text: Like many other misplaced Chicagoland natives who somehow settled in the valley the little things are what I miss the most One of those little things are the amazing hot dog and italian beef restaurants all over the city and its sprawling suburbs Portillos not only was one of my favorite of those places but it was the one that my brother and I would ride our bikes over to so we could get a cheap and delicious lunch before hitting up a movie on a random summer afternoon With that kind of nostalgic expectations Portillos in Scottsdale had a lot to live up to and guess what They hit the mark with a perfect bullseyennA jumbo hot dog with everything on it like a good Chicago place even an Arizona Portillos knows that means no ketchup unless specifically requested fries and a piece of chocolate cake The year old me who ate this meal more times than I can even try to remember could not have been any happier The dog is pretty much what I remember loving as a kid The bun was a lot soggier than it should be which resulted in the very fresh condiments falling out but I can forgive that The fries were the perfectly crispy crinkly fries that the best places always served The cake was perfectly moist and scrumptious with the very sweet and unnecessarily too much frosting that I could not get enough of as a child My fiancue had the italian beef Awesome Make sure to order it dipped Messy but flavorful She also ordered cheese fries they just give you a container of some cheese sauce that I could not stop dipping my fries into By the way the food is cheap All that and two soft drinks was only a little more than nnThe line out the door was expected and even a little daunting at on the Friday night following the grand opening The good news It moved fast We got our food and found a table in a little over a half hour If that can be done in the first week then the pace will certainly speed up when the excitement starts to ware down If you are not already a Portillos fan you may want to wait a few weeks for the hype to die down before you give the place a trynnIts not like there was a shortage of Chicago hot dog and italian beef places around the valley But Portillos is certainly a top notch addition