You might think a place as revered as Hot Doug's ( 3324 N. California Ave.; www.hotdougs.com ) would have an owner with a huge ego. However, Doug Sohn is just like his hot dog-focused eatery—no pretense.
People have praised the restaurant—and it's not just everyday folk who love the place. Anthony Bourdain has called it "one of the 13 place to eat before you die" and chefs such as Mario Batali have stood in line for one of the place's much-loved hot dogs.
Sohn ( along with Kate DeVito ) has written Hot Doug's: The Book, a colorful tome that, with lots of humor, recalls the history of the place, including when it burned down at its original location years ago. The laid-back Sohn ( who, it turns out, likes Madonna as well as the actress PJ Soles ) recently talked with Dish about the book, the restaurant and himself.
Windy City Times: I noticed similarities between the way we think. I was actually relieved to hear that Hot Doug's is a cash-only establishment. [Note: Another quirk of the restaurant is that it's open 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. six days a week.] It seems like too many people use credit cards to pay for a stick of gum.
Doug Sohn: I forget exactly what I wrote in the book, but I hate to give money to the big banks. Government's fine; the big banks and the big corporations are screwing America. I'm not naive about it, of course; I use credit cards when I shop on the Internet. But the less I have to give to them, the better.
Someone actually came in one day, trying to argue that credit cards are the same the cash. I said, "It may be to you, but it's not to me." Also, it makes bookkeeping way easier. And it's subversive. And it's old-school, which I really like. You should have $20 on you at all times. And I'd rather get robbed of $300 than go through identity theft. I understand that one day just taking cash won't be feasible—but it hasn't happened yet.
WCT: You mention in the book that you adore PJ Soles. What movie did it for you? The original Halloween? The original Carrie?
DS: Rock 'n' Roll High School. I was a sophomore in high school; it was a perfect storm because I was a huge Ramones fan. Then, I followed her career.
WCT: So you've seen Jawbreaker?
DS: Oh, yes—but not just for her. I've even seen [the 1981 film] Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. I think she has a small part in Zuma Beach, and there are the two little scenes in Breaking Away.
WCT: Has she been here?
DS: No—and I would know.
WCT: Going through the book, one word kept jumping out at me: personality. This book could've been a very dry rendering of this place.
DS: Precisely why it took me a long time with this book. I didn't want something dry. Who'd want to read that?
WCT: I didn't know your dad came up with the name for the place—and it was a lot better than the alternative.
DS: Yeah, he did. "Schleppy's, the Bulvan" was the working title of the restaurant.
WCT: I think that would've kept people away.
DS: [Laughs] You're probably right.
WCT: Are there days when you want to go back to being a cookbook editor?
DS: There are days where I don't want to do this, but not going back to being a cookbook editor. But, sure, I'd love to do something else. This job is physically demanding—but 99 percent of the time the days are great. There's nothing I've done up to this point that I miss. But NBA point guard? That'd be a great gig.
WCT: There was a sentence in the book that threw me off a bit, so let me ask you: Do you still feel like there are days when Hot Doug's is a hoax?
DS: Not as much, but I do think, "Today's the day no one shows up—and I get to lie down." [Interviewer laughs.] It's not much a hoax, but it's just the sheer fact that so many people come through the door... People travel fairly far to come through the doors here.
I think I heard that 50 percent of restaurants go out after six months, and another 25 percent after one year. When people ask me about the restaurant business, I say, "Open your window and throw your money out. Whatever comes back is probably a better return on your investment." It's just that the odds are against you, and so many things are out of your control. If they tear up the street [in front of the restaurant], I'm in big trouble. Sometimes you're a bad case of tomatoes away from being done.
WCT: There was the fire in 2004. How hard, psychologically, was it for you to rebound?
DS: [Pauses] First, you're in shock. Part of me later thought, "It's summer vacation. I get to do something else." Gearing up to do it again took a while. [The fire] happened on a Saturday night, and I was moving [residences] on Sunday, anyway. Once I decided to restart my restaurant, I had to look for a space. So, yeah, it took a while—but it's not like it tore up my soul or anything. But it was the unfamiliarity of going through something like that. I did finish watching The West Wing reruns, though. [Both laugh.]
WCT: Switching gears, how does one join the Hot Dog Club?
DS: [Smiles] There was this big publishing company. I don't know how it started; it just kind of happened. It was a chance to go out for lunch, and it was open to anyone but there were mainly four of us who were obligated to write reviews.
WCT: In your opinion, what's the worst thing someone can do to a hot dog?
DS: I think ingredients of bad quality is wrong. You can buy inferior mustard, you can buy bad pickles. Then, it's stale bread and either overcooking or undercooking it.
WCT: Are there condiments you shouldn't use? I actually grew up putting mayo and relish on dogs; that might be a Southern thing.
DS: Mayo is also big in Hispanic culture, and cole slaw ( slaw dogs ) is big in the South. There's a school that's against ketchup on hot dogs. I'm just not a big ketchup fan. But if you ask for it here, we'll do it. For me, there are no food rules—although mayo on a corned-beef sandwich makes me a little queasy. Also, seeing these three douse foie gras with ketchup actually hurt.
WCT: What was meeting Anthony Bourdain like?
DS: The first time, he just showed up. I thought, "Oh, God—please don't screw this up." Let's say you're a local stand-up comic with a following, and [Jerry] Seinfeld comes to see you; that's what it was like with Anthony Bourdain.
He couldn't have been nicer, and he waited in line. So when people complain about waiting in line, I say, "Bourdain waited in line. Mario Batali waited in line." But Bourdain was nice, and chit-chatted with people. It's always nice meeting someone big and that person doesn't turn out to be a jackass.
When we asked him about the book for a blurb, he had no problem with giving us one. Then when Dave Kingman, the ex-Cub, came in—that was exciting, too. [Both laugh.]
WCT: What do you want people to take away from this book?
DS: I'd like them to take away from the book what they take away from the restaurant: a little happiness, some entertainment. I'd like [readers] to feel a sense of enjoyment, a sense of humanness and a sense of community.
Hot Doug's: The Book is available at online retailers such as Amazon.com as well as at the restaurant itself.
