Jimmy's Gourmet Dogs - Des Moines

My brother brought me a Chicago dog. Having grown up there, I am always excited to try something from my childhood. The toppings were mostly relish with a few raw onions. While the relish was good and very bright green like I expected, a true Chicago dog has a lot more onions. It also had mustard, a pickle, tomatoes and hot chilies all on a poppy seed bun. Maybe because it sat in the car for the ride from the mall to my house, the bread wasn't steamed and it was huge. I didn't mind that too much because the hot dog itself was really big. But, unfortunately, it was also completely flavorless. I expected a Vienna dog but that was something else because Vienna dogs add a nice touch of saltiness and have a distinct bite to them. This one had none of those. When taking a bite large enough to get the bread, meat and toppings, all I could taste was the toppings and the bread. The meat seemed like an afterthought when it should have been the star. Because of its size it was filling but I doubt I will get one again because the flavor was lacking.

Jimmy's Gourmet Dogs is located in the Merle Hay Mall food court. I took advantage of the grand opening sale today. $2 dogs from 1100 AM 100 PM. Ordered the Colin (pretty close to a classic Chicago dog , the Ruby, a Dallas and a Coke... $7.00 before tip. I'm a Merle Hay Mall food court fan (Vietnam Cafe, Lazize, Tamale's Industry, etc. . So with that and a great sale (along with Bath and Body Works semi annual sale ... I had to check Jimmy's out. The girlfriend ordered a Dallas dog, a Casey dog (without BBQ sauce and a bottle of water. The hot dogs come as advertised. Big all beef hot dogs, nice soft buns, and topped as described on the menu. My favorite was probably the Dallas. A classic chili cheese dog with onions. Though I could of used a knife along with the plastic fork. Lifting it as is was almost an impossibility. A bit of a good problem in a way... I only ended up wearing some of it. Thankfully the dogs came with a pretty good sized handful of napkins. The dogs were cooked perfectly. Not over and not under. A nice pop when you bit into them. The toppings didn't overpower the dogs and you could taste everything. It was a nice balance. We parked by the ramp on the East side of the food court. Had a short wait to order and a short wait for our food. Service was good. Typical for what you would experience at a food court. The product itself is a good product. They also offer fries and cheese fries as well non fountain drinks. I'd be more likely to return if the individual regular price was a little bit lower, or if there was a combo/basket price. This is a new business and my guess is they will find out what works best for them, the market area they are in, and adjust accordingly. I'll be watching them because the food was good and I'm a s for a good hot dog... While we were eating the mall experienced a little bit of a water related incident flooding part of the floor and blocking our path back to the car. We exited to the West and had a nice romantic walk around Kohl's back to the ramp.