By Johnny Lopes

I recently stayed near Stade de France, a popular stadium located in Saint Denis, Paris, France. On arrival, there was a rugby match between Racing Métro 92 and the local favorite, Stade Français. Not really being into sports, I was more interested in the nearby food and beer stands. This particular vendor caught my eye because of the careful attention the cooks were paying to their dogs. Here is one of the cooks posing with his prized wares.

*Johnny Lopes is a professional cyclist critic living in San Francisco. He commutes to Oakland to see his girlfriend via the ferry, never the BART.

Mash-ups has been en vogue for over seven years now. Every time Britney or Gaga release a new smash hit it’s instantly mashed up with an old Kylie Minogue or Human League hit. Sometimes, it’s because mixing and mashing creates an entirely new song. Sometimes it’s for promotional purposes. And other times, it’s done in order to squeeze more hit factor into a limited time frame in order to please as many viewers as possible (like in the global (pretty positively gay) hit show GLEE).

Sometimes mash-ups work (like this Whitney Houston/Kraftwerk mash-up) and sometimes they don’t. Like this weekend when I attended a benefit for Japan arranged by the Japanese Embassy in Copenhagen. A few days ago I got this email from Club Nippon which is the activity department of the embassy:

“Tomorrow the Danish celebrity chefs Nikolaj Kirk, Mikkel Maarbjerg and Rasmus Kjær among others will be serving hot dogs in front of Frederiksberg City Hall 11.00 to 18.00. The hot dogs are inspired by Japanese cuisine. The price will be a mere 30 kr. for one of these delicious hot do–and best of all, the proceeds goes to charity for Japan through Red Cross in Japan.”

Benefit poster. I still can’t believe almost 24,000 are dead or missing.

Closeup of poster pics probably taken three months ago in Northern Japan–poor little radioactive fella…

Danish hot dogs and Japanese cuisine mash-up? Interesting. I thought, let’s go!–another good chance to support the cause. And 30 DKK a pop is normal price in Denmark (around $6).

The event was in collaboration with a big kids day in the heart of Copenhagen and luckily the weather was fab.

Three pølsevogne (sausage wagons, in free translation) were located on the square offering four different kinds of hot dog remixes. What you normally find in a Danish hot dog is a roasted sausage in light fluffy bread, sennep, ketchup, remoulade, roasted onions, raw onions and pickled cucumber (more about the Danish ‘dog here). These mash-ups were different yet familiar:

Hot dog with cucumber, umeboshi, wasabi mayo and fried daikon.

Big sausage with Japanese inspired potato salad, bonito flakes, mirin, sake and herbs. Hmm…

Hot dog with Japanese barbecue sauce, onion salad and Japanese cucumber salad.

Again, hmmm…this looks like a normal Danish hot dog. What is Japanese cucumber salad? Pickled in mirin or what?

Hot dog with shredded daikon, miso mayo, pickled ginger, radish sprouts and nori (seaweed).

As I’m on a Japanese food diet I can’t really eat Western food these days such as bread, milk and fatty meats. But in the service of Umamimart, I took one for the team and ordered this hot dog which looked the least weird.

It’s a looooong line–actually twice this long behind me. Japanese is the coolest shit to most gaijins (foreigners).

The sausages are lined up and placed in their bread vessels before getting topped off:

The sprouts, ginger and daikon are resting in boxes. The dude making the hot dogs accepted cash with the same (dirty) hands which he used for making the hot dogs and grabbing the toppings. I’m grossed out but try to not say anything, I always get in trouble when bitching about stuff like this publicly (which is why I write for this blog instead, ha!)

Ok, here we go!

Nice bread–not artificially white and fluffy but more sturdy and full of grains. Just how the modern Danes like it.

I think the ‘dog looks nice, it’s a colourful blend of greens, whites, traced with some pink:

I bite into the thing. It’s kinda hard to consume, things are falling off, the ginger is chewy and hard to bite over. It’s an unusual mix. Not overwhelming. The refinement of the Japanese flavours kind of drowns in the heavy meat taste.

