New London Memories

Five years ago today, we were off on a much-needed weekend trip. (We were supposed to write about this a long time ago, but even though so many of our memories have faded, better late than never.) It had been a long summer with zero visits to the beach, and we were just craving some sun and sand so it would really feel like summer. We went to New London, Connecticut, which was close to Mystic if we wanted to go to the seaport, close to the Rhode Island border if we decided we wanted to investigate their beaches instead, and someplace with reasonably affordable, last-minute hotel availability. (It was a very last-minute getaway.)

We started our first day by exploring the area of New London near our hotel and, of course, checking out some of the local food spots. Our research first led us to Kamp Dog, a spot walking distance from our hotel, known for their hot dogs (but which also served burgers and other treats), especially their namesake Kamp Dog with dynamite (a meat sauce), cheese, and raw onions. Considering it was the name of the place, we had to get that. Each hot dog was made by Hummel Bros, "Connecticut's #1 hot dog" according to the sign at the restaurant, and served on a toasty grilled bun. When it arrived, we saw that it was pretty much a chili cheese dog, but an excellent version of one. The hot dogs had a crisp snap to them, the sauce was meaty and tasty, and the cheese and onions just brought it all together. Great start to our trip.

Our next stop before beach time was a place called Fred's Shanty, "famous since 1972" according to their signs, for fried seafood. While we wanted a weekend getaway to get in some beach time, we have to admit that one of the reasons we went up to New England instead of the mid-Atlantic was fried clams. We hadn't had fried clams in a while, and we couldn't stop thinking about clam strips. Fred's Shanty had clam strips, whole belly clams, clam chowder, scallops, and more seafood, and was exactly what you would imagine from a New England seafood shack on the waterfront. We ordered a bunch of things for lunch (although it was only two hours after hot dogs, so we only had so much stomach space), and then grabbed some seating with a view of the marina, and it was just what we were looking for from our weekend getaway.

We shared the clam strip dinner, which came with sides of creamy cole slaw and fries, and also another side of onion rings. We were so happy with everything we got. Sitting outside in the sun, listening to the water and the rocking sailboats, feeling the breeze coming in off the water, eating clam strips and fries and onion rings, that was just such a classic summer meal for us, and we loved the whole experience.

With our bellies full of hot dogs, clams, and more, it was time to head to the beach for the rest of the afternoon!

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!

Whole Foods Bryant Park

We were looking for a light dinner on Memorial Day (yes, this post is a bit overdue), and as we walked through the Herald Square area, started thinking about Chick-fil-A. It wasn't Sunday, unlike most days that we find ourselves thinking about Chick-fil-A, so we figured they would be open. Unfortunately for us, we got there about two minutes after they closed for the holiday, so no Chick-fil-A for us. Since we were close to the Whole Foods in Bryant Park, we decided to go there and finally try out the prepared foods in their "food hall." It wasn't really much of a food hall as there weren't any stalls, but instead you order from a menu with different themed options on some central kiosks.

We split two things. The first was a Korean hot dog which was topped with kimchi, a sweet and spicy sauce that looked gochujang-based, and scallions. We were pleased to see that the kimchi toppings on this hot dog were plentiful, and the toppings and sauce tasted good. The hot dog itself seemed fine but nothing extraordinary, but went well with the kimchi and sauce. However, the bread was not great at all. It was dry, crumbly, and cold, and really detracted from the rest of the hot dog. A griddled bun would have been much better.

The other thing we split was from the hot chicken menu - the Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich, a fried chicken thigh which came with slaw and some pickles on the side. We ordered it with medium spiciness, since we figured hot chicken would be hot and we probably shouldn't order it spicy because we might end up with something extra spicy (like saying spicy at a Thai restaurant). For hot chicken, it wasn't really very spicy at all. I think I got one bite with any kick to it at all, and A got none. Considering this was what medium was, we figured that if we had ordered it at the spiciest level (one above), it probably wouldn't have been that spicy either. The pickles and slaw were fine but nothing special.

We weren't that impressed with our first visit to WF Bryant Park's "food hall." The two things we ordered were just okay, and we probably wouldn't get them again. Also, considering how few other people were ordering at the same time we did, it took a very long time for the food to be ready. We might try some of the other options at some point -- they had Italian sandwiches, reubens, and Indian-inspired bowls as well, the last of which was probably the most interesting of those three -- but there are lots of other places we'd like to go in the area first. I also think we like the WF buffet bar better than what we got here.

