Mad Dogs, Resurrected

Last week (or was that the week before?) I read on The Daily Page forums that The Dawg House on State Street had closed. Restaurants come and go but this ex-Chicagoan thought that they did a pretty good Italian beef which isn't easy to find in this town. Not long after the bad news, I read that Mad Dogs was reopening under new ownership. This meant I could get a beef during the week when the FIBS cart wasn't around or on the weekend. Well, today I availed myself of the opportunity and traipsed over to the newly-resurrected Mad Dogs for a bit of Chicago nostalgia.

The place looks much the same as did in its previous incarnation and clean. It was littered with several customers, all of whom were middle aged and keen on hot dogs. I placed my Italian beef order with the friendly guy behind the counter in my customary terms – hot and wet. If the prospect of beefy goodness wasn't enough, I either got my fries for free or my drink. The woman sitting by the counter was rather loud and boisterous so all I caught was the word "free". So far so good.

I grabbed a seat by the window and waited. When my lunch arrived, I was confronted with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good: the beef was thinly sliced as it should be and, upon biting into the sandwich, I found that it was tender as well. The bread wasn't bursting at the seams, but I'll suffer.

The Bad: the sandwich came neither hot nor wet and had, for some ungodly reason, melted cheese on top which I assumed was provolone. I did get some gravy on the side with which I promptly attempted to drown the sandwich. In Mad Dog's defense, I did make the mistake of relating my order to the clerk verbally as opposed to via the little sheets sitting on the counter against one of the walls.

The Ugly: the gravy looked mighty good sitting in its little foam cup but tasted pretty bad. For one thing, it was cursed with an excess of oregano instead of having a nice balance of herbs and spices. But even the abundance of oregano couldn't disguise the saltiness of the gravy which was no doubt due to being made from prison base. This was Poppa Coronofoulos dreck laced with oregano.

The Rest: the fries were given a healthy dose of Lawry's Seasoning Salt or its generic equivalent. They were wedge cut which is not my preferred style but they did the trick. The sandwich was $3.99 according to the placard outside which, generally speaking, is more than reasonable for an Italian beef.

Conclusion: if you're downtown, need an Italian beef, and the FIBS cart is unavailable, stop by Mad Dogs and get a beef that's dry, without cheese, and with giardiniera.