I would say yay for trying to experiment and play around with the cultural flavours in the name of supporting Japan, but I’m not really a fan of the end result. Although it could be much worse, I guess it somehow might work better in one way or another, perhaps with a tofu sausage instead or yakitori chicken sausage.

I totally dig the trendy sustainable vessel the hot dog came in though:

A thinly sliced piece of wood has replaced the usual paper napkin beneath the bread. I don’t recall seeing these in Japan but it looks so like it. Again, a Japanese/Scandinavian parallel style. Didn’t they use to wrap food in thinly cut wood back in the old days in Japan? Wood shavings folded into a bento box?

I hope the benefit was a success. Looks like it with the long lines of hungry child-toting parents. It reminded me of the Umamimart benefits in SF and LA–wherever there’s food, people will come. You might say that it’s a good thing Japan is beloved for its cuisine.

Imagine a Russian/Japanese pig tail gravy stew mashup!

Update: The Danish Crown Prince HKH Frederik is currently visiting the earthquake aftermath areas of Japan. Here’s a photo series including super cute little Japanese kids playing soccer with Frederik.

Being a single gay nerd means the only sausage you’re gonna get is down at the hot dog stand.

Eating a ho tdog is part of being Danish– or at least it used to. The fast food army of America and the growing health awareness has overturned the old wiener kingdom, and now eating a hot dog is somehow looked down upon – especially from the organic and ethically correct spelt-fascist moms of Copenhagen. And admittedly, it’s not something you should consume every day but a few saussies a month shouldn’t hurt if you jog home after eating it, right?

Since there is a new hot dog player in town, I decided to test both stands in one day. The classic “pølsevogn” (sausage wagon in Danish) and the new “DØP – Den Økologiske Pølsevogn (The Organic Sausage Wagon). DØP also sounds like “dyp” which means dip– like dipping the sausage in something tasty.

Let’s hang out at the classic one first. It’s completely movable and you often see the sausage dudes dragging their wagon down the streets in the early morning hours.

Morfars Pølser (grandpa’s wieners) is situated at Copenhagen central square in front of the town hall. When it’s 2˚C, and slightly slushy/rainy, it is an ideal time to inhale a red one.

Let’s check out the menu:

Prices have gone up the recent years, probably to make ends meet due to a growing lack of customers. I’m going for the classic “ristet hotdog” (roasted hot dog) at 24 DKK ($4.5).

The woman inside the wagon is wearing an old Adidas trainer, and is in need of a complete women’s magazine makeover.

I wait for some Chinese tourists to carry off their grub before placing the order.

Observe the meat– different kinds of sausages are simmering away on the grill.

A classic Danish hot dog consists of:

* Sausage (red or roasted)
* White toasted bread sliced up in the middle
* Ketchup
* Mustard
* Remoulade
* Raw chopped onions
* Roasted onions
* Pickled sliced cucumber

If you wanna go all the way, you order an ice cold chocolate milk on the side.

The tubes contain ketchup, mustard and remoulade.

The plastic bottles are for more exotic flavours, like sweet French mustard, chili mustard, regular ketchup, chili ketcup, French hot dog dressing etc.

Now drizzling the chopped and roasted onions on top. Why are these in plastic containers? Did she bring them to town on her skanky, worn out bike? Why are they not lowered into the design of the wagon?

This is too DIY for me.

Also observe the white home-written cardboard sign in the background with the (as expected) bad grammar. She’s missing an “r” in “drikkevarer” (drinks). Tsk tsk no wonder she’s spending most of her time inside this piece of metal. I bet she has a black leather couch at home with a matching sofa table with marble footstand and glass tabletop for her TV hot-dog-stand-leftover dinner.

ET VOILA! A classic Danish hot dog. Looks nice, I like that she didn’t go Uncle Scrooge on the sliced pickles.

Taste is fine– it’s almost impossible to think about these critically, as I’ve been eating these since I was two years old, like any other Dane. But I think it’s up to standards.

I’m actually having an ok time munching the meat while staring at people walking by. Until I look down and realize I’ve become an extra in Hitchcock’s The Birds.

