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Cronut-Burger Combo to Launch at Devil Dawgs in Lincoln Park

By Paul Biasco | September 6, 2013 6:26am
 Lincoln Park's Devil Dawgs is preparing to launch its sandwiches based on cronuts.
Devil Dawg's Crognet
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LINCOLN PARK — The cronut craze is about to reach another level.

DePaul University's late-night staple, Devil Dawgs, is launching two new sandwiches that incorporate the croissant/doughnut hybrid that has swept the nation.

Devil Dawgs' owner Alan Katz teamed up with Chef Vincent Colombet of La Boulangerie to create the foodie-friendly items.

Devil Dawg's Demon's Delight will feature a steak burger sandwiched between a maple-glazed, bacon-covered "crognet" (the name Cronut was quickly trademarked by a New York bakery.)

The second concoction, the "Wake n' Bacon," features a fried egg on the maple-bacon crognet with American cheese and "Devil Sauce."

"It's a great taste in the mouth between the burger and the cheese and the sweetness of the maple sauce and the bacon," Katz said. "What can be bad about it other than you have to work out a little bit longer to eat more of them?"

The crognets will arrive fresh every morning to Devil Dawg's location on the DePaul campus, 2147 N Sheffield Ave.

Devil Dawgs will roll out the sandwiches Sept. 10.

Katz and his team of mostly DePaul students will cut the crognet in half and grill it.

"It's almost like a French toast where you have the crusty bits," Katz said.

Katz, who has been running the tiny walk-up burger and hot dog joint for four years, expects the items to be a hit with his college crowd, but also Chicago's foodie population.

"I'm going full monty," Katz said. "You really want to excite the taste buds. That's what food today is really being geared toward."

A single patty or egg sandwich will run customers $6.95, a double $7.95 and a triple $8.95.

Making the crognet is a tricky task and was a closely held secret in New York, but Columbet cracked the code shortly after and gave DNAinfo Chicago a peek at the process in July.

Katz said he wasn't aware of any other restaurants in the U.S. that have coupled the crognet with a burger, but heard of a few in Canada.

"Everyone wanted fried Twinkies and fried this and fried pickles and fried Snickers bars and I said to myself, you’ve got a great doughnut craze that’s taking over the cupcake," Katz said.

Katz, who trained at New York's Culinary Institute of America, and has worked at the former Lincoln Park Blue Mesa, Wilde and Calucci's, said he loves the freedom his burger and dog joint has given him.

That freedom allowed for the crognet burger.

"Working in large kitchens under the pressure of executive chefs and everybody else, you are under the gun 24-seven," he said. "I wanted to take a step back and have some fun."