SeaPlex Dog House

We didn't make it to the SeaPlex Dog House until the final set of sea days, even though we had been really interested in going from the start. From what we remember, there were constantly long lines there and they kept very odd hours. Often we would walk by during off, non-meal hours only to find them closed. The Dog House was basically a hot dog stand where you could choose the type of sausage, toppings, condiments, and sides. Conceptually it wasn't anything special, but the idea of a hot dog stand at sea just appealed to us. Day 9 ended up being the perfect time for us to stop by for an early lunch when they opened before another one of the shows/parades on the esplanade.

We ordered two different sausages and sides to split. The first was the "Smoke House," a smoked bratwurst made of pork with traditional spices on a cheese roll, which we topped with sautéed peppers and onions, and also some German mustard. We thought this was fine, but nothing special.

The other dog we got was the "Coney Island," a classic American all-beef Kosher hot dog, which we topped with onions, sauerkraut, and mustard. Again, our assessment was fine but nothing special.

The two sides we got were the only two offered, potato salad and cole slaw, and both came in really, really tiny cups that you would normally use to put sides of sauce or other condiments. The potato salad was okay but didn't have much flavor and was kind of boring. The cole slaw just didn't taste very good, and it wasn't because of the strange inclusion of the raisins.

We were kind of unsatisfied with our visit to the Dog House, which came not longer after our unsatisfying breakfast. Since we were headed down to the esplanade anyway, we stopped by the Cafe Promenade for some snacks after this. At least those were good.

Superdawg

It's been a while since we posted about our adventures in Chicagoland back in 2014 (most recent post here and all posts in the series here), but better late than never...

After a fun day in the city of Chicago, we visited the iconic Superdawg for dinner. We had heard of Superdawg back when we lived in Chicago, but for whatever reason, never made it there. (That seems to have been the case for a bunch of iconic Chicago hot dog places, including Hot Doug's.) Since we were staying up in Rosemont on this trip and had a car, we were much closer to Superdawg than we ever were when we lived in the city, and we could also fully enjoy the experience of the drive-in (first one M had ever been to!).

We thought we were getting to Superdawg on the earlier side for dinner, but the entire parking lot was packed when we got there. We got pretty lucky and a spot opened up not long after we arrived, which meant we could enjoy the full Superdawg drive-in experience. Considering the long wait to put in the order from the drive-in terminal, it might have been quicker just ordering inside and sitting on the benches, but we really wanted to experience Superdawg how it "should be." True drive-ins are pretty rare these days, so we thought it would be a fun experience.

We ordered a bunch of different items from the giant menu. When everything was ready, someone brought it out to our car on one of those trays that you can hook on to the window while you eat. While this was pretty cool, there were a lot of flying insects (mostly mosquitoes) outside (it was the middle of the summer at dusk), so we opted to put all the food on the dashboard and eat with the windows closed instead.

Although there were lots of interesting things on the menu that we would have liked to try, we knew that on our first visit we both would need to try Superdawg's version of the hot dog. Each hot dog order came with a side of fries (awesome!) and arrived in these cute little boxes. 

The fries were just okay. They're crinkle cut like the ones we can get from Shake Shack, but they weren't quite as crisp. They also seemed a little drier than the Shake Shack ones. These were a bit disappointing, but at least we didn't come here for the fries.

The star of the show was supposed to be the hot dog, but that seemed like a bit of a letdown. It was okay, not horrible, but we had had better from Portillo's and Gold Coast Dogs in the past. This was a bit different than the others, though, as the tomato was green, and M thought it was a tad pickled and spicy. The sport peppers were also really spicy, but A was okay with that.

Even though each hot dog came with fries, M couldn't resist an order of the super onion chips (which you might remember from her favorites list). These are still the most memorable part of the meal for M. They were that good. They basically take the best elements of an onion ring - the onions themselves, nicely seasoned batter, good frying - and remove the worst - the nasty habit of the onions to "escape" the battered exterior of the onion ring once you bite into it. M still dreams about these.

A really likes milkshakes and malts so we opted to get a chocolate malt. It had a really good, rich chocolate flavor, and the pronounced malt flavor really enriched the flavors nicely. It wasn't so thick that you couldn't suck it up through the straw, but it was thick enough that you needed to position the straw just right to make sure you could. A was really happy with the shake. M liked it too, but probably not as much as A did.

The last thing we got was a chocolate chip cookie. We had read plenty of reviews online about how great the cookie was so we figured we had to try it. We're not sure if the reviews were old or what, but the cookie wasn't anything special. It was soft and chewy which we liked, but otherwise it was pretty plain. We've definitely had better, and A has made better at home.

Overall, we're glad we checked out Superdawg. We're not sure we'll go back again as it's a little out of the way from the city proper, and the parking lot is pretty small. It's also a little tough to eat while sitting in the car, though we did get to see an old school Cadillac boat roll through which seemed to really fit the vibe of the place. We're happy to have tried it, and if we ever do make it back, you can be sure that we'll get at least one order of those awesome onion chips!

Hamilton Restaurant

A few weeks before we left on our Pennsylvania road trip, there was a thread on Chowhound about the most notable local specialties from users' hometowns. I was reading through it for fun when someone mentioned being from Carlisle, PA and that there was a restaurant known for their hot-chee dogs and burgers, as well as their onion rings, gravy fries, and milkshakes. Carlisle was just outside Harrisburg and therefore on our driving route, so I was pretty intrigued.

The restaurant was called Hamilton Restaurant and looked like it had been on that corner in Carlisle for decades. Most of the clientele looked like regulars, and we definitely stood out as we snapped pictures of our lunch. We were pretty excited though, as this was just the type of local place we wanted to experience on our road trip.

While we browsed the menu, we saw that they served scrapple. Neither of us had ever eaten scrapple before, but had always heard it associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch. In keeping with our mission to try as many unique Pennsylvania foods as possible, we felt like we had to order it in case we didn't have another opportunity. 

Traditionally scrapple (according to Wikipedia) is "a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices," which is then "formed into a semi-congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving." From how it's traditionally made, it's not surprising that it arrived looking like a piece of meat toast. As for the taste, there was a little bit of offal flavor there that was interesting. We liked the meaty, slightly metallic taste of it. Can't say we've ever really had anything like it before. Because of the griddling, you got that really nice crisp exterior with the softer, meaty interior.

We both ordered one of the hot-chee dogs, which is basically a hot dog with cheese, chili, mustard, and a plentiful amount of onions. Each hot dog came with sides for (at the time) $6.50. Not a bad price for a fully-loaded hot dog, cole slaw, and fries or onion rings.

Each hot dog was piled high with toppings which made it a little messy to eat, but it was really tasty. We're big fans of chili cheese dogs generally, and this one was really good. It was clear that they've been making these for years, and totally understandable why they were so popular.  The quality was excellent. There was a nice snap to the hot dogs, and the flavors of the chili were very balanced to pair with the cheese and onions.

A chose fries with his hot dog and I went for onion rings, since I love onion rings. Don't really remember all the specifics about these over 2 years later, but we think the fries were pretty standard, and the onion rings were really good and super crispy on the outside. We were also really glad we were able to get cole slaw with the meal since it was the healthiest thing on the table. It was refreshing and cooling (it was 89 degrees outside when we were at lunch), and it really felt like it lightened up the rest of the meal.

Overall, we were pretty happy with our lunch at Hamilton Restaurant. The place seemed like a Carlisle institution, and these small local spots were just how we wanted to explore Pennsylvania. If we were in the area, we'd definitely go back for some more hot-chee dogs and onion rings.

Hamilton Restaurant, 55 W. High Street, Carlisle, PA.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

The main purpose of our visit to Baltimore back in 2010 was to go to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. I had been once before when I spent a summer in Baltimore, but it was A's first time at the ballpark. We still hope to someday visit all of the MLB ballparks, so this was another one we could check off our list.

From what I remembered from my last visit (which was over 10 years earlier), the food at Camden Yards was interesting with crab cakes and other Chesapeake area favorites. I didn't remember eating much on my last visit, but hoped we'd find something interesting this time. At the very least, we got some Old Bay seasoning packets for free, so that was a nice Baltimore souvenir!

It's been 5 years, so I don't remember if we couldn't find the crab cakes or other Baltimore favorites, or if they were just too expensive to try. In any event, we started with some turkey and pork sandwiches from Boog's BarBQ, which was named after and owned by Boog Powell, a former Orioles player. They were good, but not as amazing as we thought they would be from some of the rave reviews we read at the time.

We also picked up a half smoke from somewhere, which we thought would be like the chili-covered dogs we got from Ben's Chili Bowl at Nationals Park. (Those are so good.) It wasn't. It was just a charred hot dog with some peppers and onions on a bun. It was fine, but not what we were hoping for.

Partway through the game, we got so fed up with all the screaming Red Sox fans (seriously 90% of the ballpark was Red Sox fans) so we went to get some more food from The Greene Turtle, a ballpark location of the Baltimore sports bar. We picked up some Boardwalk fries (standard fries, although they had skin on them and did taste like potato, which was good) and some cheeseburger sliders (pretty good but not amazing, although it was nice to have the grilled onions).

We also got some ice cream treats at Carvel. We have Carvel at home but some soft serve on a hot summer night is always good.

We were happy that we tried a bunch of different eats at Camden Yards, but we didn't have anything amazing during our visit to Oriole Park. Looking at the ballpark options now, I see all these things we would have wanted to try back then, like crab mac and cheese hot dogs and crab dip-topped waffle fries. If these were all there 5 years ago, then we completely missed them despite walking all around the park surveying the food options. All I know is that we need to return to Baltimore at some point for some more delicious Maryland crab!

American Icon Grill

Our third dinner on the Quantum was at American Icon Grill. We had visited American Icon during lunch the day before and had been quite underwhelmed, so we hoped that dinner would be an improvement on lunch (would be hard to get much worse). We also hoped that the food allergy issue would finally be resolved since M's parents had spent some time during the afternoon talking with the dining staff and getting all of the allergies that we had previously notified them about put into the computer system again. Basically, we approached dinner with a lot of cautious optimism.

We were seated somewhat quickly (nothing really moved that quickly on that ship) with a waiter and head waiter who would end up being our favorites on the entire trip. They paid special attention to dietary restrictions and allergy requests, were quite personable, and really tried to make the dinner experience pleasurable. We really felt like this was how it should have been the previous 2 days and hoped things were taking a turn for the better.

The meal started with the same bread basket as lunch, full of corn muffins and "cheesy" bread. We didn't really feel any differently about it this time around.

Appetizers

There were 8 appetizers on the menu to choose from at dinner. We ordered 4 of them and 3 others were repeats from lunch (the shrimp po boy we greatly disliked, the reuben turnover that we kind of liked, and the beet and goat cheese salad that we liked a lot). That meant that, by the end of our dinner, the only untried appetizer was the Louisiana chicken wings. We probably should have tried that too for the sake of completing the whole list, but we must not have noticed it was the only one left.

(NB: Earlier in 2015, Quantum switched up the menus. We've only seen the new menus from January, so if they changed since then, we don't know anything about it. Whenever we can, we've made notes about the new menu alongside our review of what we got.)

M really liked the beet and goat cheese salad at lunch, so she picked the heartland salad (now called the "baby spinach salad" on the new menu) which came with baby spinach, hard-boiled egg, button mushrooms, and bacon vinaigrette. The menu description was a little off as there were also tomatoes, for some reason not listed, and the bacon was less a dressing and more actual pieces of bacon (no complaints).

This was a great salad and we really liked it. Not sure if we preferred this one or the beet and goat cheese salad, as they were both good. The spinach was fresh, the tomatoes were juicy, the eggs were cooked right, the bacon was crispy and added tons of flavor, the mushrooms provided earthiness, and the dressing complemented everything well. We decided that if we made it back to American Icon for lunch on another day we would just get both salads, since this salad was also on the lunch menu (with shrimp).

M also chose the New England clam chowder with homemade oyster crackers. This was fine, very rich and creamy, but definitely not the best clam chowder we've had. The crisps added nothing and were unnecessary, but the soup was fine. (The current menu says the clam chowder has "chunks of potato, onion, and herbs." We don't recall the chowder being that "chunky" but maybe they've changed the recipe.)

A started out with the Yankee franks, pretzel-wrapped smoked sausages (aka pigs in blankets) with cheddar cheese sauce and whole grain mustard. We liked these. We found the cheese sauce wasn't that necessary, but that was probably because we're much bigger fans of mustard, especially whole grain mustard. The pretzels were a touch on the bready side, but they had good, buttery flavor to them. Overall this was a pretty good appetizer, but unfortunately it looks like this has been taken off the menu.

A also ordered the buffalo chicken mac 'n cheese with spicy chicken, blue cheese, and celery. The first thing we both noted was that there really wasn't any blue cheese taste. This wasn't a horrible thing, though, since M doesn't like blue cheese at all. A doesn't mind blue cheese, but at the same time he doesn't think it belongs in mac and cheese. Unfortunately, there wasn't much flavor at all to the dish. It was heavy and creamy, but just not that flavorful. The chicken was also a little on the dry side. Overall this was just okay as a dish, and this also seems to have been taken off the menu.

Overall, considering both lunch and dinner, our favorite appetizers at American Icon were the 2 salads, followed by the pretzel franks. We would get any of the 3 of those again (except 2 out of 3 are no longer on the menu). 

The changes they've made to the menu since we were on the Quantum are interesting. Some of the best appetizers we had at American Icon were the salads. On the recent menu that we saw, the beet and goat cheese salad was gone and replaced with a Cobb salad and a traditional wedge salad. As much as we would like to try those, it's disappointing that the tasty beet salad is gone. We don't remember there being a ton of other dishes with beets in them, so maybe it was a purchasing decision more than a culinary one. Not surprising that they replaced 1 salad option with 2 though, since quite a few people did mention the lack of salads on the menus.

Some of the new appetizers also sound good and certainly fit the theme of American Icon. In addition to the franks and the mac and cheese, they've ditched the reuben turnover and shrimp po boy. In their place, they've added potato pancakes, fried calamari, Maryland crab cakes, and Southern style fried shrimp. The Southern fried shrimp doesn't sound quite like the shrimp from the old po boy, as this one comes with mashed potatoes, so hopefully that turned out better than that sad po boy shrimp. We'd definitely go for the crab cakes, as we had a good one at Chic later in the week (a story for another day). 

Entrees

Unlike appetizers where we both usually get a couple and share them, we usually only get one entree each, with maybe an extra to share if there's something we really want to try. For her entree, M chose the pistachio-crusted salmon with green beans, Oregon mushrooms, and grain mustard sauce.

This entree wasn't quite what M was expecting, but it turned out to be a pretty good dish. The salmon wasn't overcooked or dry, and the string beans and mushrooms paired well with the salmon. The part that was unexpected was the mustard sauce. M was expecting more of a dijon-type sauce, but it was a pretty creamy gravy. That made the dish a little richer than we were expecting, but it was still quite tasty. M would order this again.

A got the Southern fried chicken with sauteed smoked bacon and spinach, cheddar cheese biscuits, and chicken gravy for his entree. A is a huge fan of fried chicken, so he was really looking forward to this.

Unfortunately, A was really disappointed with this dish. While the spinach was good (it's hard to mess up spinach short of horrid over-seasoning), the rest of the dish wasn't very good at all. The chicken was dry and flavorless, and the "Southern biscuit" wasn't a biscuit at all. It was just a flat, cylindrical dinner roll. We had heard this complaint about the biscuit before we even boarded the ship, but thought it couldn't have been that poor of an imitation of a real biscuit. Sadly, it was. A didn't care much for this dish, and Royal Caribbean must not have either as this was yet another dish they removed in the recent go-around. M tried a little bit but thought the salmon was much better.

There are some interesting entrees on the new menu that we would have tried - cajun blackened snapper, roasted lemon rosemary chicken, and a surf and turf of shrimp and filet mignon (which should please all those people who were mad that surf and turf was on the sample American Icon menu but not the real one on the ship). The pistachio-crusted salmon is also still on there, which M was happy to see.

Desserts

Everyone in our group of 4 got a different dessert, although we did try bits and pieces of each other's. M went for the grilled banana sundae with vanilla ice cream, fresh blueberry syrup, and chopped Georgia pecans. This was pretty good. We didn't really taste the blueberry syrup, and the ice cream and pecans were fine, but the best part was the grilled banana. It was so full of banana flavor, soft and sweet. This was probably our favorite dessert on the menu, although M thought the dessert would have been even better if she could have paired the grilled banana with the vanilla ice cream and smashed honeycomb from the previous night at Jamie's Italian.

A chose the French quarter coffee and doughnuts, which were described on the menu as coffee-creme beignets with espresso sauce. A was really interested in this dish as he's a huge fan of beignets. After all, he's a doughnut fiend, and these are basically just New Orleans style donuts. However, these were just okay. They weren't as light and airy as a beignet should be, and the espresso sauce wasn't anything special. You also couldn't taste any of the coffee cream. If it was piped into the beignets, we certainly didn't see/taste it. As excited as he was for these, A was once more left disappointed. M was much more interested in her grilled banana sundae.

M's dad got the warm skillet cookie with vanilla ice cream. We thought we would love this, as we love warm cookies. But this cookie was way too rich. It just tasted like butter. It was all butter and richness without any depth whatsoever. We kept trying cookies on the Quantum, thinking we would love them, but you would think we would have learned our lesson after the Windjammer cookies.

M's mom needs dairy-free desserts, and the only real option at American Icon was a fruit plate. It was by far the healthiest of the desserts and it was nice to have some fresh fruit. We were puzzled as to why Quantum wouldn't list a fruit plate as a dessert for everyone on its dessert menus, but they seem to just keep them in the back for dairy-free or special requests. We guess it's one of those things where you have to know it exists in order to ask for it.

Overall, our meal at American Icon was pretty good, far better than our first dinner at Silk was. The service was much, much better. We didn't run into a whole mess about food allergies or dietary restrictions after dealing with it at the start of the meal. We had some good dishes (like the salad, salmon, and sundae), and most of the ones we weren't that fond of weren't that awful, a little disappointing but not as mediocre as our Silk dinner. We weren't "wowed" (which we only mention since Royal says the whole experience is supposed to be a WOW) but it wasn't bad.

Los Perros Locos

Earlier this year (this post has languished in drafts for so long), M was reading Eater when she came across the sad news that Los Perros Locos, a Colombian hot dog joint down on the Lower East Side, had closed. We only made it down there once during their 20 month tenure but were hoping to go again to try more in connection with our Colombian WorldEats quest. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen since the shop is gone (even though it may return in other forms according to the post), but to say goodbye, it's probably a good time to finish off our post on our first (and only) visit.

We had been wanting to try Los Perros Locos since we heard of their opening, since (a) we love hot dogs, (b) we like Colombian food, and (c) we really enjoy trying out fast food from other cultures. At some point, we picked up a voucher for a really sweet deal, so we used that on our only visit there. With our voucher, we got 3 beef hot dogs, 1 salchipapas populares, and 2 cervezas for just $18!

We started out with our cervezas. A went for a Presidente as he drank many of them in the past when out with coworkers. It's a clean pilsner with little in the way of bitter hoppiness, but it's a refreshing beer overall. M had never heard of Aguila beer, but chose it anyway, solely because it was a Colombian beer. From what she remembers, she liked it, but it's been a while and she's not very good at describing beer anyway, so sorry, no other details on the Aguila here.

We were very excited about the salchipapas (fries) and it was our favorite part of the meal. We got the salchipapas populares (waffle fries with hot dogs, salsa rosada, and salsa verde). These are everything you would imagine them to be. Crisp exterior with a soft potato interior on the waffle fries paired up with melted cheese, cut up hot dogs, and two creamy salsas. Heavenly.

We got 3 hot dogs with our voucher so we picked:

Amero-Perro (their version of a chili dog - beer and cocoa infused beef chili, shredded Vermont cheddar, chipotle kraut, crushed Fritos, ChipZana [chipotle + apple] sauce)

The crushed Fritos were a little odd, and neither of us really were sure what to make of them. Yes, they added texture and that heavy corn flavor the chips are known for, but they didn't fully mesh with the rest of the hot dog. It was odd, though, since this was essentially a chili cheese dog which should go well with Fritos considering that's what goes into Frito Pies. The chili cheese dog part of it was good though.

Mexi-Max (sriracha pico de gallo, chipotle kraut, ChipZana sauce, salsa verde, queso cotija, crushed Fritos)

Again with the crushed Fritos, although they seemed to work better here. This hot dog was similar to the Amero-Perro in that it had the chipotle kraut, ChipZana sauce, and crushed Fritos, but the differences certainly stood out. We're big fans of salsa verde and queso cotija so we knew we'd really like the flavors on this dog. The sriracha pico de gallo was really refreshing and offered just the right amount of heat.

Chimi-Churi-Chori (chorizo, grilled Provoleta, homemade chimichurri, aji panca aioli, crushed potato chips)

This was our favorite, and we figured it would be. We're both really big fans of chorizo because of its distinct and powerful flavor, but adding in the grilled Provoleta, chimichurri, and aioli enhanced the flavors so much. The crushed potato chips didn't add as much flavor as the crushed Fritos from the previous two hot dogs, but they added that same unique texture.

Overall, we had a good meal at Los Perros Locos with lots of tasty things that we hadn't had before. The voucher meant we basically got our meal for half price and it was a great deal. We definitely wanted to return, but sadly that will not be happening now. It was pretty packed the night we went so we were surprised to hear the news of their shuttering. Hopefully Colombian hot dogs will pop up elsewhere soon!