A place named Hot Doggin’ It usually doesn’t come to mind when thinking about burgers. But this establishment, tucked away in a strip mall at 12082 B Montgomery Rd. near Loveland, has a reputation for making not only the closest thing you can find to a Chicago hot dog in this region, but also some fine burgers as well.
Hot Doggin’ It was started by two Chicago ex-patriots who use to work in the corporate world but decided that their dream was to open and operate a true Chicago hot dog stand. Ava and David Baldwin write on their web site, “Having grown up on the south side of Chicago and later moving to Glenview, a northern suburb or Chicago, I know how a Chicago Hot Dog should be made along with the many other menu items familiar to Chicago’s discriminating taste. That’s where the passion comes in to play. We are a family owned and operated business looking forward to bringing you the best of Chicago’s Vienna Beef products.”
If you’re not familiar with a Chicago dog, or a Chicago Italian beef sandwich for that matter, you owe it to yourself to check these guys out. Margaret McGurth, a good friend of mine, who hails from Chicago and knows all about traditional Windy City food, has told us this is the closest she’s ever found to a true Chicago hot dog. And that’s Mark’s experience as well. Check them out on the web at http://hotdogginit.com/.
Burgers
But this isn’t a hot dog blog. This is a burger blog. And so we ventured there to try if their grilled burgers are as good as the dogs.
We each ordered up a Char-burger with cheese. The one third pound ground beef patties were hand made when we ordered from fresh ground beef. These are not some frozen chain burgers but honest to goodness fresh daily tasty beef that is grilled to order.
A really delightful part of any small restaurant is being able to hear and smell the sizzle as your burger is being cooked. The small, Chicago themed restaurant allows for this.
The burgers were perfectly done and had perfectly melted cheese, fresh lettuce, tomato and other condiments. The sesame seed bun was firm enough not to fall apart as the juices flowed from the burger but not so firm to fight you as you bite into this delicious sandwich.
Beef and condiment flavors lead the way to your taste buds. There doesn’t appear to be any type of exotic seasonings going on with this burger, just honest all-American ground beef. One slight drawback is the fact that this place is still fairly new and the grill probably hasn’t been used enough to be properly seasoned. If this place is still open in 10 years, and hopefully it is, the grill should kiss each burger with the experience of thousands of burgers.
Between the two of us we asked for one order of fries. That is something to keep in mind. The orders of fries are very large and unless you are a French fry eating machine, one person can’t possibly finish them. In fact, with the size and quality of the burgers, we didn’t even finish the single order we had. The fries are fairly pedestrian. Nothing special. But they were perfectly done with a crispy outside and soft, flavorful middle. Try one without ketchup, that’s always the best way to tell.
We both highly recommend Hot Doggin’ It for their burgers. We have vowed to go back and review their Chicago dogs even though this is supposed to be a burger blog. Hey, it’s our blog and we can do what we want. Besides, it gives us a valid excuse to head back to Loveland and chow down on some great Chicago style food.
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