Slider Frank’s puts a spin on hot dogs

To start with, it has a great name. Any restaurant with the name “slider” attached is OK by me. The fact it also offers excellent food is a definite plus.

Slider Frank’s opened its doors Monday on the east side of St. Charles, at 3704 E. Main St., around the corner from Butera grocery store.

Rob Mondi and partner Al Serrano are playing out a childhood dream in opening the hot dog and burger joint in a location that has housed two or three previous lunch spots.

“We both went to St. Patrick’s school and church, and we always came out for hot dogs after 11 a.m. mass on Sunday, so we wanted to keep that tradition going in having another hot dog place here,” said Mondi, a 1987 graduate of St. Charles East High School.

This is not your typical hot dog stand. Not with names like Galaxy, Naked, Tex Mex, West Coast, East Coast and Chicago Style for either a hot dog or hamburger.

I tried the West Coast hot dog, with avocado, roasted pineapple, mango relish and lime cilantro mayonnaise; and also knocked down a Galaxy burger, or slider, with blue cheese, caramelized onions and root beer barbecue. Both came on pretzel buns.

When Mondi recommended a half-chocolate and half-banana milkshake to wash it all down, the place quickly became one of my new favorites. Slider Frank’s also offers “local” cookies — a chocolate cookie by Otis Spunkmeyer, located on Kirk Road. It was like the encore to a satisfying meal.

Prepare yourself for a different hot dog experience at Slider Frank’s. And don’t be afraid to mix it up a little on your shake.

The bigger Bulldogs: Those fancy Bulldog statues you’ve seen on the streets of Batavia will eventually be up for sale. That was the whole idea behind Bulldogs Unleashed, to raise money for Batavia schools and parks.Event organizers say 14 of the 25 Bulldogs will be available for bidding in a live auction Sept. 10 at the Fox Valley Country Club.Dinner and all other sorts of raffle prizes and activities will be part of the evening, which closes what has been an impressive community art project.For more information or to buy tickets, go to the BulldogsUnleashed.org website.The smaller Bulldogs: Batavia is known for its rabid support of anything Bulldog.But the city has really gone bonkers over Bulldogs this summer. If you thought the Bulldogs Unleashed statues throughout town were enough to quench your Bulldog thirst, think again.There will be even more Bulldogs on display Sunday at the Batavia VFW, this time they#146;ll be smaller ceramic Bulldogs residents have been working on this summer as part of a fundraiser that Ceramics on the Fox launched to raise money for the American Legion Post 504 Scholarship Fund.Awards will be presented for this fun contest #8212; and then these smaller Bulldogs will be on sale for $20 each and available at various stores throughout town. For information, call Ceramics on the Fox at (630) 593-5000 or Bob Zeman at the American Legion Post at (630) 859-2051dheun@sbcglobal.net