We Ate Everything At the Hot Doug’s/PQM Pop-Up

The event shirt, courtesy of the T-Shirt Deli

It’s possible I have a sausage problem. As my Facebook friends and Twitter followers know, I eat more sausage before 10 a.m. than some people do all day. So, when I heard that Hot Doug’s was doing a full-fledged pop-up restaurant at Publican Quality Meats in the middle of January, I braced myself for a wind chill of -20 and started trying to figure out how to get my girlfriend to come with me. Luckily, she was willing to stand in the cold, and our wait was only about 20 minutes. We ordered everything.
Doug often tweaked the toppings available on sausages, so I didn’t expect any exact facsimiles of food I had eaten before, but all of the items for sale via PQM were either very close or spot-on classic configurations, rather than the scaled-back versions for sale at Wrigley and other pop-ups. Yesterday’s choices succeeded in a way none of the other one-off event menus have: my assumptions about which sausages would be my favorites were wrong. I’m very happy that I ordered everything, because I probably would’ve otherwise skipped the truffle pork and the chorizo, which were both outstanding.
The event was great, but still not perfect. Doug’s creations have always been at their best served promptly in a paper boat, but because of the venue, sausages wrapped to-go were PQM’s only option. Everything was assembled in advance to help the line move quickly (our order took less than 5 minutes to get out the door.) The sausages were a little light on their liquid components, which helped them not get soggy, but meant the full complement of toppings was sometimes hard to taste. Also, when we were at the event around 1:30 pm, Doug didn’t seem to be around. Still, his seal of quality was certainly on the event, and everything was delicious.

The Starting Lineup (with asterisks for my personal favorites)

Lamb & Pork Belly. These sausages ain’t pretty, but man, they were tasty.

Lamb & pork belly sausage with muffuletta-onion dijonnaise, and double crème brie cheese. I was overjoyed to see this at the top of the list: this sausage regularly appeared on the Doug’s menu with a muffuletta-onion goat butter instead of mayo/mustard hybrid. The lamb flavor in this sausage is strong without tasting too much like gyros. It’s outstanding. The little bit of dijonnaise was difficult to taste, especially given the lamb and brie flavors up front.

Bacon Apple Sage Duck Sausage with Virtue cider mustard, smoked blue cheese, and honey drizzle. Another tried-and-true offering from the old Doug’s menu. Last time I had this sausage, it was topped with a truffle-balsamic glaze instead of honey, but with other truffle-filled option on the menu, honey was a smart choice. But, for some reason, honey didn’t quite work as well. The overall flavor was super herbaceous with a weird almost floral aftertaste. Still good, just not great.

Truffle Pork, surprisingly the best choice on the menu.

*Truffle pork sausage with caramelized onion mustard, goat cheese, and truffle oil drizzle. I had never eaten this from the menu at Hot Doug’s, though Dan Pashman gave it a shot when he stopped by. I used to shy away from sausages that feature luxury items like truffle oil or foie gras, but it turns out I would’ve been a fool to skip this one. A Publican staff member who saw me unwrapping it beamed, “Dude, I can’t wait for you to eat the truffle. It’s insane. It’s an umami bomb.” And he was right. It was 100% delightful and intensely savory.

*Steak au poive sausage, bourbon mustard cream, emmental cheese, and crispy fried onions. Because I love steak sandwiches more than life itself, I always went for any steak-based sausage Doug had on the menu. So, I was pleased to see this old friend (even if the ribeye sausage was better.) Everything was as I remembered it, down to the superfine crispy onions on top.

Escargot and Guanciale Suasge, parsley garlic butter, and camembert cheese. An excellent latter-day Doug creation, and I was glad to see it back in its exact configuration from the restaurant. Last time I ate it there, it was a garlicky punch in the face. Unfortunately, the flavors in this version were a little weak. If I had never had it before, I would’ve been much more impressed.

Toulouse Sausage, French herb mustard, great northern beans, and duck rilette. Often featured on the Doug’s menu as “Hot Doug’s Cassoulet.” This always struck me as a weird piece of genius. Who would’ve thought cassoulet would translate to a fancy sausage in a bun? But it does. It was delicious as ever. Although I have to say the ‘french herb mustard’ tasted a whole hell of a lot like Gulden’s. But who doesn’t like Gulden’s?

Mezcal Pork Chorizo, tweaked perfectly to get wrapped without getting soggy.

*Mezcal pork chorizo, tomatillo mole, queso asadero, and fried tortilla strips.
One more sausage to round out the afternoon, one more sausage that worked particularly well as a to-go sausage. It could’ve used a little more mole, but switching out corn salsa that sometimes topped it at the restaurant for fried tortilla strips was a solid decision.

There were, of course, duck fat fries. Always get the fries; you’re going to want something starchy and mellow to cleanse your palate between bites. Publican furnished free big, fat chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Everything was certainly worth leaving the house for, even in January.

Brian

I’m a tax guy and technical writer living in the city known to its locals as The Big ‘Ago. I self-identify as a fighter against culinary dogma, a sandwich lover, and an overly-earnest hot dog enthusiast.