There’s an eating frenzy going on among my feet and every time I bite into the hot dog, onions fall to the ground and the winged rats of urban living are plucking my feet for scrubs. Better get out of here

I run away from the beaked little monsters across the city where the new hot dog stand called DØP has settled down, right in the hot tourist area next to Rundetårn (a very old and tall tower with a fab lookout over the city).

The thing about DØP is simple: everything’s organic (and also healthier in some areas). The red “ø” marked on the wagon and trashcan is the Danish government approved mark for 100% organic production.

The inside is more cozy, clean and well arranged than Morfars Pølser’s wagon. The girl is nicer too.

DØP’s menu is slightly more pricey as expected when organic. A roasted hotdog is 34 DKK ($6), which I order.

There’s also spicy beef sausage and a mash of potato + celery root. Sounds delicious, but I’m already half full from the previous hot dog, so I stay with my order.

Again! Extras are in plastic bins. I don’t find this very sexy, but I hope it’s because it’s super fresh and just delivered.

Classic sausage line-up although no bacon wrap.

Even the drinks are organic: The Danish “Naturfrisk” (nature fresh) label offers “Hindbærbrus”(raspberry fizz), “Cola Cool” (cola) and “Hyldebrus” (elderberry fizz). Then a sparkling water and the mandatory Cocio chocolate milk.

Oooh lala, the hot dog is ready. And it’s YUMZERS! Although pretty cheap on the pickles, I really like the bread on this one. It’s much more sturdy and has grains in it which play well with the meat instead of being a white flour airy puff. It also fills much better in the stomach so you don’t get the munchies again after an hour.

Definitely worth the extra money. According to the girl, the bread is longtime heaved sourdough baked on fullgrain flour, linseeds and rye flour. The sausage is of course organic pork from a pig who enjoyed a good life relaxing in muddy pools on the local farms. (Pigs are just as intelligent as dogs, remember?)

Ladies and gentlepeeps, we have a winner. Although I hate to say it because it’s so disgustingly politically correct, but organic just takes the medal again and again.

Next time foreign friends are in town, I will take them here for the New Danish Hot Dog.

*Please enjoy this track (in another window) while reading this post.

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Los Angeles fan, but I’m trying my hardest to appreciate the great things the city has to offer, and at the top of most Angelenophiles (did I make that word up?) “things to love about LA lists” is Dodger’s Stadium.

Immortalized in movies like The Sandlot, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and A League of Their Own AND lest we forget, Major League, baseball is a sport that brings enemies together, impacts the young lives of it’s practitioners, teaches them the principles of team work, essential life lessons about what’s really important in life; love, honor, respect, dreaming bigger than you’ve dreamed before, losers really can be winners, and reminds us never to forget that one summer, or the once unbelievably awesome, Charlie Sheen (thank you for Young Guns, Men at Work and Wall Street). On a macro level, baseball is one of the fundamental things that describes America and symbolizes the principles for which it stands, and on a smaller scale, the Dodgers do the same thing for the city of Los Angeles.

That being said, I’m not an avid follower of baseball and almost never watch unless I’m actually at the game, at which point I love it. I love the feel of stadiums, the hustle and bustle of people, watching the fans, seeing the lights on the perfectly manicured field. I love watching my friends, who are otherwise fairly well behaved people, go crazy when the Red Sox play the Yankees, or in this case, the Dodgers play the Giants. And I particularly love, stadium food.

By no means am I saying this to provoke a Biggie vs. Tupac-style argument (though I do welcome comments in the form of rap). But it’s a simple fact, Dodgers stadium puts Yankee stadium to shame. And even though the Dodgers started as an East Coast institution, moving from Brooklyn to LA in 1958, the Dodger Dog, hands the dogs in New York their ass’. It’s kind of hard to imagine that the dogs in LA would be better than those from the land of Nathan’s and Coney Island, but it’s a fact, Dodger Dogs rule.

