STREETERVILLE — Thursday’s NBC Chicago broadcast featured the final restaurant-focused segment by Steven Dolinsky, widely known across the Chicagoland area as “The Hungry Hound,” “The Food Guy” and “The Man Whose Picture at a Takeout Place Makes You Feel Like You Probably Won’t Get Food Poisoning.” Sources close to the Hungry Hound say that after his last broadcast, Steve will be sent to a big farm upstate where he can run around and review restaurants.
“Media is in a state of evolution right now,” said Fred Gipson, station manager at NBC Chicago. “There’s less room for traditional ‘shoe leather’ reporting, and more room for whatever we can cheaply produce with AI tools.”
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“But don’t worry about Steve! We found this beautiful farm where he can be free to run around! There’s lots of sunshine and fresh air, and a bustling food scene he can report on! I hear there’s a Nepalese dumpling place that just opened and he’s going to love it.”
Dolinsky, who began working as “The Hungry Hound” at ABC Chicago in 2003, is a 57 year old reporter-retreiver mix known for his adventurous appetite and love of belly rubs. After he was put up for adoption by ABC in 2021 due to the pandemic-driven decline in needing to know who had the best Thai food in town, he ended up at NBC along with a new name, “The Food Guy.”
“I know some people prefer to keep the old name, but my kids were struggling with the H’s in ‘Hungry Hound,’” said Gipson, “they were both raised Cockney. It took him a while to adjust to the new name, I’d call out ‘Food Guy!’ and shake his treats and he’d just stare.”
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After adjusting to the new name and station, Dolinsky returned to his reporting beat, but as station resources became tight and Dolinsky’s behavioral problems became frequent, the decision was made to send him to greener pastures.
“I don’t want to speak ill of the guy, he’s a great journalist,” said Gipson, “but he’s been peeing where he’s not supposed to a lot. Corners of offices, the news van, one very unhappy ice cream place in Andersonville. My wife says he’s afraid of thunderstorms, but when I tried to put him in one of those weighted vests he tried to bite me!”
As Dolinsky’s last broadcast airs, Chicagoland says good bye to a familiar face for food fans. NBC Chicago says we might be able to visit Dolinsky on the farm, but we’d need to see, the farmers are very busy with all the other reporters that live there. It’s a farm for reporters.
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“We all love Steve and wish him well,” said Gipson, “But he’s going to have a beautiful life upstate. Lots of playing and roaming, just like in Old Yeller,” a book that we’ve always wanted to finish reading.
