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Chicago's Dog House Adds Hot Doug Tribute Duck Foie Gras Dog to Menu

By Mina Bloom | November 24, 2014 5:50am
  The owner of Lincoln Park hot dog joint Chicago's Dog House added "The Hot Doug" to his menu about a week ago.
Lincoln Park Joint Offers Hot Doug's Tribute Dog
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LINCOLN PARK — Hot Doug's may be gone forever, but Doug Sohn's duck foie gras hot dog lives on in Lincoln Park.

Chicago's Dog House, 816 W. Fullerton Ave., added "The Hot Doug" to its menu about a week ago as an homage to Sohn and his famous hot dog joint. 

"For the most part, customers who have tasted his original version and mine have said they're identical," owner Aaron Wolfson, 30, said. "They couldn't tell the difference." 

Wolfson's tribute dog, "The Hot Doug," is made with foie gras, sauternes duck sausage, truffle aioli, foie gras mousse and topped with fleur de sel, or French sea salt. It costs $10.

Wolfson said he uses all of the same ingredients prepared the same way as Sohn except for the truffle aioli, which he prepares a little differently.

Before Hot Doug's closed in October, Wolfson approached Sohn to get his permission to sell the tribute dog. Sohn "loved" the idea and said he'd be "honored," Wolfson said.

Sohn said, "'I really don't have a hot dog place to go to. I've never needed one to go to, so I'll have to check you out," Wolfson said.

"I absolutely remember this conversation," Sohn told DNAinfo Chicago, adding that Wolfson's mom was a good customer of his. "I was flattered."

This wasn't the first time the two had met. Wolfson asked Sohn for hot dog advice when he decided to open Chicago's Dog House five years ago, and Sohn provided him with his sausage purveyor's contact information.

As a result, Wolfson has been using the same vendor as Hot Doug's, Chicago Game and Gourmet, since opening. 

That link helped Wolfson recreate Sohn's famous hot dog. The folks at Chicago Game and Gourmet told Wolfson what Sohn would normally buy, which helped him craft a similar truffle aioli, he said.

So far, Chicago's Dog House customers have been "loving it," Wolfson said.

Many of them who knew of Hot Doug's legacy but had never gotten a chance to eat there before it closed have been excited to get a second chance, he said.

Prestine Davekhaw, 23, went to Hot Doug's for the first time back in September but the wait was too long so she gave up. 

Davekhaw ordered The Hot Doug at Chicago's Dog House on Friday afternoon without hesitation. 

"I'm confident it'll be good," said Davekhaw. "Everything is good here."

An international student at DePaul University, Davekhaw is traveling home to Malaysia this week and she wanted to eat a great hot dog before she returned, she said. Chicago's Dog House is her go-to spot, she added.

Later, after taking a few bites, Davekhaw said, "I'm going to keep ordering this!" 

Wolfson isn't looking to dethrone Sohn anytime soon. Wolfson called him the "king" of gourmet sausages and hot dogs. But, he admitted that "it'd be nice to have some lines down the block." 

He recalls eating Hot Doug's with his mom and dad as a kid, and said Sohn's hot dogs were a large source of inspiration for opening his own hot dog joint.

Wolfson graduated from Columbia College in 2009 with a degree in communications and advertising. He opened Chicago's Dog House six months after graduating after realizing he wanted to pursue a career in experimental cooking, he said.

In the coming weeks, Wolfson said he wants to offer a different Hot Doug's tribute dog every month in addition to the duck foie gras hot dog.

"I'll take something else he had on menu and call it the 'The Doug Special,'" Wolfson said, who added that he's interested in offering rabbit and antelope sausages inspired by Sohn's menu.

Sohn said that while he hasn't been out to lunch in 14 years, he'd be happy to give Chicago's Dog House his endorsement once he tries Wolfson's food.

Wolfson said he'll be ready to cook up a gourmet dog for Sohn to try.

"Hopefully he comes in here soon, and I can have a good conversation with him," Wolfson said.

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