A couple of weeks ago I went with my co-workers to Dodger Stadium for a night game: The LA Dodgers vs. the SF Giants. I had no idea that my co-worker was such a Dodgers nut, but I started to see it when we were standing in line to enter the stadium and she made some disparaging comment to a guy wearing a Giants jacket. After the minimal awkwardness subsided, we scoped out our seats and decided to hit the concessions stand.

As we waited in the lengthy pre-game lines, my co-worker disappeared while I ordered two large domestic lagers.

A few minutes later she reappeared wearing a huge smile and a brand new, Dodger blue, baseball cap. We went to our seats and debated which snack to order from the guy going up and down the aisles selling cotton candy and a variety of other snacks. We settled on Red Vines to accompany our beers (yes, a lame choice, I know).

Obviously, the Red Vines didn’t put a dent in my appetite, so it was time to for the big feed (no self referential promotion intended). I carefully investigated my options: traditional dog or super, grilled or steamed. The original 10 inch “Dodger Dog “was created by Thomas Arthur a concessions manager for the Dodger’s from 1962-1991. I ordered a grilled Original and opted for all of the toppings: ketchup, mustard, onions and relish.

I wondered how long I needed to wait before I went back to the concession stand. A solid five minutes passed, and I washed down the last bites with the end of my beer and asked my co-workers, “Does anyone need anything?” The looks on their faces answered, “Are you seriously getting something else?”

I got back in line and decided I was going big. I ordered one more large beer and the super Dodger Dog, grilled. The difference between the Classic Dodger Dog and the Super, is that the Super Dog is 100% beef and the Original Dog is pork and beef.

Asking me which dog is better, the Original or Super, is like asking a mother which of her two kids is her favorite. (The better looking one obviously. I’m just kidding, the smarter one). They are both delicious hot dogs and I like them both equally….

Later that night, someone asked me who won the game, and I paused for a second realizing I didn’t know. To be honest, once I started eating, I stopped paying attention to the game. It turns out the Dodgers won, but that didn’t matter to me, and I thought about the awesomeness of Dodger’s Stadium.

SPOILER ALERT (I’m about to get sappy, so if you don’t like happy endings, stop reading now). I realized that what baseball is to the United States, is like what the Dodgers are to Los Angeles. And what the Dodgers are to LA, food is to me. If my theory is right, then as long as I focus on the food in Los Angeles, I might pay less attention to the things I don’t like and start to discover more things that I do.

“Yoko, they have rattlesnake and alligator sausages,” my friend told me of this place called Wurstküche in Downtown LA. For some reason I imagined Lisbeth Salander goth types sitting around a table eating rattlesnake sausages with forks and knives.

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t at all interested in the rattlesnake or the alligator– I was craving a solid German sausage. (Add your own joke here). And so it was Wurstküche for dinner on my last night in LA.

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting fellow UM writer Sarah Nevada moments before we all hauled ourselves downtown for some wurst.

Wurstküche is situated in a brick building in a not very well-lit area surrounded by converted lofts. The first thing to notice is the line that hugs the wall on the right side of the entrance. We went on a Sunday night at 8pm and the line consisted of about 20 people, which may be a torturous wait if you are really hungry, but I didn’t mind it too much since I was full from a cocktail that I ingested 20 minutes earlier.

Once we advanced in the line into the store (it took about 10 minutes), a friendly guy with a notepad approached us and asked us what we wanted to drink. I don’t drink beer so I refused his kind offer. My cousin got a huge dark beer possibly bigger than the size of her head (okay, possibly an exaggeration, but look at the photo!).

The beer comes from the “wall-of-taps” I discovered later as I arrived at the cash register.

The approach to the cash register includes a chance to ogle at the display case packed with sausages.

And ogle at what comes off the grill…

And out of the fryer…

I ordered the Apricot and Ginger (chicken and turkey in a lamb casing) with my two toppings being sauerkraut and spicy peppers. My initial reflex was to get the Hot Italian, but I think we ordered two or three within our party so I figured I’d get plenty of chances to sneak in a taste. I also ordered a large order of fries with Curry Ketchup and Pesto Mayo.

