You're a shining star

I had lunch at Hot Doug's today, and boy, was my sausage motherfucking hot. It had that cumulative kind of heat that follows you out of the restaurant and then clings to you like a cranky, overheated child all the way home. And I mean that in the best possible sense.

I've eaten at Hot Doug's once before, and much preferred the Celebrity Sausage this time around: the Verdine White. I'm obviously not up on my obscure celebrities because I had to google this one. Verdine is the bassist for Earth, Wind & Fire, known for his high-energy dancing, and judging from the pictures, his beadazzled bellbottomed jumpsuits. What Verdine has in common with spicy Thai chicken sausage with garlic chili mustard and sesame seaweed salad is beyond me, but you gotta love a place that names a quasi-Asian sausage after a black guy named Verdine. I believe this particular taste sensation has had other celebrity names, but I'm glad it was Verdine today. Earth, Wind & Fire is in my top ten secret favorite groups, along with The Babys and Pablo Cruise. The other seven are super duper top secret and none of your business.

The wait this time was less than 10 minutes, likely because of the crappy weather and the fact that it's Thursday, and not Duck Fat Fries Friday or Saturday. My dining companion (my husband) had two dogs: a regular char dog with everything and a Keira Knightley char dog (mighty hot!) with everything. Doug offers free refills on small sodas, so I ended up downing a good 64 ounces of pop just to keep my mouth from going up in flames.

There seems to be an arbitrary pricing policy, with Doug himself deciding if you deserve a price cut. On my last visit, I reminded Doug that we had once known each other in grade school, and I think he lopped off 25%. Today, I remained a stranger and paid regular price. But now I have an excuse to go for a third time: the Dave Kingman (a chicken Italian sausage with everything!) and another chance to play my I-used-to-know-you-in-grade-school card. We'll see what happens.