Visit #2 - May 17th, 2014

The walk to Hot Doug's from my apartment is just under 1.5 miles according to google maps.  When I was looking at apartments in Chicago before moving back here, I had two criteria when it came to location: 1)  Must be less than a mile (preferably half a mile) from a blue line stop and, 2) Must be within walking distance from Hot Doug's.  1.5 miles is a totally doable walking distance for me, so there was no question that I found my dream location.

Last week, I decided that if I was going to be going to Doug's on a weekly/bi-weekly basis and eating 2-3 sausages with fries, I should probably walk there.  Now I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, but I'm pretty sure that 3 miles of walking is enough to offset 3 sausages (there's some sort of sausage to mile ratio there that I should figure out, but this will do.)

Since I had gone on Friday last week and had seen the carnage that awaited me if I didn't get there before 10, I made it a point to get there by 9:30 today.  Of course, I arrived at 9:30 and saw there were maybe a dozen people in front of me in line (which became 20 by the time the door opened) and within two minutes, there were another 6 folks behind me.  By the time the door opened, the line stretched pass the alley, almost to the end of the block.  I stood there reading Pink Noises and waited. There was also some guy walking around with a field recorder interviewing people in line and lots of camera phones taking photos and video of the line.  

Doors open, and it's the usual thing.  People file in, place orders and jawjack with Doug and wait.  I ordered sometime after 10:40 and had sausages in hand by 10:50.

                                Vietnamese chicken, thuringer, hot dog, fries.  

Keeping with my "always try to get new things every time you visit Doug's" philosophy, I made it a point to go crazy (but not too crazy) and to try this insane Vietnamese chicken sausage, complete with sweet chili aioli, cheese-stuffed hot peppers and fried rice noodles, and boy, it was utterly fantastic. I had also realized while walking to Doug's that I never had a standard hot dog from Hot Doug's.  

That's right, I'd never had a hot dog from Hot Doug's.  I don't know what it is, maybe I just figured that I could get a hot dog anywhere and that if I was making a point to go to Doug's, I should get some kick ass sausage I couldn't get anywhere else.  Then again, the hot dog is pretty much the flagship menu item at Doug's.  If Doug's had everything they have now but had a terrible standard hot dog, they would probably be out of business by now.  So it was time...

I then ordered the hot dog, charred and fried, but NOT Chicago-style.  That's right, not Chicago-style. Why?  Because Chicago-style hot dogs are bullshit.  I don't know why Chicago-style dogs became a thing and I don't care to look it up right now but here's the deal - I don't like yellow mustard or tomatoes.  Why the hell would I put them on a hot dog?  Also, I like ketchup on hot dogs.  The whole Chicago mentality of "Never put ketchup on a hot dog" doesn't make any sense to me (never has) and I've never heard a successful anti-ketchup argument in all my time of living around or in Chicago.  So, sorry Doug, but I totally put ketchup on your hot dog this morning and it was delicious.  

While finishing up at Doug's, I was thinking about some of my other visits and how I've never left Doug's disappointed.  The food and service are always consistently great and every meal I've left (over)satisfied.  That's rare.  Very rare...

Here's the tally:

Thuringer with caramelized onions, Vietnamese chicken sausage* with sweet chili aioli, cheese-stuffed peppers and fried rice noodles, hot dog with caramelized onions and pickle, occasionally dipped in ketchup and fries.

*Not entirely sure what all was in the Vietnamese chicken sausage, but DAMN! UPDATE - There might have been some cabbage in there!