The meal was delicious in part because they nailed the atmosphere. Communal tables made out of long slabs of wood was ideal for the meal – it incites rowdiness over sausages and beer. It could have been a little brighter so I could see how appetizing the food looked. Another plus was that everything was very clean. Tables were bussed promptly and the kitchen was well lit and uncluttered.

None of us got the rattlesnake or the alligator and I think that was for the better. It is a hot topic of conversation but even hotter, I think, was the Hot Italian. The Apricot Ginger was very good, but I wasn’t really into the two small sausages in one bun deal. Next time I will opt for one big sausage in its own bun. My favorite was the Hot Italian although many at the table agreed that the Duck and Bacon with Jalapeno Peppers was the winner. We also ordered an array of sauces for the fries – none of which I specifically remember (except for the ones I ordered). The clear choice for me was the Curry Ketchup. The Pesto Mayo didn’t really taste like pesto and I could have easily mistook it for Sundried Tomato Mayo if it wasn’t for the color. Oh, but props to my cousin who ordered the white truffle oil glaze on her fries. Those were fine, fine, fine without any sauce.

I learned something at Wurstküche: Act on initial reflexes when ordering food. Prost.

Met up with fellow Umamimartians last week at The Trappist, a Belgian beer bar in “Old” Oakland, downtown. I made SF folks come out to the East Bay– and they actually did! On a school night! Such trickery.

The thing is, The Trappist is so much more than just a specialty beer bar. Oh, so much more. The kitchen serves up some dishes that really need to be taken seriously in the Bay Area food community. I had heard about their Taco Tuesdays from @serooo, who had Twittered the cute little piggy flyer. Belgian beer carnitas, could it be true???

The Trappist has nearly 30 beers on tap (Belgian, European, local microbreweries), and another 100 in bottles. If that ain’t the ultimate beer bar, well, you’re trippin’.  Among all 15 of us throughout the evening, I’m sure we ordered one of each from the tap. There’s the front bar, the Main Pub, with bar seating, which houses about half the beers listed on tap.

The rest of the beers are in the Back Bar, which is essentially the bigger back room. The beer menu is divided up between Front and Back Bar.

Yup, I ordered about four out of 12 on the list (my memory is a bit fuzzy, you’ll have to excuse me). All served in the correct glass, at the designated temperature. The Allegash Curieux was my favorite– probably because it’s aged in Jim Beam barrels for eight months. They had just run out of Green Flash Le Freak which totally bummed me out!

Ok, on to the carnitas. The Tamarindo (and newer taqueria La Calle) restaurant folks from next door set up shop in the back outdoor area of The Trappist to serve these tacos starting at 5pm. The actual carnitas are also prepared in the Tamarindo kitchen.

These tacos are delicious. Carnitas on soft corn tortillas, doused in house-made salsa verde with a squeeze of lime. Perfection. The carnitas are flavorful, with a hint of sweetness, not dried out, yet not overly fatty.

I was lucky enough to get an email this morning from Aaron Porter, co-owner of The Trappist, explaining the preparation of the carnitas:

The carnitas are basically a confit. The pork is cooked in its own fat and then beer (St. Bernardus Abt 12) is added along with some spices (orange, etc.). It’s left to cook for several hours like this. Everything else you see on the food menu at Trappist is made and prepared by the Trappist.

This is CRAZY!!!  Pork, slow-cooked in St. Bernardus?? INSANITY! Not only is this over-the-top luxurious, but it is basically GENIUS.

Packaging for Abt 12.

They stop serving the tacos around 8pm, or whenever they run out, so be sure to get there on the early side. Yoko sadly missed them.

Other awesomeness coming out of the kitchen: the housemade sausage sandwich.

This sausage was so taut and perfectly (er, fallically) shaped, that talking about the Great Weiner was quite possibly the highlight of the night. It’s seriously so beautiful though, so light in color!

Here’s how big the sausage is, to get a sense of proportion.

Served on a crisp roll with sauteed onions and housemade mustard. OUT OF CONTROL. The sausage is very crumbly once you bite into it, and just sort of falls apart in your mouth. It’s so ridiculously good.

