Alles hat ein ende nur die wurst hat zwei.

Last Friday I had the extreme pleasure of having lunch with Sarah. Before she moved to Chicago three years ago we were already making plans that I would visit and we would eat some serious sausages at Hot Doug’s, the Encased Meat King of Chicago. Maybe it would be a Friday or a Saturday and we could order the Duck Fat Fries, who could even know what the future would bring.

The Future Is Now. Well, The Future Was Last Friday.

After spending an hour in line behind two small siblings who were engaged in a long battle of “new shoe vs. old shoe” (don’t ask) we were pretty hungry, so we took the full court press approach.

Chicago Style

This was mainly for a photo-op, Aaron wanted a picture of me eating a Chicago Style Hot Dog so I obliged because I am endlessly benevolent and constantly in the mood for regional delicacies.

Turducken

This is/was the Turducken Sausage with Cranberry Mustard, Champagne de Pâté, Stilton. You don’t have to eat the bun with this one. In fact don’t eat the bun with any of them except for the Chicago Style photo-op.

Sarah's Choice

This was a chicken-beer sausage with white-cheddar jalapeno and some sort of fancy mustard.

ELK

THIS SAUSAGE. MY GOODNESS. Elk Sausage with a cherry-fig-onion marmalade, apple pear port sauce and sage derby cheese. I’ve been on a millet and green vegetable cleanse since returning from Chicago and all I can think about as I ladle more organic slop into my lunch containers is this darn sausage. I also have visions of sage derby cheese.

The most impressive fact about Hot Doug’s is that you forget all about the length of time you waited to make it in the door. What’s an extra hour of great company anyway? I’d go back, and I will. Next time I hope rattlesnake is on the menu.

Horchata for Brunch

Deco coffee rum, rice milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, rocks. Podnah’s Pit Barbeque.

The Bent Brick

I’ve been sick for two days but this afternoon I got out of bed, washed the orange juice from the bottom of approximately 40 glasses and remembered that before all of this ickyness I was sitting in a sun-lit room in the NW corner of Portland having a lovely evening, an evening that morphed into a really awesome night. The Bent Brick is totally worthy of your business, I did the leg work for you. I recommend that you go before I next see you because I’m pretty sure I’m contagious.

stranger things have happened

Yup, that’s the name of the drink. Bourbon, coriander, verjus, spiced currant, egg white. I’m not a big fan of bitters and it’s used in so many craft cocktails, so verjus and I get along really well.

green beans

Char grilled green beans, bean leaf pesto. LEMON. These were nice and lemony, or maybe bean leafs are lemony. Matters not to me, I’ll eat greens beans any which way.

various pork parts :0

Actually, ‘crispy pork snacks, buffalo style’. I didn’t order these but I totally ate some.

Curds and Sauce

Okay, ‘fried cheese curds, fried apple sauce’. Although she refuses to admit it, my dining companion is well-regarded as the local expert on fried cheese curds. These can be found on a handful of menus and because they are so filling she usually takes the leftovers home in her purse.

BUT, these are not just any fried cheese curds, only SOME of these are fried cheese curds, the rest are fried applesauce and THEN they dust the whole plate with what looks like the contents of dehydrated cheese packets that are inside Mac and Cheese boxes but it really did not taste like that, it was much better and not salty at all, very subtle.

Pickle Plate

Don’t test me with a pickle plate, I am unafraid. I will go back to The Bent Brick and order the pickle plate again and again. I’d also like to thank The Bent Brick for not overly sweetening these pickled beets. You Yankees, I’ll tell you what, you like some sweet pickled beets. I don’t know where you get that from!  These were so refreshing. I also really enjoyed the pickled kobocha squash.

SAME PICKLE PLATE

Cheerios

Cheerio pudding, yeasted caramel, apples. With the presence of Cheerios in this dessert you’d think it would have the effect on the diner of “look at me! just a big old kid eating Cheerios for dessert!” However, I found this dish more compelling than that. First of all, that’s good old nutritional yeast flecked over the caramel up there. I have never seen that done on a plate before and it WORKED. The apples placed around the dish had the texture of potatoes and I don’t know what you’d have to do to turn an apple into a potato but keep on with it because this dessert was most excellent.

I had so much fun sitting at the bar for Happy Hour that it actually occurred to me just to ask someone to seat me in the dining room, make a whole night of it. But instead, I will go back very soon. You can order the whole menu for $48.oo and the bartender told me about a shrimp dish that contains popcorn. Go to The Bent Brick!