As planned, the Spouse and I had a day of backsliding from our recent vege / pescetarianism, culminating in a delectable meat orgy of sorts. To celebrate lucky anniversary #13 (a few days early), we went to Chicago to eat at Hot Doug's (The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium). The wait was two hours, an hour and a half of which was outside. February 28th in Chicago was, let us say, a bit brisk. But alas, the legend of these great wieners motivated us, plus after a while we were pretty much numb anyway. And banding together with other masochists is always jovial. The delirium of near-hypothermia helps with the jovial.
After a wait like that, we were ready for some hot wiener action, and boy did we ever get it. It may be a hot dog and sausage joint, but there is some real culinarification (shut up, it is too a word--I used it in a sentence, you understand my meaning, ergo it is a word) going on in there. Below is a shot of our $36 worth of fanciness. Clockwise from top left: The Salma Hayek (andouille sausage); Pear and Port Wine Elk Sausage with cranberry mustard and bleu cheese drizzled with honey; Gyros Sausage with spinach raita, kalamata olives and haloumi cheese; Duck Fat Fries (omg, so wrong, and yet so delicious); Spicy Thai Chicken Sausage with Srirachi mustard and sesame-seaweed salad; and two Chicago Dogs.
Close up of the Gyro:
It was all delicious, though I was especially fond of the Elk and the Thai. The Elk was a collision of strong flavors, tempered with sweetness, and was to my Midwestern palette some serious gourmet shit. The Thai was satisfyingly spicy, plus it came smothered in day-glo green alien tentacles.
After the veritable meatpalooza, we waddled out to the car and headed North. After a yummy Caribou Coffee (way cooler ambience inside than the Green Devil), we entered Wisconsin, for a whirlwind shopping trip at the Mars Cheese Castle. Much aged cheddar was purchased. We drove around a bit, too--Wisconsin is sorta pretty, and I bet it is beautiful in the summer.
On the way back home we swung by a Baja Fresh, since ours went out of business. I have never been so disinterested in eating Baja in my life, as I was still stuffed, but hey, we were planning ahead. We chucked our Baja in the cooler and headed home. The long way, because we were so busy riding our meat-high and singing along with the CD player that we actually managed to miss I65 south. Yep, missed it. But eh, we weren't on a schedule, so we just went to South Bend and picked up SR 31. And some South Bend Chocolate Company snacks.
So, in summary, we had a very gluttonlicious Saturday.
We're planning on heading back to Chicago in a couple months to visit Shedd Aquarium; on that trip we're going to hit the Chicago Diner for some tasty vegetarian cooking.
And at the grocery store today, I bought strictly vegetarian fare. I don't feel bad about my nummy Saturday, but I also don't feel any desire to revert to full-time carnivore mode. Plus holy shit is it a lot cheaper!
Now I'm off to celebrate the rest of my long anniversary weekend, by sitting around attempting to metabolize the 47lbs of food I have crammed in my head-hole in the last 36 hours. Beer is a metabolic agent, right? (lie to me, baby)
Seacrest out.
PS--I didn't get a shot of the sign alongside I94 in Wisconsin that said "Bong Recreation Area," but since it was the same exit as the Cheese Castle I found this sign. Tee hee.
After a wait like that, we were ready for some hot wiener action, and boy did we ever get it. It may be a hot dog and sausage joint, but there is some real culinarification (shut up, it is too a word--I used it in a sentence, you understand my meaning, ergo it is a word) going on in there. Below is a shot of our $36 worth of fanciness. Clockwise from top left: The Salma Hayek (andouille sausage); Pear and Port Wine Elk Sausage with cranberry mustard and bleu cheese drizzled with honey; Gyros Sausage with spinach raita, kalamata olives and haloumi cheese; Duck Fat Fries (omg, so wrong, and yet so delicious); Spicy Thai Chicken Sausage with Srirachi mustard and sesame-seaweed salad; and two Chicago Dogs.
Close up of the Gyro:
After the veritable meatpalooza, we waddled out to the car and headed North. After a yummy Caribou Coffee (way cooler ambience inside than the Green Devil), we entered Wisconsin, for a whirlwind shopping trip at the Mars Cheese Castle. Much aged cheddar was purchased. We drove around a bit, too--Wisconsin is sorta pretty, and I bet it is beautiful in the summer.
On the way back home we swung by a Baja Fresh, since ours went out of business. I have never been so disinterested in eating Baja in my life, as I was still stuffed, but hey, we were planning ahead. We chucked our Baja in the cooler and headed home. The long way, because we were so busy riding our meat-high and singing along with the CD player that we actually managed to miss I65 south. Yep, missed it. But eh, we weren't on a schedule, so we just went to South Bend and picked up SR 31. And some South Bend Chocolate Company snacks.
So, in summary, we had a very gluttonlicious Saturday.
We're planning on heading back to Chicago in a couple months to visit Shedd Aquarium; on that trip we're going to hit the Chicago Diner for some tasty vegetarian cooking.
And at the grocery store today, I bought strictly vegetarian fare. I don't feel bad about my nummy Saturday, but I also don't feel any desire to revert to full-time carnivore mode. Plus holy shit is it a lot cheaper!
Now I'm off to celebrate the rest of my long anniversary weekend, by sitting around attempting to metabolize the 47lbs of food I have crammed in my head-hole in the last 36 hours. Beer is a metabolic agent, right? (lie to me, baby)
Seacrest out.
PS--I didn't get a shot of the sign alongside I94 in Wisconsin that said "Bong Recreation Area," but since it was the same exit as the Cheese Castle I found this sign. Tee hee.
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