JADE
To add to the (much anticipated) documentation and commentary on the sausage sandwich, one of the true highlights for me was getting my “pork and beer pairing” knowledge on. The gentile bartender at the back bar let me sample three beers, explaining that sausage generally pairs well with sweeter, maltier beers. It was great to try all three samples side-by-side–easier for my untrained taste buds to make a clear distinction. I chose the St. Feuillien Triple. More aromatic and fruity than sweet, the taste was impressive alone, but even better when paired with the equally impressive(-looking) sausage.

YOKO
Quite possibly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had, the Trappist’s Salmon Sandwich was a perfect mash-up of salmon, chèvre, arugula and crispy baguette. I really don’t like beer, and I was really sad to show up too late for the tacos, but this situation allowed me to fully savor this sandwich. And for $10, the sandwich was very reasonably priced.

MICHELLE
I thought the tacos were great and the prosciutto and fig panini was excellent (well-balanced combination of salty and sweet flavors, good bread).

YOKO
I will definitely be going back to the Trappist for their awesome Harry Potter-esque interior and this amazing salmon sandwich.  I love the Trappist even though I don’t love beer.

Thanks to everyone for coming out! A special shout out to Gail, Travis’ mama, who came out for this– and who even bought Travis a beer. How awesome is that? Our very first Umamiventure UMAMIMAMA!

And of course, thanks to The Trappist for their impressive selection of beers, fantastic eats, and knowledgeable, helpful staff. We truly had a great time! We’ll be back for sure.

Next Umamiventure will be a beer tour through Sonoma County, hosted by UM’s very own beer guru, CJ. Stay tuned!

All photos by Travis LoDolce and myself.

*Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find awesome, cheap grub off the beaten path.

Past Umamiventures include:
1.) Ocean Jewel Restaurant – Flushing, NYC; June 2007
2.) Red Hook Ball Fields - NYC; June 2007
3.) Taste of Jackson Heights – NYC; October, 2007
4.) Sripraphai Restaurant – Woodside, NYC; November 2007
5.) WINTERMARKET – South St. Seaport; December 2007
6.) Jackson Diner- Jackson Heights, NYC; January 2008
7.) Pacificana – Sunset Park, NYC; February 2008
8.) Puerto Alegre – The Mission, SF; March 2008
9.) Dinosaur BBQ – Harlem, NYC; April 2008
10.) Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden – Astoria, NYC; May 2008
11.) Brooklyn Banh Mi Crawl – Sunset Park, NYC; August 2008
12.) Sheapshead Bay Lobster Crawl – NYC; September 2008
13.) Flushing Food Circuit – NYC; October 2008
14.) Strong Beer Month – SF; March 2009
15.) Loisaida Throwback Crawl – NYC; April 2009
16.) Harley Farms Goat Dairy – Pescadero, CA; June 2009
17.) Tomales Bay Oyster Farm – Marshall, CA; August 2009
18.) Din Tai Fung – LA; September 2009
19.) Din Tai Fung – Tokyo; September 2009
20.) Schroeder’s Oktoberfest – SF; October 2009
21.) Fish Taco Crawl – San Diego; November 2009
22.) St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka -  Alameda; January 2010
22.5) Everett & Jones – OAK; January 2010
23.) Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse – NYC; February 2010
24.) Guerilla Ramen Night – SF; April 2010
25.) Knife Sharpening Workshop at Hida Tool & Hardware – Berkeley, May 2010
26.) San Pedro Fish Market - LA, June 2010
26.5.) Candytown – LA, June 2010

Hot Doug’s (The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium) was really the ONLY place Matt wanted to go to during our Chicago visit. Our conversations leading up to the trip often went like this:

Kayoko: Should we go to Burt’s Place for pizza?

Matt: Sure, I’ll leave it up to you. But we’re going to Hot Doug’s, right?

Kayoko: How about Avec?

Matt: I’ve been, but will go again. Let’s just make sure we get to Hot Doug’s.

Kayoko: I’m thinking we should try Kuma’s Corner, for their ginormous burger.

