When mustard and ketchup isn't enough

A Chicago trip wouldn't be a Chicago experience without a little taste of Chicago authenticity.  For that, I needed to satiate my tummy with that fabled Chicago style hot dog.  But not any place would do given that the CTA was my mode of transportation during the trip, I had to find a place that had variety and also be worth the total bus/train fare to and fro.  With this in mind, I decided to try the wickedly different Hot Doug's.

When me and my zookeeper got off the bus after about a 35 minute ride, we walked down from the stop and saw this line of people waiting at the corner of the street as if it was suddenly Black Friday.  We knew this was the place.  It was astonishing seeing how many people waiting for the Hot Doug experience and crazy to think this happens on a daily basis.  It was about 2:17 pm when we arrived and the place closes at 4 pm.  We figured it'd probably be a 30 minute wait in line and hot dogs don't take that long to grill, so we went to the back.  All the way to the back.  Past the last guy standing in the picture on the right.



It's also interesting to note that where the sun strikes is roughly 70 degrees F, but against the wall and in the shade where most people waited was probably a frighteningly cold 40 degrees F.  I know Chicago denizens probably tolerated the cold well, but in California where it's always warm and standing in a shade is comfortable, we were practically freezing and exhaling cold vapors while standing in the shade at Hot Doug's.  Roughly an hour and a half later at around 3:52 pm, we got to the first window at the corner of the store with a poster reading SexFist.  A girl says "Duck Fat Fries" while a boy holding a flower to her says "Foie Gras..."

It seemed fitting considering the majority of the customers would likely be ordering those two items as they are what Hot Doug's is known for.  At this time, we were about six persons away from the door, and as we inched closer to the entrance, we could see Hot Doug's sign hanging overhead with the arrow teasing us every time the wind made the sign sway.  And when it was 3:58 pm, we finally got our feet through the entrance and planted firmly on the restaurant's floors.  At 4:00 pm exactly, a woman came courteously pushing through the line in front of me to flip the switch.  The open neon lights were no longer lit.  Who knows what were to become of the people still waiting outside.  gasp



Through the double glass doors, the first thing we are greeted with is the menu.  There's a wide variety of different style hot dogs to choose from and we learned that the special menu changes from time to time.  We also learned the reason why the line was so long was because customers didn't just come to purchase one hot dog.  Most purchased at least four.  On this trip we purchased six hot dogs.  These were the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage, Ribeye Steak Sausage, Uber Garlic Pork Sausage,  The Dog, The Elvis, and The Paul Kelly.  We also ordered the duck fat fries.  Oh.  And the total came out to around $46.  O_O



The duck fat fries tasted like regular fries.  It wasn't really that amazing.  It did taste amazingly greasy and only makes me wonder how their regular fries taste like.  It makes me also wonder why a lot of people seem to dig it.  I personally think that duck salad tastes much much better on a whole new level compared to duck fat fries. The Dog is the typical Chicago-style hot dog with the dill pickle, tomatoes, diced onions, and relish.  I topped some sauerkraut onto it for good measure.  It was simply the best Chicago dog I've ever had and very flavorful - at least when compared to the ones here in California.  It wasn't too sour, wasn't overwhelming, and the dill pickle had a nice crisp to it.



The Elvis (Polish) and The Paul Kelly (Bratwurst) were topped with sauerkraut and both were equally delicious but also very typical.  It's not like you can make these two taste better than any other sausage out there.  The sausages did have a nice tight wrapping giving it a crisp with each bite.



The Ribeye Steak sausage (with chimichurri and fried onion) was really delicious.  It really tasted like eating a steak and because of the fried onion, it also tasted sort of like those hamburgers with the crispy fried onions in it.  The chimichurri addition was a nice touch and gave the hot dog a very flavorful pesto-like taste to complement the sausage.

The Uber Garlic Sausage (with roasted garlic dijonnaise and moody blue cheese) was slightly underwhelming.  The moody blue cheese simply overpowers the garlic dijonnaise so the hot dog as a whole tasted more like a regular sausage topped with blue cheese.  This is not to say the hot dog was bad though as the blue cheese topping was generous and also very smooth.  This hot dog isn't something you'd want to eat before an interview.

The Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage (with Truffle aioli, Foie Gras mousse, and fleur de sel) is loaded with a generous heaping of foie gras layered on top of the truffle aioli sauce with dashes of sea salt to give it extra oomph.  The sauce complements the foie gras and gives it a more earthy flavor (as if the foie gras itself didn't already overpower the senses) and the fleur de sel provides the salty flavor to kind of contrast from the fatty flavors.  This hot dog immediately puts you into a coma.  Again, not something you want to eat before an interview.

With that said, Hot Doug's was a genuinely new experience and something Chicago is possibly proud of having.  It truly beats out the hot dog places here, and it's definitely something I wouldn't mind purchasing an airline ticket just to fly over to the Windy City for the same experience (even the long wait) all over again.

Price = these are pricey hot dogs.  The cheapest is about $2 with the priciest being $8.

Atmosphere = Loud and overcrowded.  Everyone loves their dogs here.

Nutrition = Probably one of the reasons why I came back dizzy and lightheaded.

Deliciousness = Very.  I would happily lose 10 lbs just to gain it all back for this.

Appeal = It's a one-of-a-kind experience.




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