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Health & Fitness

A True Religious Experience

Knocking an item off my food bucket list.

With all this talk lately about Chick-fil-A, it has gotten me thinking about my own eating priorities. I'm not here to debate the anti-gay stance of the company. Plenty of other people that comment for this website (kudos to Steve Walsh in a different blog comment section for his well thought out statements) can have a battle over ethics.

My biggest(okay second biggest) problem with the entire thing were the people defending Chick-fil-A for their food. Chick-fil-A does for chicken what Kentucky Fried Chicken does for chicken. Which is to say, neither does good food justice. 

The fact that people are defending the quality of fast food got me to thinking about my own eating standards. If others' were that low, then maybe it was time to take a look at my own eating standards.

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And as such, I decided that this past Friday, I was going to go to the holy grail of iconic Chicago hot dog places. I was going to go to Hot Doug's.

For those of you who don't know, Hot Doug's is a single hot dog place on California Ave. in Chicago.  It has also become a destination for anyone coming to Chicago to experience the food scene. The place has become so popular that on a daily basis, a line stretches out the door and around the building.

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Hot Dougs' has been featured in both television and print. On the Travel Channel show "No Reservations," host Anthony Bourdain said that when he first started telling people he was going to Chicago, everyone said he had to go to the same place, Hot Doug's. 

Bon Appetite magazine even named the small place one of the 50 Best Restaurants on the Planet.

Needless to say, as a connoisseur of encased meats for many years, this was on my must-eat bucket list. Also adding to the allure is that on Fridays and Saturdays, they deep fry their french fries in duck fat. That, in and of itself, should give anyone reason to eat there.

So it came to be that yesterday, I dragged the girlfriend to the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago to eat at the landmark establishment. 

We got there at 1pm. The line was out the door, around the building, and past the parking lot. We were told that it would be an hour and a half wait. Nobody even flinched at the notion of waiting that long for the food.

The people in front of us were from Louisiana. They were in town for Lollapolooza but said that they absolutely had to come to Hot Doug's because they couldn't forgive themselves if they made it to Chicago and didn't eat there.

The restaurant sets itself apart by having some of the most original food on any menu in the city. Rattlesnake sausage? Kangaroo sausage? You bet. They even have the famous (infamous?) foie gras dog, a duck sausage covered in foie gras and truffle aioli.

They have a rotating menu that features different meats, depending on the season. While most restaurants are content to simply rest on their laurels when it comes to their menu, Hot Doug's is constantly evolving. Constantly improving good things to make them better. Their customers expect the best, and it's safe to say that so does the restaurant, itself.

Getting through the line is a communal experience. The people are jovial. Those that have been there are excited to go back, and those that haven't eaten there yet, you can sense the enjoyment. The food is said to be so good, my girlfriend, who is a vegetarian, was going to eat meat that afternoon.

Getting to the front of the line means giving your order to Doug Sohn, the owner of Hot Doug's. He has become one of the most recognizable faces in the Chicago culinary scene. In spite of the never-ending line, he is jovial and friendly to everyone who enters the restaurant. He seems genuinely thrilled that his creation has brought legitimate happiness to so many people.

It's simply not possible to come to Hot Doug's and eat only a Chicago-style hot dog. The food is original on a level that fast food chains could not possibly fathom. I ate the sausage of the week, named the Kayla Harrison. It was a taco-seasoned pork sausage, topped with green chili sauce and queso asadero, a type of Mexican cheese.

The girlfriend ate an unpronouncable special that featured an incredible bacon sausage. She broke her vegetarianism for it!

The food was disappointing. It was disappointing because I'll never be able to anticipate my first Hot Dougs' experience ever again. The food itself was incredible. A symphony of flavors. You actually find yourself sitting there taking smaller bites because you don't want the sausage to be done. It is literally the opposite of fast food. 

I walked out to see a line that hadn't shortened even a little bit since we'd entered. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Those leaving were full from an amazing meal, while those in line knew that something great was in store for them when they entered. 

It's so often that we are willing to settle for what is easily available, as opposed to what is good. We justify McDonald's, Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, whatever. There is great food everywhere, even if you have to travel for it. 

But for every faceless chain restaurant, there are amazing places that deserve your business. Even if you don't want to travel to Chicago, you can find a restaurant that genuinely cares about your business. If the Chick-fil-A incident proves anything, it proves that we rely too heavily on restaurants that think we need them and they can get away with saying and doing anything they want. 

We don't need fast food. We settle for fast food. We need to support local businesses, we need to support the guy who is perfecting his craft for his customers. I'd rather drive into downtown Joliet to eat at a Taco Truck than eat at Taco Bell. I'd rather go to one of the great burger places being argued for "Best Burger in Plainfield" than eat at Burger King. Most importantly though, on behalf of my LGBT friends and family and anyone that enjoys real, good food, i'd rather starve than eat at Chick-fil-A.

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