The greasy smell of French fries sizzling under bubbling oil in the deep fryer wafts past the poster-lined walls and through the front window of Mustard’s Last Stand.

A large, juicy hot dog is placed in a sesame seed bun and tossed onto the counter by a cook. Snagging the dog from the counter, a second worker pours condiments on top of it.

The stinging scent of mustard oozes out of its yellow bottle and falls onto the dog; the sweet aroma of ripened tomatoes rises into the air as they are thinly sliced and arranged on top; the spicy, hot smell of peppers adds a zesty tang to the garnishes, as they are delicately tucked into the bun.

All this happens before the customer can get his first taste of the exceptional hot dogs that Mustard’s Last Stand produces daily for its largely college-aged consumers.

This counter service restaurant, locally owned by Danny Polovin, has been a mainstay at 2081 South University Boulevard for the past 28 years, serving up “Chicago style” favorites such as jumbo char dogs and Italian beef sandwiches.

Polovin, who is from Chicago, owns two different locations of Mustard’s, one on the border of the DU campus and the other on Broadway in Boulder.

Though Mustard’s is known for dishing out some of the best hot dogs outside of the Windy City, it’s staff feels that the restaurant offers much more.

“We give our customers a true Chicago experience,” said Sandy Wong, the assistant general manager, who works regularly behind the counter. “[The experience] is why people come; it’s hard to find any place like it in Denver.”

Very few restaurants in the Denver metropolitan area sell what are considered “Chicago style” hot dogs, which are sold and packaged by Vienna Beef.

Mustard’s serves up a variety of these dogs, ranging from regular sized hot dogs up to quarter pounders that are called jumbo char dogs. Priced very affordably, a customer can get a regular Chicago dog, homemade, hand-cut French fries and a regular drink for $6.

Also on the menu is another Chicago favorite, known as the Italian beef sandwich, which consists of hot, juicy roast beef with red and green peppers on a hot hoagie. This sandwich comes at the cheap price of $5.50. Mustard’s also offers vegetarian optons, cheeseburgers, specialty sandwiches and much more.

“Because of our menu and the items we serve, we are different from other restaurants,” said Wong. “The majority of our ingredients are from Chicago and are of the highest quality.”

Wong believes that this is one of the major reasons that Mustard’s has been so successful in the DU neighborhood.

“The keys to any good restaurants, in general, are quality ingredients and quality dining experience,” said Wong. “The food has to be great and the experience has to be great; you want the customers to feel like they are part of the neighborhood.”

The experience is one of the biggest prerogatives, said Wong, as Mustard’s prides itself on being a local hangout for its customers.

“Sometimes it can get pretty crazy in here, but, overall, it is really laid back,” said Wong. “A lot of places want to get customers in and out of their seats to make more money. But here, we want you here for an hour. We want it to be a place where people can be comfortable and relax.”

Just the smells that one can find inside the cozy confines of this restaurant are worth the trip for any hungry hot dog lover. However, the greasy fries, juicy beef sandwiches, plump hot dogs and grilled burgers all, remarkably, taste even better than they look and smell, transporting a customer from the sun-baked windows of Mustard’s to the windy street corners of Chicago.

Mustard’s Last Stand is open seven days a week, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.