeck or Navy Pier, dinner elsewhere. The natural sequence as dinner: afternoon sightseeing across the Loop, a 5-6pm Portillo's dinner before crowds peak, evening at a Chicago River architectural cruise or a theater performance.

For Route 66 travelers, Portillo's is the natural quick-service Chicago stop — substantially lower price point than the sit-down Chicago restaurants, faster service that fits a busy itinerary, and a menu that covers the two iconic Chicago foods. The standard Route 66 traveler approach is a Portillo's lunch on the first Chicago day, followed by Lou Malnati's for dinner, Lou Mitchell's breakfast the morning of westbound departure, and a continuation of the road trip toward Joliet (40 miles southwest) and beyond.

For visitors who want to take Portillo's home, the chain ships its Italian beef, hot dog kits, and chocolate cake nationally through the Portillo's online shipping program. The shipped versions are reasonable approximations of the in-restaurant experience — not quite identical but genuinely satisfying for out-of-state Portillo's fans missing their Chicago fix. Many Route 66 travelers ship a Portillo's package home as a Chicago souvenir.