Hookahs and hot dogs

Plenty for both adults and kids at Cedar’s Place and DynoJax

Terry Kirts

Dynojax's Chicago dog ($1.89 or $2.65 for a jumbo)

You might think a hotdog joint painted mustard yellow with ketchup-red lamps would appeal mainly to the 10-and-under set. But on a recent stormy spring day, more suits and ties could be seen ducking in from the rain at DynoJax on East 82nd Street than hungry tots. Maybe they were there for the Guinness and Newcastle. More likely they were there for the all-beef dogs — piled high the way they are on every street corner in Chicago. Kids aren’t the only ones who love a good dog.

Indy must have its fair share of displaced Chicagoans. Windy City-themed eateries have sprung up all around the city. But few have the spirit of DynoJax, which opened this past December. A giant hotdog promising “Dynamite Dogs” welcomes you above the door. Inside, those neon yellow walls are decorated with plenty of vintage advertising, as well as a number of owner Jack Froehling’s certificates and plaques, even an eagle feather, honoring his past work as a scoutmaster back in his native Wood Dale, Ill. Surely hotdogs turned up around the campfire more than once back in his Scouting days.

DynoJax’s Chicago dog ($1.89 or $2.65 for a jumbo) sticks to the book — a “salad” dog on a poppy-seed bun with onions, tomatoes, mustard, sport peppers and cucumbers in three forms: sliced, as a wedge of kosher dill and in a shockingly emerald relish. It’s even finished with a shake of celery salt. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never exactly understood the appeal of a boiled dog with so many toppings that they can’t help but make your bun a little soggy. But Chicago natives are likely to tear up over these. For my money, the charbroiled polish sausage ($2.69) packs more flavor with just a few grilled onions, mustard and warm sauerkraut.

The Italian beef sandwich ($3.89) is a big beefy pile of shaved meat on French bread with hot or green peppers. The “Italian gravy” this was dunked in was mostly sopped up by the bun; more on the side might have made good dipping, but this is just as it’s done up north. While the tender meat packed great flavor, we wished we’d added mozzarella cheese or grilled onions. Beer-battered onion rings ($1.95) are some of the best around, crispy but not over-battered. You can actually taste the onions inside. My friend and I had planned to treat a co-worker with one of DynoJax’s chocolate malts ($1.85) on the way home. But with one sip, we knew we had to have this rich, thick drink to ourselves.

Cedar’s Place

Lunch buffets certainly have their appeal, especially when you’re dining on an international cuisine you didn’t grow up eating. Who doesn’t love all those choices? But at Cedar’s Place, tucked in a somewhat secluded strip mall at 56th and Guion Road, you’d do well to get your Lebanese specialties to order. Sure, the buffet will let you try a great bean salad, a delicate crêpe-like omelet and one of the richest chicken soups in town. But if you only eat from the buffet, you’ll miss the fresh presentation of appetizers, shawarma and kebabs, as well as the attentive and friendly service of owners Ceasar and Satema Amro.

Ceasar recently changed the name of his eatery from the eponymous Ceasar’s Place to Cedar’s Place, associating his eatery more clearly with the symbol of his native Lebanon. A cedar tree painted inside the door along with sabers, brass plates and colorful fez-like hats decorating the walls help to set the scene. Also, just about a year old, is the adjacent Ali Baba Café, where customers can sip on fresh juice or strong coffee while puffing away at hookahs, water pipes that indirectly heat tobacco with such spicy and fruity flavors as fruit cocktail, mango mania and the earthy Lebanese cedar.

For dinner, an appetizer of “arayes” ($5.50) brought wonderfully seasoned kafta ground beef on a flat pita, a bit like a grilled pizza with yogurt sauce. Hummus was heavy on tahini and perhaps more lightly seasoned than elsewhere. But for dinner it came swirled with olive oil and garnished with both olives and pickled turnip. Greek salads, included with each entrée, had plenty of crisp iceberg with cucumbers, tomatoes, feta and a surprisingly piquant, sweet dressing.

The mixed shawarma plate ($11.99) brought both grilled shreds of beef and chicken — the beef definitely juicier than the somewhat dry chicken — with a mound of lubia, or nicely seasoned broad beans over rice with little strands of pasta. Another dollop of hummus completed the dish. Moussaka ($11.99) is a wonderfully rich and creamy affair with a thick, cheesy topping over a ground beef sauce and a layer of tasty eggplant that wasn’t so overcooked as to be unrecognizable. For desserts, we chose a warm rice pudding ($1.50) topped with ground pistachios, as well as a maamoul ($1.50), a buttery little pastry filled with dates.

DynoJax
3742 E. 82nd St.
317-849-3647

Hours
Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Food : 3 Stars
Atmosphere : 3 Stars
Service : 3.5 Stars

Cedar’s Place & Ali Baba Café
4202 W. 56th St.
317-297-7131

HOURS
Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Friday-Saturday 9 A.m.-10 p.m.
(Closed Sundays)

Food : 3.5 Stars
Atmosphere : 3 Stars
Service : 4 Stars