Matt: Great. As long as we go to Hot Doug’s.

So, not much choice in the matter– Hot Doug’s was mandatory. We took a cab out to the Avondale section on Chicago, which was quite far from the center of town. And guess what? Our cab broke down on the highway! It was definitely a prized moment, me and Matt on the side of the freeway trying to hitch a ride into town. Hilarious!

A gentile Chicagoan pulled over and picked us up– the people in this town are just SO NICE! I still can’t get over it. The genuine-seemingness of the Obamas really all makes sense now.

We made it to Hot Doug’s in one piece. The Sausage Superstore!!!

It was only 11:30am, and take a look at this line! Jesus Christ!

We waited a good half hour– all for the love of the encased meat. The inside was bright and kitchy. Really unique and so adorable!

Menu.

Duck fat fries on Fridays and Saturdays only. It was Friday– lucky us!

The guy taking orders reminded me of Henry Rollins slash Elvis Costello. Great mashup. I really, really regret not getting one of their tshirts.

SAUSAGE TIME!

Let’s start with the basics: THE DOG, which was a typical Chi-town style with “all the trimmings”: tomatoes, onions, housemade neon green relish, celery salt. This might be one of the best things I ate during the entire trip. That relish was out of control– Matt, who doesn’t even really like pickles, enjoyed this.

Special #1: Smoked jalapeño cheddar pork sausage with mole and jalapeño jack cheese. This was super spicy, almost too spicy, as it just really overwhelmed all the other flavors. The mole added a nice smokiness, though.

Special #2: Smoked pork linguica, saffron rouille, and queso Iberico. Que delicioso! So creamy. This was Matt’s favorite.

The fries were great– the duck fat was pretty subtle, you couldn’t really tell one way or the other. The actual potato itself, with the skin and everything, was perfectly cut and fried.

I walked into the bathroom and look what was painted on the wall!!!

ENCASED MEAT AMERICAN GOTHIC!!! So clever. There was a play on Magritte’s The Treachery of Images in the other bathroom, which I peeped. I believe it said Ceci n’est pas une hot dog, with an image of a hot dog. Love this place!

The REAL American Gothic, by the way, is at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was so awesome to finally see it.

More wall photo fun.

This was a fun excursion all around– from the cab breakdown to the encased meats, the fries, the whole vibe of the place. They don’t serve beer, though, which was super disappointing. Work on that beer and wine license please, Doug!

HOT DOUG’S
3324 North California
Chicago, IL
T: 773.279.9550

Top photo by Matt K.

Now tell me: why oh why would I ever move back to NYC when all of its wondrous gems can come to ME!!! When I heard last week that PDTman John Deragon would be guest bartending at the popular SF joint Beretta for ONE NIGHT ONLY, I screamed a silent hooray (!), and stopped over with Vanessa and Travis for a nightcap. And a pizza. Um, make that two pizzas.

PDT is an awesome little speakeasy in the East Village in NYC. This tiny bar resides within a hotdog shop on St. Mark’s Place and you can only get in via an old skool phone booth. It stands for (P)lease (D)on’t (T)ell, hence it’s a secret. Or hence it’s NOT a secret and it’s near impossible to get a reservation there (get ready to redialredialredial at 2pm SHARP to snag a table). I’m really usually not into these sort of scenes, but PDT is well worth the hassle.

Although at PDT it’s half about the atmosphere, Beretta was an equally lovely, bustling backdrop for Mr. Deragon (who I believe co-founded PDT).

The cocktail menu for the evening.

(I’m writing this out for you, @Paystyle)

+++

WITCH’S KISS: Blanco Tequilla, Lemon juice, Strega, Apple butter

REMEMBER MAINE: VSOP Rhum, Apple Cider, Allspice Dram, Angostura bitters

FRENCH MAID: Cognac, Lime juice, Cucumber, Mint, Falernum, Ginger beer

SOLSTICE: Rye, Apple brandy, Dubonnet Rouge, Amaro Nonino, Grenadine

NEWARK: Apple brandy, Sweet vermouth, Luxardo Maraschino, Fernet Branca

+++

The Anatomy of a Cocktail: Mr. Deragon mixing our drinks.

