The lost meals entries consist of meals that occurred at various times throughout 2012 which, for any number of reasons, escaped my documentation – some due to a cross country move and a new job, some due to the Los Angeles Kings run to the Stanley Cup, and some simply as a result of too much travel. Having enjoyed many of these meals with friends or family and with some of them amongst the year’s very best the reality is that with time my memory has deteriorated and as life moves forward I’ve realized there is little hope to ever “catch up” or document these experiences as well as I’d hope, yet in order to preserve them I present these pictures, notes, and thoughts on the experience.
Brunch Dog – Slagel farms pork loin breakfast sausage with Cobb smoked bacon, fried egg & drizzled with maple mayo
Pork of July – Pork loin & caramelized onions sausage, house smoked pulled pork, cherry bourbon BBQ sauce & our house slaw
Truffle Mac n’ Cheese – Bratwurst sausage, truffle mac ‘n’ cheese with parmesan, brioche bread crumbs & thyme
Chicagoesque – All natural (nitrate free & uncured) 100% beef artisan ⅛ pound skinless frank , house pickles, cherry tomato relish, caramelized onions & beer mustard
Double Ducker – Duck sausage, duck confit salad, pickled shiitake mushrooms, shaved torchon au foie gras & maple mustard
Sweet Home Chicago – French toast, stuffed with chocolate ice cream, bananas, kiwis, strawberries, freeze dried mango, chopped almonds & butterscotch sauce
With late dinner plans at The Bristol along with a friend but my family in town to allow for ample snacks and bites our second pre-dinner stop featured Franks & Dawgs where the table of five worked through a quintet of artisan sausages with all house-made accoutrements plus dessert; each selection truly unique and although not quite as high quality as those at Hot Doug’s just as (if not more so) audacious.
Ordered at the counter from a young man named Steve who offered up suggestions based on what he liked and what was on special that day it would be only moments after seating before our ‘dawgs’ arrived and although my choice of the double ducker would prove a bit less textural or snappy than I’d have preferred each of the other options was quite nicely prepared – the brunch dog particularly impressive with the casing on the sausage giving way to a supple interior while the bacon added crunch and the runny egg made this much more a fork and knife effort than something managed by hand. Not to be outdone, the Mac n’ Cheese, though a bit overdone with truffle oil, was a great balance of textures and flavors – the thyme a great accent to the punchy brat.
With good food, friendly servers, and a great price without the excessive lines or limited hours of other local encased meat providers Franks n’ Dawgs is definitely worth stopping by for a bite and it was good enough to get me to visit the group’s second location, The Peasantry, just two days later…