May 26--This past weekend I found myself in an Uptown restaurant called Hot "G" Dog, downing a familiar duck sausage hot dog topped with lobes of foie gras and sea salt flakes. Alongside was an order of french fries fried in duck fat. When I got in my car afterward, the Genesis hit "Land of Confusion" came on the radio. The next song played was "Temptation" from New Order. This was rather weird and serendipitous.
Genesis and New Order might be two of the best examples of bands that found commercial success even after their original lead singers departed. (Although the circumstances of Peter Gabriel and Ian Curtis are entirely different ... and yes, semantics police, I know Curtis was never part of New Order.)
How this relates to a hot dog restaurant? Hot "G" Dog, opened since April, is an attempt to capture lightning in a bottle twice by replicating Hot Doug's menu, decor and bon viveur -- only without frontman Doug Sohn at the helm. To be clear, Hot "G" Dog is founded by Octavio Garcia and Juan Carlos Garcia, longtime line cooks at Hot Doug's, the beloved and now closed cult restaurant. More importantly, the restaurant was opened with Sohn's blessing.
If you're wondering whether this place is worth your time, the short answer is yes, judging by taste alone. The sausages come from the same purveyors, and the recipes are mostly the same. In the cases they are different, they are constructed with a familiar culinary philosophy. (Two subpoints: 1. That foie gras sausage remains out-of-this-world delicious. 2. Like at Hot Doug's, the limp duck fat fries here are wildly overrated.)
But as someone who's performed graduate-level philosophizing on hot dogs, there exists a more considered answer. The problem is Hot Doug's and Hot "G" Dog are similar where they don't need to be similar. Among the overlaps:
--Orders are jotted down on a pre-printed sheet.
--Orders are identified by first name, last initial.
--Duck fat fries are served on weekends only.
--Menu fonts are practically the same.
--The mustard-yellow color scheme on its website.
--Andouille sausage is described as "Mighty Hot!"
--Add chili to any sausage for 50 cents. Add cheese to any sausage for 25 cents.
Hot "G" Dog has the opportunity to create its own identity, and the aesthetic similarities might strike some as unoriginal, borderline lazy. In that sense, Hot "G" Dog will always be number two in a comparison. It shouldn't. Perhaps with time it'll evolve, but right now, it needs that clear line of demarcation. It needs to pull off a New Order and go dance electronica post-Joy Division.
What it doesn't need is to be another Hot Doug's; it just needs to carry on Hot Doug's: The Idea.
Hot "G" Dog
5009 N. Clark St.
773-209-3360
Open 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday
hotgdog.com
kpang@tribpub.com
Twitter @pang