The French Maid. The ice cubes were perfectly square! I love that.

I got the Witch’s Kiss which I remember to be creamy deliciousness.

At PDT, you must order a hotdog- it’s their signature thing. So at Beretta, you’ve gotta get a pizza, right? So we ordered a margherita and it came, it was pristine, we were starving, we dove in, and then… I knocked over an ENTIRE GLASS OF WATER over the pizza!!!

It was MORTIFYING slash hilarious. Nope… still mortifying.

I think this was pre-spillage but Travis captures the scene well. DUNDUNDUN.

But the guys behind the bar are the sweetest gentlemen ever and ordered us another!!!! I heart them and owe them bigtime.

Here it is, in all its glory. Saucy. Crispy. Red. Burrata.

Good times– never a dull moment. Thank you Beretta and PDT! Please come again Mr. Deragon!

*Travis LoDolce is based in San Francisco. Check out his stunning photographs of landscapes, architecture, fireworks and the Oakland A’s here.

PS- For kicks, here are my shots of PDT when I went in March.

David Chang’s infamous kimchi-bacon dog in the middle. Wylie Dufresne’s dog is on the left, with deep fried mayo. Holler.

My dear friend Jim is opening a sandwich, beer and ice cream joint in LA!!! My three favorite food groups all under one roof- could you ask for anything more? I think not. He and his biz partner Jason have named the cafe The Golden State, that will quite appropriately be highlighting beers, meats, cheeses and other foodstuffs from… you guessed it, California. HOLLA!

They have been teasing all of us with January and February opening dates, while we have been getting our panties in a bunch, impatiently twiddling our thumbs. For the love of god, OPEN ALREADY! LA NEEDS YOU!!! Jim just told me Thursday, March 12… could it be true???? (Update: The LA Times just blogged that GS will actually be open starting Thursday March 5- YIPEE!!!)

In preparation for the grand opening, Jim and Jason have been hardcore hustlin’ for over a year now: putting up with the DOH inspection after inspection (they should get a medal for this), tasting sausage after sausage until they got one worth serving, tapping keg after keg until the foam came out just right, and most importantly, making sure that the temperature of the ice cream freezer is juuuust right. These are the true life priorities, people!

You get the picture- these guys ain’t fucking around. They have thought long and hard about how to make sandwiches and hotdogs the best you’ve ever had them, without being overly pretentious about it, or emptying out your near-empty wallet. Isn’t that nice? Trust me, you’re in good hands.

They are in an up-and-coming area on Fairfax that mixes old school (Canter’s Deli) with the new (Supreme). They literally gutted the entire space and started from scratch, exposing high wood ceilings, brick walls, cement floors and a steel outline. Industrial and minimal. Here are some interior pics:

Jim just gave me a sneak peak of some of the GS’s offerings (designed by Rustic Canyon alum Samir Mohajer):

- The Burger: 8oz. of Harris Ranch beef. Fiscalini Farmhouse cheddar, maple glazed bacon with wild arugula, housemade aioli and ketchup (cooked medium rare unless specified).

- Dogs: Let’s Be Frank- Organic, grass feed spicy dog.

- Scoops Gelato (only other place in LA serving this- it’s the best in town).

- Beers from Craftsman, Green Flash and Bear Republic.

Now I’ve known Jim a long time- we studied together in Padova, Italy, where there was this little sandwich shop run by two gentile brothers. For the last 20 or so years, these men had been making the best sandwiches in town- the place was always bustling with regulars, so welcoming, and they would make fun of us Americans for putting senape (mustard) together with salame. These brothers were Jim’s heroes, and he would always tell me that one day he would open a sandwich shop, just like that one.

The time has come, Jim! The doors are opening on March 12(ish), for real. Hours will be 11am-midnight, so no one has any excuses of not getting over there for lunch or dinner. Why not BOTH?!?

Oh, and Happy Birthday Jim! It’s going to be a great year for you and Jason! Congrats!