Visit #7 - July 19th, 2014

The Sounds...of Sausage...

As I had mentioned in a previous post, when I was looking for apartments to live in when I moved here, one serious consideration was the walking distance from Hot Doug's.  What I neglected to mention was that I moved back to Chicago for graduate school and over the course of the year, I kept meaning to get all of us first-year grads together for some encased meat funtimes.  Unfortunately, due to other commitments (like graduate school), it was difficult to get the four of us together at the same time.  However, with one of them moving back to fuggin' Brookylns at the end of July, we had to act quickly!

So us sound grads trekked out to Doug's on a warm, Saturday morning.  Coming from various corners of the city (Edgewater, Pilsen, Logan and Ukranian Village-ish), we were all there bright and early.  I got only minimal reading of Pink Noises done as Ned showed up pretty soon after, but it was actually a topic of a brief conversation during the lunch.  Other conversation topics included graduate school (stock), John Cage (even more stock?) and JESUS CHRIST THIS FOOD IS SO DAMN GOOD (stock when you eat at Hot Doug's.) 

Look at that! Pink Noises makes its pictorial debut on here!

If I remember correctly, Mike said he'd been there a long time ago, like, 6 years ago (like me, he's from around here.)   Austen and Ned had never been, but I feel like everyone was satisfied.  I think Austen had some comment that was like, "Yeah, you really can't get that anywhere else."  I think he said that.  I don't remember.


Here's the tally:
Thuringer, uber-garlic pork sausage, corn dog, fries.  Mike had a hot dog, corn dog and fries.  I can't remember what Austen and Ned had, but they enjoyed it!

Visit #6 - July 7th, 2014

Shellac and summer sausage, what two things go better together than that?

When Beth announced that she'd be visiting in July, I knew we'd have to hit up Hot Doug's at some point because, well, that's what you do.  Coincidentally, Shellac had announced a show on July 6th in Chicago after their July 7th show sold out, so bam! It was settled! Beth would come here and her main motives for the trip were to go to Hot Doug's and see Shellac.  Fine by me!

After a few days of other Chicago culinary delights (Johnnie's italian beef, lots of hamburgers, bbq, etc.) and a fantastic Shellac show, Beth and I met with friends Bob (who got there a little earlier than we did) and Andrew (who got there at the last possible second) to partake in the meats.

What do I remember about that day over three weeks ago?  It was warm.  It was a Monday, so the line wasn't bad.  The sausages were great.  The company was great.  I learned that Doug will swap out a veggie dog for any sausage but still put all the toppings on it (pro tip from Bob), so that's cool!

I didn't take a picture, unfortunately, nor do I remember what any of us had.  I was pretty hungry that day and we didn't walk there because I had access to a car.  This post is merely here to remember the good times we had in our lives and to not point out my shortcomings as I attempt to remember what I ate three weeks ago without a pictorial aid.

Here's the tally:
I bet there was a thuringer in there?  Maybe some corn dog action.  There were absolutely a ton of fries.  Maybe a chicken sausage?  

Visit #5 - June 21st, 2014

While I've often eaten at Hot Doug's on my own, there's nothing like sharing the experience of high quality encased meats with others.  This visit, when myself and fifteen or sixteen others descended on Hot Doug's on a mild June 20th, was pretty fantastic.

All of us were in town as we were all attending (and in some cases, performing) during the PRF BBQ*.  The PRF BBQ was a five day, multi-venue blowout of music, food and good times which you can read more about here.  Since there were a bunch of folks who came in from out of town for this gathering, it was decided early on that a bunch of us would make a visit to Hot Doug's, especially considering that this would be the last PRF BBQ held in Chicago while Doug's was still open. 

So Friday morning, groggy and already sore from two nights of music in some cases (and gearing up for three more), we made our descent onto Doug's.  We got there early and waited because that's what you do.  Pink Noises got little time out this time around as introductions were made and there was general catching up happening.  Before I knew it, I was in Doug's, pushing tables together (after we all ordered, of course), trying to accommodate some 15 people from all over the world, and I mean it!  Folks from Toronto, British Columbia, Australia, England (even though Sam didn't find us in line - sorry Sam!), Pittsburgh, Michigan, Colorado, Seattle and more places that I can't remember right now because this was over a month ago and, c'mon, I'm trying here!

 Sausages.  Missing are the other sausages other people ate.

So all of us chooches, together at a table, eating sausage after sausage, totally content.  After we finished, some folks took a tour of Electrical Audio, a recording studio who've developed a long-lasting friendly relationship with Hot Doug's over the years.  Other folks and myself split to start moving gear for the BBQ. 

As we were moving gear, we drove back by Doug's around 12pm or so and noticed the huge line.  It also happened that Chris had put an extra corn dog in his pocket, so naturally, I took a picture of him eating the extra corn dog while driving his van in front of Doug's.  I like to think of it as our version of the Double Nickels on the Dime cover...

Here's the tally:
Wild rice and bison sausage, chicken chorizo sausage, corn dog and fries.  I can't remember everything that came on them, nor can I remember what the other dozen+ folks got as well.  So it goes...

*Read D.J. Hostettler's excellent post about the PRF BBQ here!