It’s kinda ridiculous to think that I almost drove right past the very yellow Lucky Dawgs 2 (12435 Collier Blvd, Naples). Lucky Dawg 2 sits at the front end of the strip mall facing Collier Boulevard. In case you’re wondering (cause I was), the original Lucky Dawgs was an umbrella hot dog cart outside of a Home Depot store.
There’s an order window on the side along with a pickup window right by six bar stools with a small counter space where you can enjoy your grub. Three picnic benches round out all the seating unless, of course, you wanna sit in your vehicle. Considering how hot it was this day, it was probably a better option.
Vienna Beef Dogs
There is a Vienna Beef logo which means they’ve gotta be a Chicago dog joint. I’m totally ok with that but I’m not into that dragged through the garden nonsense. I like my dogs with onion, mustard, and relish or a straight-up chili dog will always hit the spot.
The entire menu consists of dogs ($3.50-$4.50), a Maxwell Street Polish ($5), Italian Sausage ($8), an Italian beef-sausage combo ($9), burgers in single or double (with or without cheese, $4-$6.50), chicken wings ($7-$18), fresh-cut fries (with chili, cheese or chili cheese $2-$4.50), and $5 shakes. Pulp Fiction instantly came to mind when I saw the shake price but I didn’t pull the trigger on it.
All of the dogs came on a soft poppy seed bun. My dad opts for his usual odd combination of onions and mayo, don’t knock it till you try it! We agree to share an order of fresh-cut fries topped with nacho cheese sauce.
One dog was chili only and the other with chili, mustard, and onion plus the 1/4 chargrilled cheeseburger with only raw onions, mayo, mustard, and ketchup (my childhood favorite condiment combination).
So How Was It?
So, you can’t go wrong with fresh-cut fries. They remind me of the ones my mom makes. The cheeseburger had a nice char from the grill, but the sauces combo with the raw onion next leveled this puppy. It had an unexpected sweetness that both my pops and I thoroughly enjoyed.
Once my palate told me, this is a housemade chili…we were golden. The mustard and onion topped the chili-only dog. The chili was exactly how I love it: beefy, slightly saucy, and no beans.
We were just too full to have a shake but we did take some Chicago-style tamales to go. Tamales? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention those!
