A (little over) week of going out for lunch continued.

I didn't go out to lunch on Thursday, we had reservations for Tru that evening and I wanted to be hungry for that!  On Friday, I decided to finally try Hot Doug's.  I'd heard a lot of things about "The Encased Meat Emporium" and wanted to try it out for myself.  Friday was chosen since they only offer their duck-fat fried french fries on Friday and Saturday.  I made it to the restaurant just before it opened at 10:30 am, and the line already stretched half way down the block.  By the time I made it to the counter it was 11:20 am.  No biggie, I'd heard that there was always a wait at Doug's.  I ordered a "The Dog" (Chicago Style), "The Paul Kelly" (bratwurst), and "The Salma Hayek" (andouille) along with an order of duck fat fries.  And NO, I didn't finish it all!.  With the exception of "The Dog", I asked Doug to choose the toppings he thought were best (he seems like a genuinely nice person).  My order was to go, and it shouldn't have taken more than 10 minutes to get home, but someone was screwing with the traffic lights on Elston at Fullerton which was causing a HUGE backup.  45 minutes later I finally made it home.

On the far left is the Salma Hayek topped with caramelized onions, mustard, sport peppers and a dill pickle.  The falvors were all good, but the texture of the sausage seemed a little dry and chewy to me.  I don't often eat andouille as a whole sausage so this might be how it's supposed to be.  In the middle is "The Paul Kelly" topped with mustard, relish and sauerkraut.  The sausage was cooked perfectly, very juicy and perfectly spiced.  The toppings were an excellent compliment to the sausage.  On the right is "The Dog", essentially a traditional Chicago style hot dog with mustard, onion, green relish, sliced tomato, sport peppers, pickle spear and celery salt.  I got mine char grilled and it was probably the best Chicago style dog I've ever had.  The dog was juicy and had just the right snap, even after the extra long transit time.  These were not your standard store bought tomatoes, they were ripe and tasted like a tomato should and the bun, like those on the other two sausages, was soft yet stood up the the juices let off by the encased meats.  The fries made in duck fat were good, but I can't say if they are that much better than their regular fries though.  Was it worth the wait.  Yep, I'd go again and probably will.  I'd hate to see how long the lines get on a Saturday though. 

On Saturday, I made my usual trek to Goose Island for lunch and a few beers.   Every Thursday they have their Beer Premier, which I occasionally make it to but usually wait until the weekend to try their new offerings.  This week the premier is their Midway IPA and this weeks "Farmer's Market" series beer is the Midway IPA infused with fresh apricots from the Green City Market.  

For lunch I ordered one of their specials, a house-made kielbasa sausage on a pretzel roll topped with caramelized onions and dusseldorf mustard with a side of fries and their truffle aioli to dip them in.  The sausage was a very good rendition of a kielbasa, slightly smokey and very juicy.  The roll was outstanding, it has a very thin but crisp crust and a soft crumb.  All in all, a very good sandwich.  The fries were not particularly good this time.  I'm not sure if they were under cooked or if they had just been sitting under a warming lamp for some time before coming out to me.  Oh well, the beer makes up for an occasional misfire on the food and keeps me coming back!  The Midway IPA was fantastic, I ended up having two of them while I finished my lunch.  The new brewmaster Jarod is kepping the quality as high as his predecessor Wil did.  As long as they keep producing excellent beers I'll keep buying them!  I've never been to the Wrigleyville Goose Island location, but I understand that they are smack-dab in the middle of the recently approved hotel-retail development for that block.  I hope they manage to stay where they are!