If you are what you eat, then by the time Munch was 12 years old, Munch should have been a hot dog.

As a nibblet, Munch ate hot dogs for breakfast, a hot dog sandwich (two hot dogs cut length-wise and smothered with ketchup on white bread) for lunch and hot dogs and SpaghettiOs for dinner (Uh oh, SpaghettiOs.)

Munch now believes that Mother of Munch (MOM), by the time the kids were older, had been beaten into submission by the elders in the brood and could care less what Munch was eating.

This brings me to the current generation coming up -- those who are now interns at the Post-Gazette, who have opportunities that most of us did not. We have had interns with front-page bylines; with huge section fronts; interns who go out on stories that, when there was a flush staff, would have been cherry-picked by the prima donnas around here.

Wiener World is at 626 Smithfield St., Downtown; 412-471-3013.

This summer at the Post-Gazette there are 13 interns, each working as a journalist rather than getting Munch coffee the way Munch was expected to fetch coffee, doughnuts and the perfect crullers for the staff of the newspaper where Munch interned. Munch couldn't write, but it prepared Munch to work days at a newspaper and nights at a bar.

Anyway, off to Wiener World Munch wandered with Intern of Munch (IOM) and Office Spouse of Munch (we were taking the office kid out). Munch had heard about the casing dogs that Munch loves.

Wiener World is one of those places that everyone knows about. Not one of those fancy sit-down places. Wiener World has a long shelf along the wall across from the counter where no one ever eats alone because there is a mirror where you can watch yourself eat. Munch believes that the mirror is there to keep customers from lingering.

Wiener World is not the Downtown version of the Original Hot Dog Shoppe. No, Wiener World, which serves all-beef franks that snap when you bite into them, is a place all its own. For one thing, there is no liquor sold; for another, you can't sit down, so there is really no reason to stay long.

It's in, down a dog or two, and out you go. But while you are there, if you can, linger but a moment over that hot dog, because it has a subtle spice that is really quite delightful. Munch ordered a hot dog ($2.75) and a small Diet Coke (93 cents) and a small fries ($2.10). IOM and OSOM each ordered a kielbasa (not having gotten the memo it was Wiener World, not Kielbasa World); but since they both ordered the kielbasa we got the price on the two kielbasa special of ($6) with a small drink, which was downed by IOM.

The fries were not thick fries, but also not shoestrings. They were cooked in what Munch and OSOM both noticed was remarkably clean frying oil that tasted nice and clean. No old friedstuff taste on the french fries.

But back to the dog: Munch asked for ketchup, mustard and onions, which overpowered the delicate nature of this hot dog. Munch realized it was a dog that could stand on its own four feet without the help of condiments. It was what Munch was looking for: a well-behaved dog.

For dessert it was off to Market Square for frozen yogurt from The Original Oyster House, but there was no chocolate. So instead we stopped in Prantl's where, days after IOM's birthday, a wrong was finally righted, and IOM had a piece of cake, or more specifically, Prantl's famous burnt almond torte (made into a travel bar for $3.49 that we took back to the office).

All in all, the perfect Downtown lunch run; and now for the miracle of Wiener World: Munch did not spill any ketchup on his light blue shirt or khaki pants.