OH! Hello there, you're my blog... I may have forgotten about you this past week. Don't be mad, I was in a massive Chicago induced food coma. The Mancub and I went on a road trip to Chicago this past weekend, to go to Pitchfork Fest, see old friends, make new friends and eat far too much food.
Never before have I ever wanted to learn the wonderful art of sausage making....that sounds vaguely dirty. Rewind, make it sound proper in your head, and ACTION! But really?! Who knew the humble hot dog could be so freakishly delicious at to elicit other crazy people like myself and Mancub to wait in line for TWO HOURS for food.... guess what, HotDougs can be that. freakishly. delicious.
Oh yeah, thats the line. Note the Ice cream truck just hanging out
waiting for people to cave and buy a good humor appetizer.
40 minutes later...
We caved.
so we waited, and waited, and contemplated jumping ship, cutting our losses and getting our hungry butts to Pitchfork Fest where we were currently missing music and dirty hipsters compliment each others ironic haircuts.
But we finally got to the counter and ordered our food;
Blueberry infused venison sausage with raspberry mustard and brie cheese
The Paul Kelly Bratwurst: Soaked in Beer – sort of like Paul.
The Dog Chicago-Style Hot Dog with all the trimmings: 'nuff said.
Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris
oh yeah, and Duck fat fries. that's right! Duck Fat Fries
From left; Venison sausage, Bratwurst, Chicago dog
I feel it's my duty to inform the people of the blogosphere that Hot Dougs only serves the duck fat fries on Fridays and Saturdays, that being said, and I know that Mancub will disagree on this point, the fries weren't that great. To me, not worth the wait or the hype, but then again I belong to the school of thought that french fries are really just a vehicle for salt and ketchup to get into my mouth.
Out of the four dogs the bratwurst was the most standard to me. Bun, brat, yellow mustard...nothing too fancy but also nothing to write home about.... so lets get to the meat of the post...
OMFG the duck and venison sausages were so epic and worth the wait!!
Foie Gras and Duck Sausage
Grilled duck sausage on a soft french roll with truffle mayo and foie gras with just the tiniest bit of sea salt on top..... oh.my.god. While in theory i feel bad for those poor force fed ducks, in reality my tongue is still doing back-flips after eating it , needless to say I could never be a spokesperson for peta. Oh sweet Jebus it was good, the casing was seared and the fat was caramelized just enough to perfectly balance the softness of the foie gras, and the addition of sea salt adds a pop that cuts the fattiness of all the ingredients that would otherwise overwhelm my mouth.
The grilled venison sausage, also on a french roll, with raspberry mustard and brie really was the highlight for both of us, strongly spiced, robust game sausage with sweet and tangy mustard and soft delicate creamy brie?! Oh yeah, this makes me want to learn to make sausage. It's a shame we only ordered one of these, because between the two of us one was NOT enough.
Honestly the only things keeping this sausage-y goodness from being in a top rated gourmet restaurant is the bread, great for what it is but had it been a crusty buttery house baked roll...and really if thats the only thing keeping small 'fast food' hot dogs from being worthy of white table clothes and waitstaff then they win food points from me.
Chicago dog!
Oh Chicago dog, so many things so such a tiny bun. A beef hot dog with; a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, cooked onions, neon green relish, yellow mustard and celery salt on a poppy seed bun. The classic by Chicago standards, but if i were to do it all again I would 86 the relish and cooked onions and copious amounts of yellow mustard and replace it with raw chopped onions and just the tiniest line of mustard.
So much sausage, so many fries....two hours later i was ready for a nap, not the bike ride that was awaiting me. But I'd wait in line for two hours all over again for these hot dogs. definitely on my list of places to go again when i get back to Chicago.The pickles and tomatoes are going to be regular visitors on my hot dogs from now on..
Hot Dougs, 3324 North California, Chicago, IL 60618 Phone: (773) 279-9550
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