"hot dougs" news and stories

Doug Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's. Photo: William Couch/ Flickr.

Frankfurter maestro Doug Sohn, the man behind the beloved Chicago eatery Hot Doug's, is a stickler for putting the same care into his hot dog toppings that a top chef would a béarnaise sauce.

"Whatever you pair, you want it to taste good," he says. "We caramelize our onions in real butter. We get the freshest tomatoes."

Sohn is a trained chef who bypassed life in a haute restaurant to grill haute dogs. He's been on the wiener beat for nearly a decade, and remains an undeterred champion of foie gras in the wake of a since-overturned Chicago-wide ban. His sought-after pups feature tantalizing names like the "mighty hot" Keira Knightley and the "mighty, might, mighty hot!" Salma Hayek andouille sausage.

With grills heating up for the Fourth of July, here are Sohn's thoughts on how to spruce up that old dog.

Sohn on bringing his own dogs to Cubs games and the awesomeness of foie gras franks after the jump.