Chicago Eats - Hot Doug's

Given that Chicago is known for a lot of its street food, it was clear that there would be some standout joints that served these Chicago-style treats. Enter: Hot Doug's located out in Avondale on California/Roscoe. This hot dog place isn't your run of the mill fast-food; it's a Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium. Not only that, but 1,2,3, even 4 (FOUR!) hour waits are common for this place! Hmm, sounds pretty good. Well, on a day off that few others get, (thanks, banking industry) I headed over there with a friend to give it a shot. What can I say? I was drawn in by the hype, the long lines, and the duck-fat fries (which are only served on Fridays & Saturdays).

You can see the line starting...it was there at 10:10AM when I got there, and grew longer as the day went on.

Hot Doug's opens promptly at 10:30am on the daily except Sundays. As I walked up, I saw a line of about 8 guys while saying (probably a bit too loudly) "nothing like a long line of dudes waiting to get their fill of sausages." Given the circumstances, how could I pass up the opportunity for pure comedic gold? <silence>

Our ~20 minute wait went by fairly quickly, and we were soon inside...to wait yet again, but this time to order. There's quite a few choices on the menu, as you can see below:

Since I had some time, I hemmed and hawed, trying to decide what to try. I decided to get three, plus the duck fat fries, of course!

From the top left, clockwise:

• The Cheesy Atomic: Spicy jack cheese, stuffed pork sausage with spicy passion fruit mayo and habanero jack cheese.
• Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage: with truffle aioli, foie gras mousse, and fleur de sel (fancy salt)
• Norm Crosby: a hot dog with beef, pork, and garlic, served Chicago style.
• Duck Fat Fries: only served on Fridays & Saturdays.

Our table, smashed full of food

So, after devouring all of our food, what did I think? Hot Doug's utilizes some unique foods (for hot dogs and sausages, at least). First off, the duck fat fries were spectacular! I found the foie gras on the duck sausage to be there more for texture than flavor, and the sausage itself was fairly bland. That's to be expected for duck I suppose, given my past experience with duck sausage. But even the truffle aioli was milder than expected, which is a plus in my book, truffle oil tends to overpower when used liberally. However, everything combined provided a rich and decadent sausage, although nothing was extremely powerful. This contrasted with the Cheesy Atomic, which produced a good amount of heat, but had great flavor too. It definitely wow'd me where the foie gras duck sausage failed to impress. The Norm Crosby hot dog was fine, but was reminiscent of a traditional Chicago style hot dog, just a bit more textured.

And as a bonus:

11:11 on 11/11/11. Can't beat that.