Yes, one can do those things at home...I do it when I have to...the point being, when we are out, and have a taste for Chicago style dogs, and italian beef and sausage combo sandwiches, its nearly impossible to find a place that has what we want....of course, I can cook them up myself if I have to, but when we are out for a day of fun, and I dont want to have to go come and cook, and we have a taste for our Chicago specialties, its darned hard to find them...at least out here in the Pacific Northwest...
Every once in a while a Chicago snowbird opens a "Taste of Chicago" diner in my town. They never last. Since the cooking websites got going, I've resigned myself to finding ethnic recipes and doing it myself.