Craig Bechtle and his family arrived in Las Vegas from Jacksonville, Fla., one morning last week and by lunchtime were at Chicago Hot Dogs, 1078 N. Rancho Drive. Bechtle has a points-of-interest program for his global positioning system; he entered "hot dogs" and the GPS did the rest.

But why would they come to Las Vegas and seek out a hot dog place?

"I grew up eating this stuff," the Chicago native said as he sat at a table with his wife, Dena, and teenagers Colin, Tyler and Ellen. "We needed to get some lunch. It’s not your normal fast food. It just has a unique taste."

There is, for example, the "snap" from the natural casing, the wide variety of traditional toppings and the poppy-seed bun.

Chicago fans seem to be particularly loyal. Kurtis Kallal, operator of Chicago Hot Dogs, estimates that 75 percent of his customers are Chicago natives, and that 60 percent of them come in for the hot dogs (he also imports Italian beef from Chicago, and serves gyros and sliders, and plans to start serving Chicago-style pizza). Las Vegas also is home to Chicago Tasty Dogs, 9711 S. Eastern Ave., and Hot Dog Heaven, 87 E. Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson.