Doughnut Vault

Since we're currently in the middle of a bunch of Chicago doughnut posts from our 2015 road trip, this seemed like a good time to jump back to another doughnut shop we visited in 2012 that we didn't have a chance to revisit on that 2015 trip: Doughnut Vault.

At the time, Doughnut Vault had been open for a little over a year in their tiny location on Franklin Street, and we only knew three things about them: the doughnuts were supposed to be good, they sold out fast, and the lines could get really, really long. They made a set number of doughnuts every day, and once they were gone, the shop was closed. We were a little on the later side when we headed over there (around 10:45 am) since we had gone to Do-Rite first, so we weren't even sure they would still be open when we got there. They were, and we were happy to see that there were only a couple of people in front of us in line. Maybe it was because it was cold or because it was a random Tuesday in September, or maybe we just got lucky. While they did still have doughnuts, they were almost sold out of their entire inventory. They only had about 10 left, so we really just made it.

We got the gingerbread stack, which for some reason I thought was going to be a single gingerbread donut but turned out to be three. (You would think I would have realized that from the name "stack" but apparently not.) They were a little smaller in size than other doughnuts because of the stack, and were very soft and kind of cake-like with a light gingerbread flavor.

The other doughnut we got was the buttermilk old-fashioned. This one had a little bit of a chewier texture to it, which we kind of liked, but because of the type of doughnut it was, it was much, much richer. We had been hoping for a glazed doughnut or maybe a special if they had one, but these were the only two types left by the time we got there so we of course got them to try. They were good, but we prefer other styles so they weren't our favorites.

We sat outside, shivering in the cold, eating our doughnuts (and in A's case, drinking coffee to try to warm up), and watched as the last few customers wandered into the shop and bought the final doughnuts for the day. Before we even finished eating, the sold out sign was in the window and any future patrons were out of luck. We did enjoy the doughnuts there and would return, but considering how many good doughnut shops there are in Chicago and how much we dislike waiting in line, I doubt we would wait if the line was wrapped around the block, as it still seems to be five years later.

Double Do-Rite Donuts

After our less-than-satisfying char dog, we spent some time enjoying the sunny weather in Millennium Park and took a walk up the lakeshore to our old neighborhood of Streeterville. Our plan was to get lunch from Do-Rite Donuts, which we had visited in the Loop on an earlier trip, but which now had chicken sandwiches that sounded delicious. (Funny coincidence, on that earlier trip, we had gotten Do-Rite and then Gold Coast Dogs later in the day, while on this trip we had Gold Coast Dogs and then Do-Rite later in the day, something I never even realized until putting this post together.)

On our first visit to Do-Rite a couple of years earlier, we were kicking off the morning with some coffee and doughnuts. I don't know when it happened, as it wasn't the case when we had moved out of Chicago seven years earlier, but by the time we made this visit in 2012, Chicago had become a serious doughnut city. We hit up quite a few of the big players on the trip, and Do-Rite was one of them. A picked up a Dark Matter coffee (which he thought wasn't bad, but he was expecting a dark roast because of the name and it turned out to be lighter and not as bold), and then we got three doughnuts to split.

The three doughnuts we got were the valrhona chocolate glazed, the maple bacon, and the special of the day, which had a pineapple glaze, shredded coconut, and nuts. It's been about five years, so we don't really remember that many details, but we do remember that we thought the doughnuts were quite good. If I had to guess, I'd say that my favorite was probably the daily special since I love pineapple and shredded coconut, but A thinks we might have liked the valrhona chocolate the best because the chocolate was excellent. (This is the problem when you don't take notes and don't write a post while the memories are still fresh.)

And now back to our 2015 road trip visit. We knew we would eventually get doughnuts from Do-Rite since we knew they were good, but first, it was time for chicken sandwiches. We split two for lunch, the "original" and the CBR. We had considered getting the one called "The Sweet Heat," which was a fried chicken sandwich with spicy maple aioli on a glazed doughnut, for the novelty of having a fried chicken sandwich on a doughnut "bun" (although we have seen that concept elsewhere since), but decided not to and to get "regular" chicken sandwiches instead.

The original chicken sandwich contained a fried chicken breast, special mayo, lettuce, and dill pickles. This sandwich was good, very basic, but a little bit bland in flavor, especially compared to the other sandwich. The texture of the fried chicken was good. The lettuce was a little more like cabbage, which was something we weren't expecting, and we weren't really sure what made the mayo special but it seemed nice and creamy.

The CBR stood for (aged) cheddar, bacon, and ranch (mayo), and we got the spicy version of this sandwich. This sandwich had much more flavor than the other one, probably from the bacon, but we wouldn't really call it spicy. Cheddar, bacon, and ranch is usually a good combination, and that was the case here as well. The CBR is still on the menu online, which is nice to see.

Considering we eat a lot of fried chicken sandwiches (especially in 2015, which was kind of the year of fried chicken sandwiches for us personally and they seemed to be everywhere), these probably fall in the middle part of the list for us. They were good and we enjoyed them, but we definitely have others we like better at home (like Hill Country Chicken, Bobwhite). We would try more varieties at Do-Rite though. Who would say no to more fried chicken sandwiches?

After we finished our chicken sandwiches, we went back in for a doughnut, this time choosing the cinnamon old fashioned topped with cinnamon sugar. This was a good cake doughnut, very soft in texture, with good cinnamon flavor. Do-Rite definitely does doughnuts well. We've had good experiences both times we've visited, so we would return.

Gold Coast Dogs

Two years ago today, we were in Chicago, kicking off a day of sightseeing and family time with some Chicago-style hot dogs, so we're going to jump back into recapping some of the spots we visited back then. Since some spots (like this one) are repeats of places we went to but didn't recap on other trips, we're just going to combine them all together.

We lived in Chicago together for three years, and during that entire time, I never once had a Chicago-style hot dog (mostly because I wasn't eating much red meat back then). To remedy the situation, we decided to go on a hot dog crawl on one of our visits back to the city in 2012. We hit up Hot Doug's and a few other spots, trying lots of Chicago-style dogs. After trying a bunch of them, my favorite was Gold Coast Dogs, a decades-old Chicago mini-chain. It was so good that it even made my top 10 list that year, and that was a year of really tough competition.

The offering from Gold Coast Dogs consisted of a charred hot dog on a poppy seed bun topped with mustard, onions, tomatoes, pickles, neon green relish, sport peppers, and celery salt. While we had a lot of good ones on our crawl, this one just stood out for the freshness of the toppings, the snap of the dog, and the flavor of the charred hot dog. It was really satisfying. After that crawl, I really started to understand why people loved Chicago-style hot dogs so much. With all those toppings, they were much more exciting than your average hot dog.

Having had such a good experience at Gold Coast Dogs the first time, we were excited to return during our road trip back in 2015. On our way from our hotel to Millennium Park, we stopped by the same location in the Loop that we went to the last time and ordered a couple of char dogs. When we looked down at our tray, our first thought was, "Where did all the toppings go?" It felt like there was a lot less on the hot dog than on our other visit, and a quick comparison with the photo from a few years earlier showed a stark difference. The taste of the hot dog was fine, but it was definitely lacking in the toppings department. Since that's one of the best parts about eating a Chicago-style hot dog, we were really disappointed. We probably won't be returning to that location again. Instead, on our next visit, we may have to go on another hot dog crawl to find a new favorite!

Farewell Hot Doug's

Yesterday was the last day of service for the Chicago sausage institution, Hot Doug's. For years, they've been putting out all sorts of hot dogs and the lines were almost as legendary as the sausages, especially after Doug announced that they would be closing up for good this October. As soon as the announcement went out, the already long lines (we waited 30-45 minutes in the middle of a random weekday afternoon when we went a few years ago) started becoming hours-long before opening. We had hoped to make one last pilgrimage out to Hot Doug's when we were in Chicago this summer, but with the lines getting as long as they were, we just couldn't do it (mentally or in our schedule).

On our one and only trip to Hot Doug's, we were in the middle of a Chicago hot dog crawl (hopefully we will get around to recapping that at some point), but still indulged in 3 hot dogs and an order of fries (not the famous duck fat fries, since we weren't there on the weekend). We weren't sure when we would make it back again since Hot Doug's wasn't the easiest to get to without a car (and we usually don't rent a car when visiting), so we wanted to make sure we tried a bunch of different things, even if that shortened the rest of our hot dog crawl. In retrospect, it's a good thing we did, since we never did make it back.

One of the sausages for which Hot Doug's was most famous was the foie gras and sauternes duck sausage with truffle aioli, foie gras mousse, and fleur de sel. It sounds decadent, and it absolutely was.

M isn't the biggest fan of foie gras so this sausage wasn't her favorite, but she did appreciate how different it was and how someone who did like foie gras could love this. For her, it was unbelievably rich, almost too rich to even eat half a sausage, but the truffle aioli was quite tasty. A really liked this hot dog, but he's also a bigger fan of rich, decadent food compared to M. The silky creaminess of the foie gras and the truffle aioli offered an amazing array of flavors as well.

We also decided on the bruschetta, mushroom and beer chicken sausage with pesto aioli, roma tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella cheese. We're not sure how often they had this at Hot Doug's since it was on the specials board and not the standard menu (but so was the foie gras and that was probably there most of the time).

It's hard to remember two years later, but from what we remember, this one tasted much more light and fresh than the foie gras. It was basically like eating a light caprese salad on top of a hot dog. A bit messy, but really good. This was really fresh overall despite the heavier mozzarella, and we really liked it because of that.

Lastly, since we were in the middle of a Chicago-style hot dog crawl, we had to try the one they just called The Dog, their Chicago-style hot dog with "all the trimmings." As promised, it came with pickle, tomato, onion, mustard, and neon green relish.

This was a good version of a Chicago-style hot dog and we enjoyed it, but it wasn't our absolute favorite from our hot dog-filled trip. But since we were in Chicago and trying one of these at every other spot we went to, we had to get one here too.

As we mentioned before, we didn't have the opportunity to try the famous duck fat fries, but we did get cheese fries. We were so hungry by the time our food arrived, since it was late afternoon by then, and we dug right into them as soon as we finished taking pictures. They were really good and the cheese was just the right amount of "melty."

It's no surprise that Hot Doug's was a sensation in Chicago. The quality of the sausages was great. They had so many varieties. The menu was always changing. They had weekend only specials like the duck fat fries. Doug himself was always there and you could tell how much he really cared about everyone enjoying their hot dogs. It was a great experience and he really made it special.

Our visit to Hot Doug's was good, but we can't imagine camping out overnight in the rain to be there on the last day. We can't believe there were so many people that they had to cut the line off before a lot of people even woke up for the day. Incredible, but a testament to how loved this place (and Doug) was by the city of Chicago. A bit sad that we weren't able to visit again and try more, but grateful that at least we were able to make that trip once. Goodbye, Hot Doug's!

Tank Noodle

One thing we really miss in New York is good pho.  Chicago has a really strong Vietnamese restaurant community, and we just haven't found anything in New York that is quite the same (although we do keep looking).  We used to go for pho fairly often when we lived in Chicago, but now, not so much.

The main cluster of Vietnamese restaurants in Chicago is centered around Argyle Street in the Uptown neighborhood.  Our favorite pho place there is Tank Noodle (in Vietnamese, Pho Xe Tang). When we started going to Tank 8 or 9 years ago (hard to remember back that far!) it was a tiny smoke-filled (many years pre-ban) storefront much further east on Argyle Street. Now Tank occupies prime real estate on the corner of Argyle and North Broadway, very close to the Red Line stop.

Tank was our first stop after arriving at O'Hare.  We started out with 2 of our favorite Vietnamese appetizers.  The first to arrive was gỏi cuốn ($4.50), 2 fresh spring rolls (also called summer rolls on other restaurant menus).  Tank's version contains pork, shrimp, noodles, lettuce, mint, chives and bean sprouts.
 

The sauce is, on taste, a combination of hoisin sauce and fish sauce with crushed peanuts and shaved, pickled radish and carrot as a garnish. The hoisin sauce adds a sweet and salty base while the fish sauce adds a taste that really can't be described. The garnish of peanuts and pickled vegetables add texture and some additional taste (mostly sour).
 

We really like summer rolls because of the fresh, clean flavors and how healthy they are.  The rolls from Tank were really good, probably among the best we've had.  The rice wrapper was soft without being too sticky or too dry.  The shrimp were plump.  All the vegetables gave the roll a nice crunch on the inside.  We were really happy with these.
 

We also got chả giò tôm ($4.50), 3 fried shrimp egg rolls, which contained shrimp, carrots, taro and wood ear mushrooms.  We didn't really have a preference between the fried pork and fried shrimp egg rolls, but one appetizer came with 2 rolls and one came with 3 rolls.  There were 3 of us (we were with A's brother who generously picked us up from the airport) so we picked the shrimp egg rolls to make it easier to share.  On the side was the usual fish sauce-based dipping sauce (nước chấm) that also contained carrots and radishes.

The outside of the rolls was perfectly crispy and the inside packed a lot of flavor into each small bite.  At Vietnamese restaurants, M is used to getting lots of lettuce with spring rolls to wrap them in to eat, and has really grown to like that.  There was one giant piece of lettuce with these spring rolls but definitely not enough to wrap all 3.  The extra crunch and freshness of the lettuce around the spring rolls was the perfect finish for the rolls.
 

We have gone out for pho occasionally in New York, but it's just not the same as Tank.  We haven't found another place anywhere that has matched Tank so far.  Even the plate of bean sprouts, jalapenos, limes and basil that Tank gives is enormous compared to the paltry vegetable accompaniment plates that you get in New York (at least at the places we have tried).

It's probably obvious that we have very good memories of Tank, and therefore, we had very high expectations for our return visit, especially for the broth that differentiates them from the pack.  We are very happy to write that Tank met all of our very high expectations and is still just as good as it was over seven years ago.

A got the namesake phở xe tăng (pho with beef and flank) ($9.95).  This was the beef noodle soup combination with sliced beef, well done brisket, well done flank, soft tendon, bible tripe, and meat ball.
 

This is what A had been dreaming of for a very long time. The meat is good quality like most places in NYC, but what really sets Tank apart from every other pho restaurant we've ever tried is the broth. It's exceptionally rich and very comforting. The aroma of all-spice hit you as soon as the bowl is placed in front of you. Countless other spices and herbs float through the air after that initial hit as well. The onions and scallions swimming in the broth add their own flavor and aroma to the soup.

As is customary for A when he has a bowl of pho, he first tastes the broth before adding anything to the soup itself. From there he adds a squeeze of lime wedge, some sprouts, a couple dashes of fish sauce, a circular array of basil leaves, a circular pattern of sriracha sauce, and a cross-hatch design of hoisin sauce. He's not sure why he makes it such an artful display, but he's a creature of habit. He did not, however, take a picture of his bowl as he was hungry and started devouring his tasty meal.

The only criticism A has for this bowl is that he only received one small quarter of meatball. It is common for these "all inclusive" bowls of pho to skimp out on meatballs, but he had never had so few.

M got the phở gà ($7.95), which was beef noodle soup with chicken.  Unlike some other places that use chicken broth for chicken pho, Tank uses the same rich and complex beef broth as the other soups. 

M doesn't put as much stuff into her pho as A does.  She only usually adds bean sprouts and basil.
 

The chicken pho at Tank is much, much better than chicken pho elsewhere, and not just because of the broth (although that is definitely better).  They use good cuts of white meat chicken at Tank.  The chicken this time wasn't as tender as M remembered (the first time she had this pho at Tank the chicken was so soft it almost melted in her mouth), but it was still good.  Other places have grilled chicken (with char marks!) or mediocre cuts of chicken with lots of fat, and the pho at Tank is just so much better.

We are so sad that our visit to Tank Noodle was the last one for awhile.  We are desperately in need of good pho for the coming winter, so any recommendations for the best pho in New York City are gladly accepted and welcomed.  We will have to do some pho tastings!

Cibo Snack

Another flight to Chicago, another trip to LaGuardia's Marine Air Terminal.  (We normally loathe flights out of LaGuardia but the comfortable Marine Air Terminal (aka Terminal A) makes it a little more bearable. Lots of outlets, comfy chairs, very short security time, like the old days of travel.)

 

 

For the second time in a row, our flight to Chicago out of LaGuardia was delayed.  Last time weather had delayed every flight and cancelled others.  Ours was the only flight delayed this time around.  They claimed it was weather but since both Chicago and New York were pretty clear, we weren't sure what type of weather they were blaming.

 

The flight was delayed 20 minutes, and then it was delayed another 20 minutes.  I may have already mentioned that airports make me want to eat, so we got a snack.  The only not so great thing about Terminal A is that there is a lack of food options.  Outside security there is a "Yankee Clipper" restaurant which is like a deli.  Inside there is the usual Cibo Express that you find at every airport (at least around NYC), and there's an expensive sit-down restaurant in the middle of the terminal which has $11 meatball appetizers and $20 plates of dips.  We went with Cibo, which is pretty much the only option for travelers on a budget (or travelers saving their money for their trips), and got a roasted turkey and swiss sandwich.

 

 

It was a very basic sandwich: roasted turkey and Swiss cheese on a multigrain hero roll with tomato and green leaf lettuce.  They also claimed that there was honey mustard.  It's the last ingredient on the label and I don't remember there being any noticeable honey mustard.

 

 

A and I split the sandwich and neither of us thought it was anything great.  It was just a plain turkey and cheese.  Delis back in Manhattan are definitely better, even the generic ones near our offices, so this sandwich isn't winning any awards.  It just wasn't very flavorful.  And considering I was eating Gulden's mustard out of the package in addition to putting it on the sandwich, I really don't think there was any honey mustard on it (or it was a really weak one).

 

 

It was good to have something savory and somewhat healthy to snack on while we waited for our flight (instead of just eating my entire roll of Mentos).  Considering our feelings about LaGuardia, we gladly put up with the lack of food options at Terminal A in exchange for all of the other comforts of traveling from there.  Sometimes a boring sandwich is OK.

Free Snacks are Good

We just returned from a short happy trip to Chicagoland (wedding! baby! yay!), which means there are more places we get to write about - both old favorites and new discoveries.  Going to Chicago these days doesn't really feel like a vacation since we lived there for so long but we really enjoy our return trips to the city.

We kicked off our trip with a very late arrival at the airport (so late that they printed late on our baggage tag and we just made it to board), something neither of us wishes to repeat.  After finally settling in to our seats and calming down from the stress, we got to enjoy snack time on the plane! 

Snacks, I'm guessing over Pennsylvania/Ohio, but my LiveMap didn't work

Since we were flying JetBlue, that meant we got free snacks. And not just a small cookie, but real snacks. Everyone in the rows around us stocked up on multiple drinks and bags of chips (dinnertime flight).  I opted for water and iced tea (a decent sized Arizona can!), along with sea salt Popcorners and Fritos (which are new to JetBlue), while A got water and Coke Zero with caramel Popcorners and Terra Blues.  (On the way back (night flight so no pictures), we pretty much got the same thing except for the snacks - A got caramel Popcorners and I got Fritos.)

I love flying JetBlue for a number of reasons, but the unlimited free snacks is a big plus when domestic flights usually means nothing but expensive (and not great) food. It's much more like the international airlines which still feel like you are entitled to eat something real with your ticket price. Go JetBlue!