hot doug's reopens on 1/4/05

from the announcement:

Just don't all come at once, okay?

I've finally gotten through the entire DVD set of "Elimidate" episodes, so
I guess it's time to cook some sausage (that's not prison lingo). Hot
Doug's opens for business on Tuesday, January 4, at 10:30 am. We'll still
be closing at 4:00 pm, so you can stop the
how-come-you-don't-stay-open-later whining now.

Our new locale: 3324 N. CALIFORNIA AVENUE, right at the corner of
California and Roscoe. We're a half mile west of the old location, just
across the river in the vibrant Avondale neighborhood. There's plenty of
street parking and more seating.

On a sincere note, I can't tell you how touched and flattered I am with
all of your support and encouragement over these past eight months. You
made the motivation to re-open the restaurant easy to come by. I genuinely
thank you for your reassurance and look forward to serving you some tasty
encased meats this year and for a long time to come.

See you soon.

Doug

The first great Chicago food story of 2005 is also its biggest. These were a tough eight months!

I'll be back at least three times this week.

Report from the front lines: love his new location. He's right at the end of the #52 bus route, so he's far more convenient for me than his old Roscoe/Oakley location. Quality is largely the same without noticeable increase in price, except for a quarter here or there on things like fries or the Thuringer sausage. The lines were long all day, and, luckily for him, he's got twice as many tables, but he saw twice as many customers. The sausage names are new, my favorite being the "Jennifer Garner" which was formerly the Britney Spears. Perhaps he had a fight with WGN, because the Jackie Bange & Mash and the Roseanne Tellez are renamed.

Is it crowded? Yeah, as an onslaught of publicity immediately before the closing of Hot Doug's 1 had the lines out the door and spilling onto Roscoe Street, and the out-of-the-way location (at the intersection of two dead-ends) has done nothing to deter the hipsters and even some Lane Tech students from lining up on California.

Two dead-ends? How so? Roscoe dead-ends to the east at the river but I'm not seeing the other "end". Glad to see Doug is "getting the business", though.

If I recall correctly, California dead-ends there at the #52 bus terminus.

If any LTHers are interested, I'm going again. Right now. I'm leaving from Hyde Park, so it'll take me 45 minutes though.

Evan B. Druce wrote:If I recall correctly, California dead-ends there at the #52 bus terminus.

If any LTHers are interested, I'm going again. Right now. I'm leaving from Hyde Park, so it'll take me 45 minutes though.

Strange, as I drive south on California almost every day to access I-90/94 down by Diversey (and some days drive all the way down to the Eisenhower). Perhaps it's some metaphysical journey that allows me to bypass this dead-end.

Went to Hot Doug's today, short line at 2pm, maybe 4-5 minutes of friendly conversation.

Had a thuringer, knockwurst , andouille, two corn dogs and a special of the day, cognac infused smoked pheasant sausage w/sauce moutarde and blue cheese. Oh, and two orders of duck fat fries. Man was I full.

The corn dogs were good, though straight from a box. Frankly, I have never had a really good corn dog anyplace that didn't have farm animals on view. Hot Doug said he is thinking of making his own corn dogs sometime in the future.

Pheasant was just ok, the blue cheese seemed slightly incongruous and rosemary predominated, overpowering all else. thuringer was, as usual, excellent, though I am going back to caramelized onions instead of sauerkraut, and the knockwurst and andouille were excellent.

Duck fat fries seemed improved from the old shop, dry, crisp, good flavor, though slightly less of that wonderful duck fat flavor, mainly due to the fact that they weren't shimmering with duck fat. My guess is Hot Doug's new fryer setup allows more space for frying duck fat fries and, even when busy, is allowing them more time in the fryer.

Hot Doug, the person, was in fine form, looking refreshed and happy to be back in the glow of encased meat. Hot Doug's, the restaurant, was in fine form as well, orders came out quickly, tables were cleaned, lots of staff.

While I always liked Hot Doug's, I'm a little surprised at how happy I am that, now that I've been to the new Hot Doug's, they reopened.

By the way, there were three for lunch today, I didn't really eat 6 dogs and fries.

Enjoy,
Gary

By the way, there were three for lunch today, I didn't really eat 6 dogs and fries

I was hoping there were a few more there to share the joy.

Sometime ago, I was in brief correspondence with a corn dog vendor supplier. I suggested they contact Hot Doug's as their most pregnant possibility for getting a permanent fresh corn dog vendor in Chicago. Considering all the efforts Doug's makes with his sausages, why would he stoop to frozen when it is so easy and the results outstanding to go fresh?

So if you really did go, where are the pictures?

Cathy2 wrote:So if you really did go, where are the pictures?

C2,

I didn't post Hot Doug pictures because, to tell the truth, I didn't especially like the pictures I took today..

These are the best of the lot. See what I mean.







Enjoy,
Gary

I was at Hot Doug's today as well. Had a knockwurst (excellent) and a Thuringer. My recommendation for the pheasant: get caramelized onions (seems to be Doug's favorite as well) instead of the blue cheese. My roommate, an avowed Berlinophile homesick for his adopted city, found his Thuringer to be German-quality. I agree... it's probably my favorite non-special sausage there (my favorite being the alligator).

I'm so glad he's back. There is no place anywhere like Hot Doug's.

It amazes me sometimes, the lack of imagination people in business have. Six, seven months that Hot Doug's, the one hot dog stand that had lines out the door in a city of hot dog stands, was closed. Did a single hot dog stand anywhere in the city think of touting Thuringer or knackwurst, let alone lamb dogs and elk dogs and buffalo dogs with blue cheese? Not that I ever saw. A great opportunity to gain customers and separate from the herd, and nobody took it.

O.K., So I have been back in Chicago now for a couple weeks and finally made it the new Hot Doug's yesterday. My last trip being the Saturday of the fire while in town to celebrate my birthday. I had the Game of the Week, which was a 3 chile boar sausage with mustard and goat cheese, a char dog with everything + sour kraut, duck fat fries, and cheese fries. After a walk in the brisk cold to get there anything would probably have tasted good, but I enjoyed everything, except the cheese fries. They were an impulse buy and I came the realization that I really dont like cheese fries. Figuring out that its much easier to take the California bus back to Humboldt Park/Ukranian Villiage made things much easier on the way home. Anyway, great that Doug's is back and great to be back in Chicago.

Cheers