Hot Dougs: The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium
 Chicago, Illinois        Date of Visit  04/08/11            http://www.hotdougs.com/

Hot Doug’s has been getting a great deal of press for their odd encased meats. The logo on the back of each shirt and on the wall states…”There are no finer words in the English language than “Encased Meats” My friend.”
 

The Specials Board
 

We had caught wind that the wait in line might not be indicative of the quality of the product so we decided to give it a shot. Lucky for us it was a cold rainy day in the Windy City and our wait was about half an hour. The day before we had experienced Gene’s and Jude’s and it seemed criminal to attempt to replicate their simple beauty…so we stepped into the world of rarely seen encased meats to find out what is going on here.

The signs that lead you inside claim to herald a service system that works for them and it does. You order, find a table afterwards…not before, and your food will find you. The line to seating ratio somehow works out perfectly. Doug himself, as promised is standing behind the counter taking orders and to highlight his sense of humor the tip jar on the counter says…”For the people doing actual work. (Not the Lamebrain making bad jokes and pretending he knows what he is doing)”.

We, in our interest of the bit different ordered the following:

The Sally Vega  (formerly the Ace Patrick and the “Psycho” Ronnie Raines)
Corn Dog: Deep fried to a golden splendor – it’s corntacular!

The Game of the Week: Creole-Style Smoked Bison Sausage with Cajun Remoulade and Smoked Provolone Cheese

Jack Daniels and Fennel Smoked Pork Sausage with Bacon-Garlic Mayonnaise and Cheese-Stuffed Hot Peppers

Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel

Duck Fat Fries
(Friday & Saturday only)
 

The corn dog had a unique crust surrounding a juicy hot dog. The crust was…well, crusty. Deep fried dark it broke into delicious corny chunks with each bite. Nice. The smoked Bison mixed with the Cajun Remoulade and the smokiness of the provy gave the sensation of a good kielbasa on a bun. The ruddy red sausage had an excellent snap to the casing and a luscious interior. So far so good but it gets weirder from here. The pork link with Jack Daniels and fennel was topped with a bacon-garlic mayo. Man, you could taste the Old No. 7 and fennel which fit well with the bacon aioli. It wasn’t til my second bite that I hit one of the peppers and WHAM! Hot cheesiness. But it shouldn’t really work with the bourbon and fennel…but what do I know...? It’s delicious. It makes me wonder how many combos they try that end up, well, just disgusting. They are putting things together with such abandon that the successes just blow my mind. Such as the last thing we tried. It’s a hot dog…a Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel. I mean put the bong down…only a stoner would think of creating or eating something like this. Some odd combo. Unbelievably delicious is what it turns out to be. Strong mix of subtle flavors. You can taste it all the duck, the wine, the foie, the salt. He might be out of his mind, but if he is, it apparently results in spectacular tasting links.
 

On Friday and Saturday they have a special fry available. If you have been reading along you know how I feel about taters dipped in duck fat. Two days only and it’s Friday. We didn’t intend to order fries…but it’s duck fat!!! We got a bottle of vinegar and ketchup was on the table…typical fry accompaniment. We each grabbed a fry and started chewing…looked at each other…then took the vinegar back to the condiment table and left the ketchup alone. So Good.

Hot Doug’s is strange, kitschy, unique and amusing. It also offers a nice blend of strange and delicious. It should be experienced.