Villa Park eatery's passion for hot dogs pays off

Strat Matsas makes about 600 Vienna Beef hot dogs daily at his retro eatery in Villa Park.

But he definitely doesn't miss out on the fun. Every day for the past two decades, Matsas has taste-tested at least one of his restaurants' hot dogs.

"I never get tired of eating hot dogs," he said.

So it's only fitting that his restaurant, Strat's, has joined the Vienna Beef Hot Dog Hall of Fame.

Bob Schwartz, Vienna Beef senior vice president of customer development, and Craig Campbell, a sales manager with the company, last week presented Strat's with the honor.

"We wanted to come up with a way to reward those folks who created that type of a general perspective for the business that has made our product work better," Schwartz said.

Campbell said Matsas runs an independent store, knows his customers by name and by what they order.

"From all of us at Vienna," Schwartz said, "please accept our most sincere congratulations and best wishes for your continued success."

Matsas, who was born and raised in Elmhurst and graduated from York High School, got into the restaurant business as a teenager. He would take the train to Chicago every day after school to help out at his father's hot dog stand in the South Loop.

After college, Matsas started medical school. Still, he always wanted have his own restaurant.

So he dropped out of medical school and opened a hot dog joint in Franklin Park. Eventually, he opened the Villa Park eatery.

Matsas says he loves his restaurant, the community and his customers. And with hundreds of hot dogs sold daily, the customers seem to love Matsas' Chicago-style dogs, which sell for $1.99 each.

"Now with the depression and recession going on," Matsas said, "it's a great, cheap meal."