Hot Doug's

I made a trip to Chicago recently, which means more Chicago restaurant reviews! (Of course, I could've also solved this by finally writing about the Chicago restaurants I've been to and haven't talked about. But I'm moving on.)

Alex wanted to make sure he ate a classic Chicago hot dog before he left the city, which is why we made the journey to Hot Doug's. We had done some research and concluded that this was one of the more beloved hot dog places in the city. It's really far from Hyde Park, though, so we'd been reluctant to go all the way there. A month ago or so, we went to Bridgeport, which was much closer to another hot dog place we'd read about. But the hot dogs, while yummy, didn't really have all the Chicago hot dog toppings.

So we went to Hot Doug's, which is on 3324 N. California, or a bus, two trains, and a long walk away from Hyde Park. Chicago, more than any other city I've ever lived in (except possibly Cape Town), has made me want to own a car. When we got there, there was a long line out the door, putting our hot dog even further away from us than before. Then, it turned out that Hot Doug's closes at 4. 4 came around, and we were still online. We were concerned that the journey was destined for tragedy, but, fortunately, it turns out that by "closes at 4," it means, "be online at 4 and you won't get turned away." (People really did get turned away.)

The hot dog choices were myriad. There was the classic Chicago hot dog, for which you could choose among many toppings, as well as how it was cooked--char-grilled, steamed, fried, or fried then grilled (or something making an equal amount of sense). There were also lots of other kinds of sausages, as well as daily specials, which were crazy-sounding sausages with crazy-sounding toppings, like "Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Chicken Sausage with Grainy Dijon Mustard, Ratatouille and Havarti-Dill Cheese." Those sausages were tempting, but at around $7, they were twice as much as the non-specials, so we skipped it.

Alex got a Chicago-style sausage with mustard, raw onion, relish (neon green, in true Chicago fashion), a big dill pickle wedge, sport peppers, and tomatoes. There may be other toppings I'm forgetting. He got his sausage steamed, and it came on the classic poppy-seed bun. It was interesting. I think it was good. It tasted like a salad on top, and it was a fun combination of flavors. But I don't think it's something would get all the time.

I got the "Marty Allen" (all the sausages were named after relatively minor celebrities, except for the hot and really hot ones, which were named after Keira Knightley and Salma Hayek, respectively). It was a beef, pork, and garlic sausage, which I got grilled with mustard and sauerkraut. I got a different kind of bun and different kind of mustard from Alex (mine was dijon, his was normal), which I liked; it showed that the restaurant was really thinking about it. The sausage was actually really good, and I enjoyed the sauerkraut and mustard, too, but I wonder if the whole thing might've been better with grilled onions instead.

Hot Doug's definitely lends itself to repeat visits. Some restaurants you might go to and feel confident you've gotten a really good sense of what they have to offer. But others, you really want to try everything on the menu. Hot Doug's is like that, but you have to try all the various combinations and permutations of everything on the menu, too. There were two men standing on line in front of us. They were both there by themselves, clearly regulars. At first, I was puzzled by why you would wait 45 minutes by yourself for a hot dog. But after eating there, I think I understand.

Oh! Also! We had duck fat fries. Oh my. They're only offered on Fridays and Saturdays. This makes it imperative that you go there on a Friday or a Saturday. They were so good. They were shoestring fries, which I tend to like less, but they were crispy on the outside, but almost juicy on the inside, as the fat drips into the fry. If they had been cooked a little bit less long, I might consider them the best fries I've ever had.