Late Late Lunch

As always, I headed out to the Fishguy Market on Tuesday to buy some fish for $10/lb.  We got off to kind of a late start, so we were both very hungry.  There is not a terribly huge selection of eateries in the neighborhood of the Fishguy, so we had to venture elsewhere.

We remembered that Fishguy isn't far from Hot Doug's.  I reviewed Hot Doug's once before, but for those of you who don't remember, the address is 3324 N. California Ave. and its website is http://www.hotdougs.com/.  We were racing against time since it was about 3:30 p.m. and Hot Doug's closes at 4:00 p.m.  If it had been a weekend, I wouldnt have even tried to go because of the huge, duck-fat-caused lines that file down the block, but I felt it was worth the trade-off (no duck fat fries, no lines).  I'm pretty sure we were the last customers that day, and we possibly kept them late, but the good folks at Hot Doug's handled it well (we didn't even feel like they wanted us to leave, which they surely did!). 

I ordered the "Game of the Week" that was advertised under the stuffed jackalope (a cross between an antelope and a jack rabbit) head that is on the wall.  In a curious twist, the "Game of the Week" was a char-grilled antelope sausage with garlic mayo, and three types of cheddar cheese.  We also split a small cheese fry (which is plenty for any two people). 

The fries, though not as fully savory as the duck fat fries, were astoundinly amazing.  They were much darker colored than the pale golden color of most other fries.  Hot Doug's, quite simply, makes the best fries I've ever had.  The duck fat that they cook the fries in just takes it to a whole other  level.  The cheese sauce that comes with it tastes almost exactly like Portillo's sauce, which is my favorite cheese sauce.

Anyway, the antelope had an awesome crust on it with just a few splotches of black on it.  One of the great things about Hot Doug's is that the sausages have a great variety of textures and tastes even within the same sausage.  It had a much more game flavor than any sausage I've ever had.  The mayo added a nice creaminess to it and it was finished with three types of sharp cheddar.  There was a bit much cheese for my liking, but I guess I could have just taken it off if it was that big of a deal.

It was a great late lunch, and I hope to come back soon.  Here are some pictures.