Hot Doug's

Aside from Alinea, Hot Doug's is probably the second most heard of restaurant in Chicago. Once upon a time, it was merely a secret among Chicagoland foodies until it started to make big waves serving the famous "foie gras dog" in the midst of Chicago's infamous foie gras ban. Then, it became featured on various food and travel shows, most notably, Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Everyone knows about Hot Doug's now. Sometimes it's sad for Chicagoans that tourists are now flocking there, making the lines 2+ hours long just to get a hot dog or sausage, but at the same time, it's great to see one guy become so successful doing what he does 6 days a week with hours just from 10am-4pm.

I had meant to go to Hot Doug's for the last year and a half or so, but somehow whenever I planned to go, the place just happened to be closed either for regular holidays or random holidays that I feel like Doug makes up himself. Another thing about Hot Doug's aside from its inconvenient hours is that he likes to close on random days/"holidays". I FINALLY made it out there not once, but THREE times during my short and wonderful two week summer break in Chicago.

My first visit was with my brother on a Tuesday. Thinking that the line would already be really long, we showed up at 10:30 to a line probably only 15 minutes long. Doug always takes everyone's orders, and what struck me the most was how incredibly laidback and NICE he is. It's clear that the fame and success hasn't gotten to his head yet.


My first sausage was the Marty Allen: Thuringer (beef, pork, and garlic sausage) - $3.25, as was recommended by a friend from NYC who had visited Chicago a few months earlier for a big food adventure. Since this one is on the regular menu where the customer can choose how it's cooked and what it's topped with, I told Doug that I'd have it whichever way he recommended, so mine came out as char-grilled (always a must for me anyways) with carmelized onions, a pickle, mustard, and celery salt. I've never really been one for pickles, but it was definitely a good call to have it on my thuringer. Other than the foie gras dog, this was by far my favorite sausage. The flavor was absolutely perfect, and the sausage itself had just the right amount of snap and bite to it. It's also incredibly cheap, as is pretty much everything else on the menu. If anyone knows where I can buy a pack of thuringers, then please let me know. Gabe would also like to know where thuringers can be found in NYC. If I could go to Hot Doug's more often, then the thuringer would definitely be my go-to sausage.


For all three of my visits, I split the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris - $9.00 with either my brother or Gabe. This one is the most expensive item on the menu, but considering the amount of foie gras mousse and presence of truffle oil, I'd say it's quite a value. I'll admit I was probably one of the few skeptics of the foie gras dog. I love foie gras, but I just couldn't imagine having it on a sausage in a hot dog bun. I was afraid it was just all gimmick, but after taking one bite of this, everything surprisingly came together so unbelievably perfectly. It was so decadent and rich, but not TOO rich. As strange as this might sound, but there was something about it that reminded me of Pepperidge Farm's cinnamon raisin bread...in a good way. Lastly, the sel gris added a nice contrast and bit of bite to the creaminess of the truffle aioli and foie gras mousse. Absolutely wonderful and a must get.

My brother ordered the The Salma Hayek - andouille - $4.00, char-grilled with everything. I also had this during my 3rd visit, and it was a great sausage with a good amount of spice and a ton of flavor. This one was Gabe's least favorite out of all the ones he had though, but that's not to say it wasn't good. The others were just outstanding.


Again on my first visit, my brother and I took the smoked portugese linguica with saffron rouille and 12-age manchego cheese - $7.50. Yet another great sausage. Good smoked flavor and spices. While I loved it, I have to say that there was a bit too much manchego cheese (and I LOVE manchego) that it masked the flavor of the saffron rouille that I would have liked to taste more. Gabe ordered this during our 3rd visit too. He doesn't like cheese, so he actually got this without the manchego. He's not one for mayo either, so it actually ended up being too much of the saffron rouille too, however he loved it. He and my mom actually ended up dipping their fries into the extra rouille that he scraped off, so at least it didn't go to waste!


I got the bleu cheese pork sausage with Sir William pear creme fraiche and roasted almonds - $6.50 during my 2nd visit. All the atypical ingredients for a pork sausage worked really well together, however out of all the sausages I tried, this was my least favorite. I didn't taste much of the bleu cheese, and the sausage itself didn't have quite as much flavor as all the other sausages I tried. I did, however, like the contrasting texture of the roasted almonds. Overall, pretty good, but my least favorite.


During my last visit to Hot Doug's, I got the The Paul Kelly - bratwurst - $3.50, char-grilled with mustard, saurkraut, and caramelized onions. I wouldn't say this was the best bratwurst I've ever had in my life, however it was pretty solid. It was juicy inside and had great flavor.


Since we went once on a Friday, we ordered the duck fat fries. I had a feeling they wouldn't actually taste like duck, but for $3.50 for a huge serving to feed the 4 of us pretty well, why not order it. And it's true, it didn't really taste like duck at all, but I think the duck fat made them perfectly crispy. We had regular fries on the following Tuesday, and there definitely was a difference. So again, duck fat fries are awesome, but don't expect them to taste like duck.

I think this is probably everything that we ordered over the course of three visits, however many if not all were repeated at some point. The thuringer and foie gras dog are, by far, my two favorite items on the menu, with one being simply flavorful and the other being incredibly decadent without being over-the-top crazy. You really can't go wrong with any of the items on Hot Dougs' menu, however don't hold me to that because I obviously haven't tried everything on the menu. It's pretty safe to say that Doug knows what he's doing, and he's doing it right.