Breakfast of Champions - Hot Doug's

10:30 in the morning seemed unusually early to seek out duck fat fries, but I'm not alone.

Fridays and Saturdays only, Hot Doug's serves up quack fries along with an unusual and creative selection of dogs, pimped up and primed for the ever-growing crowd.

The motto reads, "there are no two finer words in the English language than, "encased meats," my friend.

The brightly coloured interior - think catsup and mustard - serves up an ever-changing hot dog selection with a lot of sass and wit. Customers surveyed in the crowd make Doug's a weekly excursion to try the newest "encased meats."

After the hour and 15 minutes we waited to get in the door, the weekly specials are revealed.

We went with two dogs off the regular menu: The Salma Hayek, an Andouille sausage that's "mighty, mighty, mighty hot," and seeing how we are in Chicago, we went for the Chicago dog, with all the trimmings.

Two specials followed: Cognac-infused lamb and pork with spinach raita and manchego, and the blue cheese pork dog with Sir William pear cream and roasted almonds.

Other choices include the Game of the Week, and a Celebrity Dog. Too many choices. Next time we'll take a posse to sample more.

Here they are, all dressed up with somewhere to go. That's Salma on the left, nestled in with a pickle and onions. The Chicago dog on the right, topped with tomatoes, the Lamb and Pork, lower right, and finally the Blue Cheese dog.

And those duck fat fries......

Crispy delicious, they almost outshone the weenies.( Salma wasn't that hot). With all those flavour combinations, we deemed the Chicago dog, with its nuclear green relish, as the winner.