AVONDALE — Since Hot Doug's closed Oct. 3, owner Doug Sohn has walked by his former restaurant location just once — on a late-night stroll with a friend.
"And there were no feelings of loss," Sohn said. "It just seemed to be not a distant part of my life, but that was a great part, and I'm good.
"That was my job, but it wasn't me. It was a part of me, but I never felt it defined me."
Sohn told DNAinfo Chicago on Tuesday that he's been on a self-described "sabbatical" since shutting his iconic hot dog restaurant at 3334 N. California Ave. in Avondale. He's been to lunch with friends — something Sohn hadn't been able to do in 15 years, he said — taken long walks and been on a few vacations with his longtime girlfriend, Barbara Tyksinski.
Justin Breen says Sohn is more interested in the Bears than hot dogs these days:
Those trips out of town included a two-week, mid-October journey in a rented RV to the Smoky Mountains, where Sohn said he was recognized by a former customer in a campground in Shepherdsville, Ky. He also went to Austin, Texas, for three days to sample the area's barbecue restaurants as part of his 53rd birthday celebration on Jan. 26.
"I had no worries whatsoever, other than my colon, at that point," Sohn said.
Sohn said life is good, and over the next few months, he's figuring out what to do next. That could be writing another book — he co-authored "Hot Doug's: The Book" with Kate DeVivo in 2013 — but he definitely will not be opening or running another restaurant.
"Oh gosh, no, no, no, no chance," Sohn said. "There's just no chance. There's nothing I could think of that was as much fun or as perfect as Hot Doug's was."
In the meantime, he's designing a special pizza for Piece in Wicker Park next month and planning more vacations, including a possible summer trip to Alaska or a voyage overseas.
Sohn said he needs to work again, both for financial and mental reasons.
"There are only so many 'Real Housewives' episodes you can watch during the day," Sohn said. "I can take a fair amount of time off, but I still have a mortgage."
Sohn hasn't stopped by the new restaurant at his old location, Frank Meats Patty, but said he plans to do so. He also has eaten only one hot dog since October — during a Nashville Predators hockey game he attended in Tennessee.
"I ordered the 'Chicago Dog,' " Sohn said. "It was one of the better stadium hot dogs I've had in a while, but didn't have a tomato and definitely no celery salt. So it was only two-thirds a Chicago Dog."
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
